I ask this question because on my return trip to Colorado from a business trip, I could not get an aisle seat on a full (correction, oversold) flight from Charlotte to Denver. I was travelling with our infant daughter alone and she is certainly very active these days so I was worried I would have to make people get up constantly. Well, after this particular leg of our journey, I am 100% convinced that when travelling with an infant child, it is best to ask for a window seat.
Here is what happened. When I was told it was a full flight, I decided to take out those items I needed and then try to stuff the rest under the seat in front of me for ease of access. Well, those plans rapidly changed. When I got on the plane, my seat which was a window seat was behind a seat which had some big console under it so I had virtually no leg room let alone space of a diaper bag. So, I quickly grabbed the bottle, the food items and the toys I needed for the 3 hour flight and had someone help me put the diaper bag in the overhead compartment. Needless to say, I completely forgot the diaper and wipe- whoops! I had just changed my daughter before we got on board and I thought all would be okay. She was exhausted and I expected her to sleep. Sure enough, 1.5 hours into flight, I thought she needed to be changed so when the opportunity presented itself, I decided to wake up the guy in the middle seat who, by the way, had his had down on the tray table since after take off and the lady in the aisle seat who was passed out and snoring. I did not think either of them capable to hold my daughter for a second while I got the diaper bag down because neither of them stood up for me to exit to the aisle and yes, I had my daughter in my arms. Yes, you read correctly – neither of them stood up. They had me climb over them into the aisle. Once I got in the aisle way, with one hand, I carefully opened the overhead bin and remembered my diaper bag was on the left hand side, so I used one hand and gently opened the bin watching for my bag to not fall. Well, instead what happens. You guessed it. Someone else’s bag was teetering on the right side of the compartment and fell onto the woman’s head who sat one row behind us – it hit her on the head. We were all startled, shocked even. Turns out, the woman two rows behind us in the aisle had a laptop computer stashed up there, teetering on the edge of the compartment so no matter who opened that compartment, that bag was going to fall.
I was mortified as I asked the lady if she was okay who, as I now noticed, was at least 5 months pregnant. Yikers! I hope she is okay I thought. Needless to say, an airline attendant rushed to check on us and everything was checked out. The lady who was hit on the head said that she was fine – only mildly startled. Hmmm – okay, so I grabbed my diaper and wipe, apologized profusely, and headed to go change my daughter. We hung out in the back a bit and stretched out. My daughter crawled around a little and enjoyed seeing new people. Then as we headed back, the woman with the laptop came by and told me that her laptop was no longer working. I was amazed because this is the first I learned that she had a laptop in the bag. I was more concerned about the pregnant lady who was hit by the laptop rather than the laptop itself. Turns out, she had a bag of ice on her head now. Yikers squared! Another airline attendant commented when I said I felt bag, “she’s not supposed to store laptops in the overhead compartment for this very reason.
Needless to say, a first for me and I felt horrible. I do not think the pregnant lady wanted to talk with me again but I guess this sorta stuff happens sometimes. The attendant who witnessed the incident and came to the scene first took our names and numbers and information because an incident report would have to be filled out. Wow!
I am just glad our infant daughter did not get injured and that the laptop did not harm the unborn child - hopefully, that is. But, it certainly confirms my seat selection on flights- window or aisle? Yeah, I will take the window- thanks!
