MLB player tweets outrage over United Airlines making his wife clean up after their kid

If there’s a more hot-button travel issue than kids vs. airplanes, it’s hard to imagine one existing. While kids very much can and should be accepted passengers on airplanes, the parent or guardian they’re flying with is still 100% responsible for them. Over the weekend, MLB pitcher Anthony Bass went viral on Twitter for sharing his wife’s experience on an airplane with their little ones—and it looks like he didn’t receive the reaction he was likely expecting.

Bass sparked a big debate about flying etiquette with one tweet: “The flight attendant @united just made my 22 week pregnant wife traveling with a 5 year old and 2 year old get on her hands and knees to pick up the popcorn mess by my youngest daughter. Are you kidding me?!?!”

Bass also shared a photo that showed the couple’s toddler daughter sitting in her plane seat with a fair amount of spilled popcorn all around her. Apparently United Airlines passed out bags of popcorn to all passengers, and—SURPRISE!—popcorn + toddler = mess. Though Bass, who was not on the plane with his family at the time, made it clear he didn’t think it was his wife’s responsibility to clean up after their child.

Related: Airlines can no longer charge parents extra money for sitting next to their kids on airplanes

While we can’t be sure of how this whole scenario played out (was the flight attendent unnecessarily jerk-y or was his wife, Sydney Rae Bass, in the wrong for assuming she didn’t have to clean up her toddler’s mess?), one thing is for sure: people had THOUGHTS.

When asked who he thought was responsible for cleaning up the mess, Bass had an answer ready:

The thing about the “cleaning crew” is that there isn’t always time for a big deep clean in between flights. Sometimes it’s just flight attendants doing their best to get the plane looking neat before the next group of passengers board the aircraft—especially if time is tight, and we all know that lately with endless flight delays, time is usually pretty tight.

Country singer Jesse James Decker, who is Sydney Rae Bass’s sister, also commented on the situation via a since-expired Instagram story.

“My sister @sydneyraebass just texted me from her flight on @united. As you know, she is five months pregnant, high-risk, and also traveling alone with her two small children. Blaire accidentally spilled some popcorn in the aisle, and the flight attendant came up to Sydney with a trash bag and a wet wipe, telling her the captain wants Syd to clean up every drop,” she wrote.

“My poor sister is on her hands and knees, crying in the aisle, completely humiliated and exhausted, with her children while everyone else watched. Way to go, United.”

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A post shared by Sydney Rae Bass (@sydneyraebass)

While United hasn’t publicly commented on the matter, many people offered the Bass parents a tip: have your kids help clean up the mess they made as a lesson on personal responsibility.

Traveling with kids is never easy, especially when pregnant (and almost never as fun as you wish it was, IMO), but at the end of the day our kiddos are an extension of ourselves, and we’re responsible for them. Here’s hoping mama feels better now that time has passed and the flight attendant doesn’t face any sort of punishment for doing her job.