*hole of the year award goes to:

[SS Junk]

I don't actually give a fuck if a kid cries on a flight. I'm a little phobic of riding on a plane, so I usually put on noise canceling headphones, and load up on booze.

Yeah I have a pair of those too. Work wonders. Need to try the booze thing.

[71chevellejohn]

The year is young, i'm sure there will be a bigger asshole on the way to take the crown.

[slow99]

My wife just texted me saying my son is going apeshit right before they're pulling out of DFW. Hope he calms down, you never want to be "that person". He's 14 months old and this is his 7th round trip - 4 of those being cross country - and he's never had any issues. We get compliments every flight on how well - behaved he is but we know to keep him busy, have plenty of bottles, pouches, snacks, etc. My wife hates doing it, but we've resorted to giving him a dose of benadryl on a couple of those.

[SS Junk]

Isn't there some sort of flight policy in place that no person unrelated to the family can sit next to a child at a certain age? A few years ago I was sitting in a window seat one time and a father was sitting on the outside and had his infant son in a child safety seat strapped in the middle. Flight attendant told me I had to move and said I couldn't sit there if I was not family?

[shumpertdavid]

My youngest sister will be flying for her first time next month, she'll also have her 6 year old and 15 month old, both boys. She will be flying alone with them, any solid advice from parents who have experienced this i'll pass along to her.

[KBScobravert]

Try sitting by kids on 14 plus hour flights. You will want to kill their parents by the time the flight lands.

On the other hand, we are taking our (will be 7 month old) daughter on a 6hr flight in June to Aruba or Bahamas. I am not looking forward to that, for her.

[Treasure Chest]

Isn't there some sort of flight policy in place that no person unrelated to the family can sit next to a child at a certain age? A few years ago I was sitting in a window seat one time and a father was sitting on the outside and had his infant son in a child safety seat strapped in the middle. Flight attendant told me I had to move and said I couldn't sit there if I was not family?

The child should have been ticketed to sit in the window seat with a child seat, the father in the middle, you in the aisle. The problem here wasn't that you couldn't sit next to the child, it's that airline policy doesn't allow anyone to be "blocked in" by a child seat.

[YALE]

Yeah I have a pair of those too. Work wonders. Need to try the booze thing.

It is the best thing to ever happen to airplanes. I don't know why I can't shake it, either. I fly pretty regularly.

[Rotortrash]

The people that suffer the most from a screaming kid are the parents, if they're even halfway decent parents. It sux when the kid is crying for some unknown reason, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it. We've taken our now 4 year old on a few flights now, and he does pretty well. I've been on flights where the kid just can't stop crying, and I can't help but feel bad for the parents. You can usually see the frustration in their faces, more so than any other annoyed passengers.

If the parents do nothing, that's one thing. But if you see them trying and trying, I have a feeling that they feel even worse than you do.

[Binky]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/18/travel/crying-boy-assault/index.html?hpt=us_c2

An Idaho man accused of uttering a racial slur and slapping a crying 19-month-old boy on a Delta Air Lines flight is now out of a job.

Joe Rickey Hundley of Hayden, Idaho, was charged with assaulting a minor in the February 8 incident. His company, which initially suspended him, said Sunday that Hundley no longer has his job.

"Reports of the recent behavior of one of our business unit executives while on personal travel are offensive and disturbing," said a statement from AGC Aerospace & Defense. "We have taken this matter very seriously and worked diligently to examine it since learning of the matter on Friday afternoon.

"As of Sunday, the executive is no longer employed with the company."

AGC Aerospace & Defense supplies technology and other services to the military and businesses.

The family's attorney, John Thompson, said they have not decided yet whether to sue. But he said Monday they believe Hundley should be punished beyond the loss of his job and possible one-year federal prison sentence.

"The family wants to make sure that Mr. Hundley and anyone like Mr. Hundley never does something like that again," he said on CNN's "Starting Point."

Affidavit: Slap with an open hand

According to documents filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta last week:

The boy's mother, Jessica Bennett, 33, of Minnesota and her son were seated in row 28, seat B, on Delta Flight 721 that originated in Minneapolis.

As the plane began its descent into Atlanta, the boy began to cry because of the altitude change and his mother tried to soothe him.

Then Hundley, who was seated next to the mother and son, allegedly told her to "shut that ('N word') baby up."

Hundley then turned around and slapped the child in the face with an open hand, which caused him to scream even louder, an FBI affidavit said.

The boy suffered a scratch below his right eye.

Other passengers on the plane assisted Bennett, and one of them heard the slur and witnessed the alleged assault, the affidavit said.

No comment

"I could not believe that he would say something like that, and to a baby or about a baby. And then to hit him was just, I felt like I was in another world. I was shaking," Bennett told CNN affiliate KARE in Minneapolis.

The charge of simple assault on someone under age 16 carries a prison sentence of one year, court papers said.

In 2007, Hundley pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge filed in Virginia, according to court records.

Reached by phone Friday, Hundley declined to comment to CNN and referred inquiries to his attorney.

The attorney couldn't be immediately reached for comment at the time.

[JimD]

Dang, what a jerk.

[scootro]

he thought that working for AGC Aerospace & Defense granted him king of the sky's! douchebag...

[95DRGT]

I have kids but if they can't sit up and buckle in they shouldn't be flying. Its disruptive and inconsiderate to all others on the flight. There have been some exceptions over the years.

I've been a business traveler for 20+years

[inline 6]

I lol'd when I read the bold print. I fly about 20 times a year and I learned real quick that I put my ear buds in, turn music up, and read a book for the entire flight from the time they close the cabin door until they open it again. I am oblivious to any noise. There could be a litter of screaming babies right beside me and I wouldn't know it.

[Treasure Chest]

I have kids but if they can't sit up and buckle in they shouldn't be flying. Its disruptive and inconsiderate to all others on the flight. There have been some exceptions over the years.

I've been a business traveler for 20+years

My kiddos have been flying cross-country since they were a few months old. We knew how to book flight times around their schedules and how to keep them comfortable and entertained. The only issues we ever had was a rude flight attendant who objected to be breast feeding on a flight and an issue with being seated in the back of a plane on a turbulent flight with a 3 year old. Jude ended up tossing his cookies. We learned to dose them with Dramamine before the flight if we were seated behind the wing.