It isn’t easy to fly with small children. Especially when they’re tired, cranky, or need a diaper change. Parents deserve compassion and respect, but this conversely applies to the passengers around them. Unfortunately, that mutual respect wasn’t on display on a recent Delta Air Lines flight.
View From The Wing reports that an economy passenger in seat 21C was traveling with a baby. When the infant needed a diaper change, the man didn’t bother going to the bathroom. Instead, he opened the tray table (a surface other passengers eat from), draped it with a “thin blanket”, and began changing the diaper in full view of his fellow travelers.
A baby on a plane
(EyeEm Mobile GmbH via Getty Images)
A flight attendant saw what was happening and asked the passenger to use the changing table in the lavatory. The man responded that he was almost done and that “it’s easier to do here.”
The flight attendant didn’t push it, and the other passengers were forced to marinate in diaper fumes. As awful as that is, the real travesty is the next unsuspecting passenger in 21C, who will be using an unsanitary tray table.
The internet had thoughts
No one wants to eat off an unsanitary tray table
(mihailomilovanovic via Getty Images)
Comments on View From The Wing include, “Can people really be this ignorant? Yes. We see it daily on the planes.”
“Changing a diaper on a tray table. Very parenting 2025.”
“…entitled, disrespectful, selfish, inconsiderate…”
This isn’t the first time
This is far from the only time passengers have used airplane trays as changing tables. The internet is bubbling with complaints about similar behavior. In recent years, there have been several posts on Reddit about the disgusting practice.
The truth about airplane tray tables
Airplane tray tables are rarely cleaned
(ATHVisions via Getty Images)
Airplane tray tables are a known problem. A Travelmath study on airplane hygiene even found that tray tables are dirtier than the bathroom. Flight attendants have echoed this assessment and urged travelers to bring disinfectant wipes on flights.
What to do instead
Use the changing table in the lavatory or ask a flight attendant for assistance
(sankai via Getty Images)
If you’re traveling with a small child, many airplanes have changing tables in the lavatory. If there isn’t one available, ask the flight attendant for their preferred alternative. Don’t use the tray table. You wouldn’t use the kitchen table at home, and this mindset should extend to airplanes as well.