The airport stole my baby’s dinner
September 21, 2008
This article in the Guardian by Zoe Williams made me giggle. I reckon this has happened to most of us! Isn’t it the most annoying thing to have gotten all the food ready for your baby for your holiday travels only to have it all confiscated at the airport? The funny thing is: it so depends on the security guard and what kind of day he/she is having. Sometimes I have been let through without being questioned at all!
- Emilie
8 COMMENTS - Add your own
Emilie –
It’s interesting you should tell this story – my most recent guest with a baby came to visit me from the USA. Her daughters food was confiscated at the gate – but she’d come prepared with extra powdered formula. Once on the plane, with the flight well under way, my friend went to the flight attendant and asked for some warm water to mix her daughters food. The flight attendant said “NO – we’re not permitted to to do anything for your child as she does not have a seat of her own!” The baby was sharing a seat with her mom and thus wasn’t counted as a passenger. My friend patiently found another flight attendant and explained the problem – and explained that without the food the entire flight would listen to her daughter cry for the next 7 hours and only then was she given warm water with attitude! I found this to be an amazing – unbelievable story – none of my other guests have complained of similiar events happening to them, but it was shocking that this would have been a problem at all! My friend was fuming when she got off the plane – and swearing not to fly KLM again! By the way, she since has flown KLM again with her daughter with no problem.
The Diva
Travelling with a small child is stressfull enough without having to second guess what security are going to do when you go through the gates. Everytime I fly I have a different experience. The one time I had a cranky child who had just fallen asleep in her buggy was the one time the buggy HAD to go through the x-ray machine meaning one cranky baby and one extra cranky mum!!!!
Surprising story! We flew out of and back to NYC this weekend on our baby’s first flight. Our city should be the most over the top about security however everyone was super kind and they let us through with 4 bottles of milk without even checking the bottles. They also let you roll your strollers right up to the plane and the stewardess checks the stroller for you as you board. Sroller is waiting at the walkway at your destination. Definitely helped reduce the stress level.
Hmmm… Definitely a bad example of Dutch customer service, Diva! (It’s true, the Dutch are not very, uh, helpful in general, and I’ve heard more horror stories about flying KLM. I do like the little jenever house you get when you fly business though).
!
Libby, you’ve been lucky! You didn’t even have to drink from your baby’s bottle?
Well, I suppose the Dutch should be following courses in customer services in NY! I’ll go first
No milk tasting thankfully. I have never heard of that happening before!
My four year old had flown to and from Usa many times already and with different Air lines, but never had this problems. Luckly I never had to throw away any milk or baby food. It’s true though, that on board attendants are not prepared at all to follow baby’s needs, and they don’t even have the basic equipment to do so (a stupid bottle heater, for instance). Infants that don’t have a seat it’s like they don’t exists, no matter that you paid taxes for them anyway. Last time we flow with our 1 year old girl, and they didn’t even give us the seat belt for her to buckle it up at mine for take off, and landing. Flying with kids it’s truly very hard.
I so agree!! The rules are not consistent. Sometimes we get through security with water bottles, sippy cups filled with juice, milk bottles, etc. and no one ever says a word. And here in the UK, if your baby is sleeping in the buggy, you don’t have to take him out, they’ll just search the buggy by hand.
In the states it’s totally different. The baby MUST come out of the buggy, shoes (even your baby’s) must come off, and they’re much more rigid rule followers.
And lastly, can we just talk about how patronizing some of those security officers are. They treat you like your a child, and act like their job is the end all be all. I know they probably have to deal with a lot of ignorant travelers, but still…. some times I feel like they’re a bit over-the-top!
acutually a couple of years ago I was flying out of gatwick with my then 1 and 1/2 year old son and he was asleep in the buggy when I really HAD to go through security. he was woken up, they made him walk by himself through the metal detector, took away his shoes and his bunny. he was in a total mess poor kid!