Note: This article pertaining to Bleary Passengers Versus Tireless Children Overnight at an Airport was originally published on Thursday, March 12, 2015 at 10:20 in the morning and has been updated.
Whether by choice or faced with no other choice, some passengers wind up spending their time overnight at an airport while waiting to catch their next flight. Sometimes staying at a hotel property is not feasible for many reasons — distance, cost, too little time between flights, and avoiding having to go through an airport security checkpoint again are four of many reasons — and sometimes the only way to catch a few winks of sleep is to nap in a chair inside of the secure area of the airport.
Bleary Passengers Versus Tireless Children Overnight at an Airport
More than enough impediments exist to getting a good night’s sleep inside of an airport — including airport employees working overnight; the air conditioning being too cold; the typical lack of comfort of the chairs themselves; the loud announcements that blare from the speakers at regular intervals all night long; the snoring of fellow passengers…
…but what happens when there are children running around laughing and yelling — or crying and screaming — to the chagrin of those sleepy passengers?
I witnessed it all during many layovers over the years — and usually, the parents did little to control their children. “Stop,” one parent said in a half-hearted tone which was barely audible as her two children ran uncontrolled all over the place.
One by one, the looks of death appeared across the faces of people who were awakened from their brief slumber and darted at the children — and especially at the parents.
Final Boarding Call
I suppose that if the passengers really need their sleep, they should seek out a hotel room and pay for it — but I believe that the onus is on the parents to be responsible and do what they can to control their children in order to minimize any disturbance to fellow passengers as a matter of courtesy…
…but despite those and other solutions, there is a face-off of sorts: the bleary passengers versus tireless children who are over-energized and ready to go.
Who wins?
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
