Passenger causes a stink on plane after asking parents to stop changing nappy

The story has reignited debate around etiquette when flying

The woman was dismayed at the couple not using the toilet facilities to change their baby (Getty Images)

A woman has questioned whether she was in the wrong for asking a couple to use the bathroom instead of changing their baby’s nappy while still seated in front of her.

Writing on Reddit – using the well-known forum AITA (which stands for “Am I the a**hole?”) – the woman, whose username is No_Cartographer8186, asked: “AITA for asking them to stop changing their baby in the middle of the plane and inadvertently bringing it to the attention of the flight crew?”

She claims that she didn’t get any sleep on her flight “because of the baby’s crying — but oh well, I know flights are scary and stressful for infants and there was nothing anyone could do about that”, she remarked, according to Fox News.

Instead, what really disturbed her was “the couple changing their baby’s extremely stinky number-two diaper right in the middle of their seats — using the mom’s food tray as a changing table”.

She told the thread that they were seated “at the back of the plane, right by the bathrooms, which I confirmed had baby-changing tables when I had to go back there to throw up after the smell hit me.

“I didn’t say anything the first time, but the second time I heard them go into the diaper bag a couple [of] hours later, I asked if they could please go use the plane bathroom instead of exposing everyone on the plane to the smell”, she said.

This request did not go down well with the mother, who apparently “went off on me and said I had no idea how stressful it is to travel with an infant, which is true — I don’t have kids”, added the 28-year-old.

However, the flight attendant agreed with the woman, asking the parents “to only use the bathrooms to change their baby”. Much to the parents chagrin, “a few minutes later the pilot made an announcement that all diaper changing needed to be done in the bathrooms”.

Hundreds of people were keen to give their thoughts, with 850 different comments weighing in on the debate. Many people supported her, pointing out that as well as being extremely unsanitary, the parents’ actions were also unsafe.

“A changing table [in the plane’s restroom] has a buckle. Imagine if there was unexpected turbulence”, said one user.

“Exposing people in a closed metal tube thousands of feet in the air to that is criminal”, said another, while someone pointed out that while “the bathrooms are so tiny that changing a baby in them is an acrobatic feat”, people still have to “do it for the sake of everyone else on the plane!”

Another person, who claimed to work in aviation, said that they had seen the same situation “countless times”.

“The parents always act shocked when asked not to do it. Oh, and tray tables are not cleaned between flights. Only overnight”.