The flight from hell

Last updated: 22/07/2015 11:27 by MichelleMcDonagh to MichelleMcDonagh's Blog
Filed under: MummyBloggers
Flying with young kids is stressful at the best of times and the four-hour flight to Lanzarote was our longest flight with the nippers.
On top of that we were flying Ryanair, which made me even more nervous as I had sworn after my last flight while heavily pregnant with Princess Firstborn, that I would never fly with them again due to their complete lack of customer service.
 
But in fact, we were pleasantly surprised by the change in the Ryanair customer service, which seems to have vastly improved. Bag check-in was quick and efficient and the staff onboard were friendly and helpful.
 
To give the kids their dues, they were very well behaved. We were as prepared as we could possibly have been in terms of iPads, colouring, stickers, snacks, treats, etc, to keep them entertained. I had plenty of wipes, spare clothes in case of accidents, and a magazine for myself, which I actually got to read from cover to cover.
 
But however well organised you are, there are some eventualities that you just can’t prepare for. There was nothing I could do about the toddler in the seat in front of me who howled hysterically for the last two hours of the flight. My heart went out to his visibly stressed parents and grandparents who could not console him as he clutched his little ears, obviously in pain.
 
And there was even less I could do about the fact that a man in the row behind me on his way to a friend’s wedding in Lanzarote had decided to get balubas drunk on whiskey and totally lost the plot mid air. He kept loudly hissing “sssh” at the unfortunate toddler before graduating to “shut the f**k up”.
 
When the child’s grandmother turned around in her seat to see who was shouting, the poor woman was subjected to a barrage of foulmouthed abuse that went on for about ten excruciating minutes. It really was nightmare stuff, especially for that poor family. Things continued to escalate as the drunken thug turned his attention to the mother and daughter who had the misfortune to be sitting in the seat beside him.
 
The two male stewards on board didn’t seem to have any idea of how to deal with the situation and even his own friends were unable to control him. It was left to one feisty female crew member to handle things. At one point she roared at him to “shut up” and threatened to have him arrested on arrival in Lanzarote.
 
When the crew members approached him with restraints, he threatened to destroy them and the plane, so they backed away. His aggressive, drunken behaviour continued into the airport where by rights, he should have been met by Spanish police and arrested on the spot but incredibly, he was allowed to collect his bags and walk away.
 
Those of us who had been sitting in his vicinity were left shaken after the experience. The most frightening part was that his behaviour was becoming increasingly erratic and we were basically locked into a confined space with him.
 
Thankfully, he was only staying on the island for three or four nights so we didn’t have to suffer his company on the return flight!
 
Michelle McDonagh is a freelance journalist working from Blarney, Co Cork. She’s a mum of three children aged 2, 4 and 5, and a firm believer in 'good enough' parenting, bribery and the healing powers of chocolate.
 
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