what do you think of this??

[susanliber]

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs...opstories.html

[bodega]

Sick isn't it! I can't imagine the fear and shock that mother had with the comments and actions of her seat mate.

[Ned]

I've sat next to screaming babies on airplanes that were driving me nuts. It means the baby is generally either hungry (parental problem), needs to be changed (parental problem), bored (parental problem), frightened (parental problem) or has something wrong physically which sometimes can be soothed by the parent, and sometimes not.

I've especially seen this on descent with the rapid changes in pressure in the cabin. Heck, if I have a cold, it bothers me sometimes to the point of screaming, and this is when the baby was crying.

To get angry at the baby is nuts. Sometimes it does make sense to get angry at the parent. Sitting next to one a couple of years ago, the mom apparently was immune to both the smell of the poop filling her son's diaper and the sound of her baby screaming. She just couldn't be bothered. I really thought about slapping her silly, but of course, no one has the right to do that. I did get the flight attendant to order her to change the kid. She sighed loudly, complained no one could order her how and when to take care of her baby, but complied. The baby was quiet when they returned, and fortunately the rest of the flight. The flight attendant was great. She kept bothering the mother for the next 2 hours until we landed to have her periodically feed her son. She was reading "People" intently and didn't want to interrupt that for any reason. I'm glad she wasn't my mom.

There is no excuse for this guy. Reports have surfaced he was drunk. Apparently, a passenger on the flight has confirmed Bennett's statement that he was slurring his words. There were earlier reports that he was served alcohol on the flight despite his condition. Bennett's lawyer John Thompson, said Hundley was served two alcoholic drinks on the flight, one while she was seated next to him, and another one while she stood at the rear of the plane, trying to stay away from him.

The most he can get is one year in jail for the incident. I have little doubt he will get some jail time based on his prior record which includes a 2007, misdemeanor assault charge to which Hundley pleaded guilty. He's also lost his job due to the incident.

While Bennett can certainly sue Hundley, it's doubtful she could get much more than about $10,000 from him, according to legal experts. He did cut the baby, but "pain and suffering" is about nothing, and there is no lost wages involved, or much of "pain and suffering" for Bennett herself.

On the other hand, she may be able to successfully sue Delta for serving an obviously intoxicated passenger. That could be big bucks, and if it's true that Hundley was served, despite being obviously intoxicated, I hope she really goes after Delta, to set an example of the industry.

I can't speak about Delta from personal experience, but from my flights on American, Lufthansa, US Airways, and United, this is a big and serious problem. I have witnessed many obviously intoxicated passengers continuously served, once by a male flight attendant obviously trying to bed the two twenty-somethings he was serving. The two loud and obnoxious women, who along with that flight attendant made everyone's flight around them horrible, were so polluted they barely staggered off the plane when it landed.

The airlines need to stop this practice of serving every order almost without exception, regardless of the condition of the passenger. More than anything else, it's a serious safety problem, especially if the airplane gets into trouble.