We've all been there.

You board a long-haul flight, gaze down at your boarding pass as you squeeze past fellow traveller, only to find you've been allocated a seat slap-bang in the middle of a family with several children under the age of four.

Cue the panic of screaming babies, chair kicking, spilt drinks, and the faint smell of a nappy that needs changing.

Of course, when you're a bit cranky after waking up at 4am to catch a flight, sitting in the departure lounge for what seemed like an eternity, and are dreading the thought of being stuck in an overly air-conditioned tin for the next seven hours, the last thing you really want is to be kept awake by a child.

But, you know what, neither do most parents.

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This is something Kesha Bernard, a mother of two toddlers who just went on holiday without her children, brought to light when she recently found herself on a flight with a stranger's child on her lap.

According to Bernard's Facebook post about the incident –which has since been shared over 100,000 times – she was on a flight out of Seattle, US when the plane was held up on the runway. Meanwhile, a baby started crying and everyone on the flight started 'huffing and puffing and mumbling'.

'Then...I hear two kids crying (holy sh*t right?) this lady has her toddler having a full blown melt down over her seatbelt being on (toddlers are dramatic that's nothing new) No problem...I have mum powers and totally ignore it…but what I can't ignore is this,' she writes.

'I hear a woman complaining to this mother (that's alone with two crying kids) that her child need to stop kicking her seat. Then I hear the mother say "she's 3 I cant believe you just did that" apparently the lady reached behind her and grabbed the child's leg (aka "oh hell no").

Bernard claims the flight attendant did nothing to help the mother, while everyone else onboard the flight continued to complain.

'One grown ass woman was holding her hands on her ears and making the ugliest faces at this mother... lady are you freaking kidding me,' she adds.

'I get up out of my seat go a few rows back and go ask her if she needs help ( apparently that's so hard to do) she immediately handed me her baby. (This lady was like "Holy hell, yes!") So ya know I take her baby and then I have to go sit down for take off,' she says, adding that the baby finally started to fall asleep.

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Bernard concluded her post, warning flyers: 'Be nice and considerate. If someone needs help for God's sake help them. Complaining and mumbling doesn't do a damn thing except make the person that needs help feel worse.'

Let this be a lesson to all of us when it comes to travelling - if a child is crying and the parent struggling to calm them down, offer to help in anyway you can.

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Katie O'Malley
Site Director

Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.