A Southwest flight attendant soothed a crying baby in the cutest way, and it's inspiring other parents to share their travel stories. Carrie Jaboor was on a Southwest flight from Orlando to Pittsburgh when the baby in front of her started crying about halfway through. The girl, about 1 year old, was traveling with her mom and older sister. The mom tried to calm her down, but nothing was working — a story many parents are likely all too familiar with.
"The mother looked so stressed and it just made my heart break for her because nothing was helping the little girl," Jaboor told Scary Mommy. "When I saw the flight attendant ask her to step to the back, I could tell the mother (and myself) thought she was going to get in trouble but then I looked back and couldn’t believe that he was blowing bubbles. It just made me so happy to see a flight attendant take a situation that could be construed as annoying [or] disturbing for some people and handle it with love."
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She shared the following post, which was picked up by Love What Matters and Southwest Airlines.
"[H]e was also giving tissues to the mother and consoling her as she was crying, too," Jaboor wrote. "There are some seriously kind people in this world."
Jaboor said the bubbles didn't just brighten the baby's day, but also hers. She was on the flight because she was moving from Orlando, and says witnessing the flight attendant's kindness cheered her up.
The post elicited some thoughtful responses on Love What Matters' Facebook page. A lot of parents told their stories of Southwest employees comforting their kids — and many said they're going to start bringing bubbles on their flights, too. (PSA: This is allowed as long as the container is under 3.4 oz.)
Here are just a few of their stories:
"SWA did the same for me when my daughter was a baby. The attendants saw I was clearly flustered during the flight and my daughter would not settle. She came to me, asked if she could hold my daughter, and walked up and down the plane with her in hand, while doing her job, helping others. It gave me a much-needed break and calmed my daughter. We fly SWA all the time. Their service and care for their passengers are the best in the industry."
"I flew SW from Indy to Florida with our then-1.5-year-old. She started to get a cold but it didn't seem like it would pose a problem for the flight. I was wrong. She ended up throwing up on her shirt — thankfully not a ton, but enough to have to take her shirt off. I had nothing packed that I could get to and she had actually fallen asleep almost immediately after throwing up, so I also didn't want to fumble around for something. The flight attendant noticed this happened and that I semi-covered up with my zip-up (she was getting warmer, otherwise would've been totally covered up). He came back with...a pink baby blanket to cover her. It was a simple gesture, but made all the difference for us. I love riding SW, always have."
"We just recently traveled to Arizona using Southwest to pick up my oldest son's service dog. SW was fantastic as we had no idea how to travel with a service dog. They let us board first and were extremely kind to my family. My son is a Type 1 diabetic, and he has a pretty recognisable teddy bear with the JDRF logo on a T-shirt. One of the flight attendants mentioned to him that her daughter had the exact same bear. She struck up a conversation with my son and my husband, when she really didn't have to. Then she asked genuine questions about my son's diabetic alert dog. Type 1 diabetes sucks, but I do like having that instant connection with others who are dealing with it."