United Airlines popcorn controversy: What sayeth the Dis?

[MrsCobraBubbles]

The husband has played in the major leagues for years. Wealthy and well connected, he knows how to use social media. And use is the operative word.
Had the flight attendant actually "forced" mom to do anything like he described I believe other passengers would have taken note immediately. What have we heard from them? Crickets.

Absolutely. And my reply is only about what the article says happened. I'm sure more will come out about this soon and it is surprising that there's no video evidence as everyone seems to whip out their phones now to record.

 

[fly girl]

Absolutely. And my reply is only about what the article says happened. I'm sure more will come out about this soon and it is surprising that there's no video evidence as everyone seems to whip out their phones now to record.

This is “old” news now. I doubt anymore will come of it. United already said they are dealing with it internally. Which from my experience means they will talk to the FA, hear her side and then let it go.

It is a he said, she said incident and the fact in today’s world there is no proof the flight attendant abused her power makes me believe she didn’t.

 

[ttintagel]

Maybe this is a tall person thing, but I can reach the floor from a seated position in an airline seat. I wouldn't have to "crawl around on the floor" to pick up spilled popcorn.

 

[TippyThomas]

Hyperbole.

 

[Lilsia]

I personally don't think it is ever ok for ANYONE to force someone to crawl on the floor at their feet cleaning something. I think it is spiteful and an abuse of power. Sometimes people act like fools, and this mom could have been acting like an entitled tool to the FA, but that's no reason for someone with power over them to demean them. I sincerely doubt the airline has any kind of policy saying this is ok. Of course I don't know exactly what happened, but the article provided to us seems to indicate it happened like I described--the FA forced her to crawl around cleaning up the popcorn. At least that's what they are claiming. If I read that wrong please correct me. All I said in my reply was that that's not ok. Demeaning and demoralizing people is always wrong in my opinion.

Since when is picking up after your child, something that every parent does numerous times a day, all of a sudden a degrading experience? You seem to focus on "crawling all over the floor", but from what we can see, anyone, even a pregnant woman who is barely showing, can squat down and pick up the popcorn. Since when is everyone entitled to do whatever they want and leave it for the rest of us to deal with?
I think it is more degrading to the flight attendant to have to act like a maid for people that have no class.

 

[MrsPete]

Admittedly I only read the first and last page of this discussion, but here are my thoughts:

Sorry. Restaurant, airlines, anywhere. I always cleaned up after my kids, if nothing more than for the kids to realize and learn we're responsible for our own messes.

Absolutely. Your kids' mess, you clean it up. In fact, I was at Ikea today with my daughter and grandson. Being a toddler, he made a mess. She and I together took a napkin and cleaned up what he dropped on the floor. No, I didn't feel degraded. I felt lucky to have lunch with that sweet boy!

On a side note - since when does United offer popcorn on it's flights?

I don't think they do. I suspect she brought it onboard. I always brought snacks for my kids when they were that age. You know, to keep them quiet and entertained.

 

[GreatLakes]

On our first flight with our son he spilled almost an entire container of this little puff cereal we brought. We cleaned it up. There is now way I would have left it for the crew to clean up. I am not sure if I missed a few but if I saw it I picked it up.

I'm team airline.

 

[stitch'sgirl]

There is no excuse not to pack your child's small backpack with age appropriate non-messy snacks.

As an adult, I can't eat bagged popcorn in a confined space without spilling some. Bad on the airline, bad on the parent.

Finally, do NOT give children under 4 years popcorn, they can choke on it!!
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:09615170-675c-3fec-b84f-36dca9cef047

 

[QueenIsabella]

What's mystifying to me is, why didn't she bring along a nanny? They have the funds, and probably have a nanny day-to-day. She's pregnant with two young kids--I wouldn't fault her for having an extra set of eyes and hands on a trip. Schlepping luggage through the airport--heck, even going to the restroom would be tricky with two little ones on their best day.

 

[RangerPooh]

Sounds like they’re entitled. I have four kids and traveled/flew throughout each pregnancy up to 32 weeks. Many times me alone with multiple kids. I cleaned up their mess. It’s not solely the cleaning crew.so if my kids dropped goldfish or Cheerios we cleaned up the bulk of it.

Sounds like they need to take ownership of their mess.

 

[nancipants]

Ironically, I checked this thread while my son was spilling popcorn and I told him to make sure he didn’t make a mess.

 

[Allison]

Absolutely. And my reply is only about what the article says happened. I'm sure more will come out about this soon and it is surprising that there's no video evidence as everyone seems to whip out their phones now to record.

There is no video evidence because it didn't happen the way dad said. If there was nothing of interest to record there won't be a video. That pretty much tells you the story.

 

[superme80]

I went to dinner with my in laws today. My son spilled about 7 pieces of macaroni on the floor. I made him clean it up while I thought of this thread. LOL

 

[pindecisive]

I saw the picture and the child obviously threw the popcorn and didn't just 'spill' it. The pieces were actually spread out into the foot area of the person behind them.

What really surprised me was that the parents had the children sitting by themselves. My guess is that it was a short puddle jumper flight that they would have been fine without snacks on because they were in a two seater aisle. Long haul flights for United usually don't have these unless they're exit rows.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I'm late to the party and not going to read 15 pages (sorry--I did read the first page). But "made" is doing a lot of lifting in that statement of his. How could they "make" his wife pick up the mess? Deplane her (which is what she wants anyway, since they're now at their destination)? Throw her in Airport Jail?