Crying babies are a pretty unfortunate but common encounter for airplane passengers. People’s tolerance may vary, but it’s always easier to drown out the noise in first class. So deciding to switch seats with someone in economy is sure to raise some eyebrows and bring down judgment upon one’s self.

An internet user shared a pretty controversial story where he decided to “teach his wife a lesson” (always a hallmark of a healthy relationship) by making her sit with a crying baby. And not their baby, no, he switched seats with a complete stranger and her baby. After his wife expressed her anger at the whole situation, he turned to the internet for advice.

Crying babies can be annoying, but shouldn’t be treated as part of a training regime to become a more resilient traveler

Image credits: westend61 (not the actual photo)

A man decided that his wife could benefit from a less comfortable trip and arranged to have her sit next to a crying baby

Image credits: Sarah Chai (not the actual photo)

Image credits: TaxRightoffer

Air travel can be pretty unfun even if your partner isn’t actively sabotaging it

Image credits: Suhyeon Choi (not the actual photo)

Now, it is pretty annoying to be around someone who is complaining, whether it’s verbally criticizing something or just a child throwing a plain-old hissy fit. Add in the confinement, tiredness, and general discomfort of air travel, and it’s no wonder that some people end up cranky. Studies have shown that confinement alone is responsible for a decent number of “air rage” incidents, where multiple, smaller annoyances boil over and lead to, generally, pretty embarrassing outbursts. Even if a person can keep their emotions under control, this doesn’t mean that the average passenger is happy or relaxed. While they are feats of engineering, airplanes are also somewhat loud, stuffy, and cold, while travel often involves tiredness, hunger, and other stressors.

This is all to say that OP was absolutely playing with fire when he decided that it was his place to “teach his wife a lesson” which is an attitude so entitled, short-sighted, and dangerous that puts his entire ability to function into question. The situation is already fraught. They are on their way back from vacation, which normally comes with a bit of melancholy and tiredness, as people return to their jobs and routine. Even the act of boarding a plane has its stressors, as those in economy class have to physically walk past people in first class, see their more comfortable seating and reflect on the visual disparities in wealth. This does actually cause enough distress to manifest in “air rage,” though in this story OP’s family had the benefit of first-class tickets.

A dishonest, entitled spouse will more often than not end up an ex

Image credits: Kat Smith (not the actual photo)

However, OP goes ahead and fully throws away this “advantage” by offering the seat to a woman and her crying child. On paper, this seems noble, admirable even. But there are two key issues here. One, he explicitly knows his wife is sensitive to the noise of a crying child and two, he also, inexplicably, tells the internet his motive was to get back at his wife. Everyone’s relationship is different, but to treat your spouse like an unruly child and punish her with an unruly child is, for lack of a better phrase, deeply childish and toxic. What is striking is the man hiding this fact from his wife. In the story, he presents this as some sort of general niceness he has decided to exhibit to this random woman despite us all knowing exactly what he intended.

We do not have the means to inspect the rest of this relationship, but it’s clear that the husband does not disclose why he does things and believes some sort of mind games are a good way to maintain a relationship. Both common sense and empirical research show that this is just not true. A lack of honesty with a partner will end up leading to separation more often than not. Setting his hidden motivations aside, this is not a case that would have been improved by honesty. The impulse to “educate” his wife alone is enough to tell us that he is deeply entitled and confused about the role of a husband, friend, and companion.

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Readers were unsympathetic and called out OP for being such a jerk

Others thought everyone is at fault

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