by These bad-tempered travelers put the “ass” in “passenger.”
Amid non-stop tales of nightmarish plane passengers, a former US flight attendant clears the air where leaflets are most annoying — which, contrary to popular belief, aren’t crying babies. In fact, it’s the passengers who irritate cabin crew the most complain about crying babies, says the ex-stewardess in a clip with 1.5 million views.
“I promise you, there’s nothing that irritates us more as flight attendants [than] when people complain about crying babies,” Kat Kalamani, a six-year veteran of Kind Heaven, said in the clip.
The accompanying footage shows an angry-looking “Karen” on an undisclosed flight silencing a baby who is throwing a tantrum off-screen.
While these passengers see themselves as the heroes of the flight, according to the clip, they are actually annoying to both staff and fellow passengers.
Instead of whining about crying babies, Kalamani suggests distressed passengers bring “noise-cancelling headphones” or “ask the parents if they need help.”
And under no circumstances request a scene change according to the clip. “Don’t even ask us to be moved to another seat,” the former sky waitress warns her almost 950,000 followers. “Because I promise you, nobody wants the baby to cry more than that parent.”
Needless to say, the PSA resonated with viewers with a writing: “When a child cries, it’s not for fun!! Many Thanks!!!”
One father wrote: “I have three kids and it’s the worst feeling knowing people hate it. We do everything so that they don’t cry…”
“Just tell them: dear customer, this is public transit,” suggested one TikTok joke. “Next time you fly in your private jet.”
Even supposed members of the cabin crew got involved. “I’m a flight attendant and I get really upset when passengers complain to me about the crying baby… like, what should I do?” exclaimed an airline employee.
However, some chair travel experts disagreed. “I can handle it [babies crying] on short flights…. NO 14 hour flights,” raged one commenter. “Some parents just don’t know how to distract/calm down/entertain kids on planes.”
“Don’t take a small child with you on such long journeys,” scoffed another.
Even some alleged parents said they just found it annoying sitting next to sobbing tots. “I’m a parent of three here and I don’t want to sit next to a crying baby,” they wrote. “I will always ask to move.”
Other dissenters called for flights without small children. While there is currently no such service (as far as we know), Japan Airlines offers ticket bookers the ability to pre-select seats where they won’t be exposed to crying jerks.
Of course, opinions differ as to what kind of passengers are the most irritating.
One alleged frequent flier even compiled a list of the “worst A-holes on planes” on TikTok, which includes everyone from “gate crowders” to people who put their backpacks in the overhead compartment.
