Aww or eww? Netizens divided over video of air stewardess spoon-feeding young passenger
American "dad, traveller and mentor" Michael Rutherford on Dec 5 flew his family to Osaka, Japan, for a seven-day trip and it seems that the holiday got off to a great start for them.
Mr Rutherford posted on social media a video of his five-year-old son sitting in Singapore Airline's business class and having his meal spoon-fed to him by an air stewardess.
Now, now.
Before we start screaming that the boy was old enough to feed himself – as commented by many netizens in response to the video on Instagram – let us look at a couple of situations that are not uncommon during flights.
How many times have we had fellow passengers who would take forever to finish a meal, forcing the cabin crew to return later just to clear that one tray?
Don't even get us started on parents who do not care that their children are too absorbed by their gadgets to buckle or up finish their meal in sync with other passengers for the ease of the cabin crew on duty.
In the video shared by Mr Rutherford, his son was busy watching his tablet, two plates of food on his table in front of him. The boy was seated next to a family friend instead of his father.
"It was amazing!" Mr Rutherford said of seeing his son getting spoon-fed by the air stewardess, who apparently had sought permission beforehand to feed the young passenger his dinner.
The Internet was divided on the video.
On one side of the fence, the camp screams that it is not an air stewardess' job to spoon-feed the child who is old enough to feed himself. On the other, the camp lauds the air stewardess for going the extra mile, making the trip special and memorable for the family.
We are on the fence. We see an air stewardess getting things moving – if the dinner gets eaten, she can clear the table and prepare for lights out on the nine-hour flight.
An SIA spokesperson told Mothership that the airline was heartened to see their air stewardess' warm service to Mr Rutherford and his family, adding that the cabin crew undergo extensive training on how to better empathise with, understand and meet the needs of customers.
"We are pleased that our cabin crew was able to anticipate and see to the needs of the customer on this occasion. We wish Michael and his family the very best, and look forward to welcoming them on board again soon," said the spokesperson.
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