Dad blasted for 'shirking his responsibilities' after seat swap left him child-free on flight

If you had the opportunity to enjoy a flight without having to entertain and keep an eye on your children, would you take it?

That's the question people have been asking themselves after a TikToker shared a video about a dad who left his partner to deal with the kids, while he enjoyed the flight to himself a few rows away.

In the video shared earlier this month, the TikToker, who goes by the handle 'one_toughmother', shared her 'rage' as she explained how the situation unfolded on a flight where she was sat next to a mother who had a 'baby on her lap and a toddler beside her'.

"It was a lot," the TikToker wrote.

In an effort to help out, she offered to swap seats with the dad, who was seated a few rows up, so he could sit with his wife.

Kelly/Pexels

The TikToker recalled: "He says 'great, thanks', and sends over another small kid to sit with the mom. He enjoyed a kid-free flight."

I'm sure we could all agree that a flight where you don't have to worry about crying, scared or bored children is preferable to the alternative, but that doesn't necessarily mean you should jump at the freedom when given the chance.

The father's actions ended up lumbering the mum with all of the responsibility, and TikTokers weren't happy about it.

"The worse part is mom probably did all the planning packing arranging and everything before this," one critic wrote after watching the video.

While another added: "If I were the mom, he would not be my husband anymore after that."

Rahul Singh/Pexels

"No matter if it’s the dad or the mom doing this, when you have multiple kids you gotta handle it together on a flight," wrote a third.

It's worth noting that the dad presumably couldn't have accepted the TikToker's offer himself, because that would mean the child originally sat with him would be left alone, but he could have declined her altogether and at least taken one kid off the mum's hands.

That being said, other TikTokers have pointed out that we don't know this family's full story.

One viewer pointed out: "What if he were the stay at home dad and mom was finally looking after the kids so he could have a break?"

We'll never know how the sudden appearance of the extra child in the seat next to the mum went down with her, but TikTokers have certainly got the anger part covered.

Topics: Travel, Parenting, TikTok, Viral

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is the Community Desk Lead at LADbible Group. Emily first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route. She went on to graduate with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University before contributing to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems. She joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features, and now works as Community Desk Lead to commission and write human interest stories from across the globe.