Crying Babies On Long Haul Flights

Having a pleasant flying experience nowadays is a rarity.  Airlines are charging for everything: soda, blankets and headsets (some even require payment for the use of the restroom); so forget about having a hot meal.  Thus, when I hit the skies, I do not ask for much: a good book, some diet coke, maybe a decent in-flight movie and above all else silence, the most essential virtue during a long trip around the globe. 

But then the cries start.  I always have the luck to be seated next to a crying infant, who wails and screams relentlessly, taking my simple dreams of a quiet and boring flight right out of my grasp.

A few years ago on a trip to Ireland during my college years, with my younger brother and sister, plus mom and dad, my bad luck struck again and I was (un)fortunate enough to be seated in the row adjacent to all of the little babies.  AerLingus provides parents with a row of seats that can hook up a small basinet-like crib for young children, and we were behind it. 

We were flying from JFK international airport and like a family of seasoned travelers, we arrived with more than enough time to check in, grab some dinner in the terminal (we were preparing for the aforementioned lack of hot meals) and board.  Since we were a little early, the ticket agent was nice enough to offer our family of five upgraded seats to first class if we opted to take the later flight.  Of course, my siblings and I were all for it.  We looked at my parents with pleading eyes, but according to mom and dad, we were on a strict schedule and if we didn't take the fight with our economy seats, we would miss the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, Ireland.

Thus we reluctantly board the early flight with our tight seats.  It's the red eye, so despite the fact that it is 6PM in NYC, we will arrive just before dawn in Ireland ready to start our first day in, what my father refers to, as the "Mother Land." 

I really want to take a nap and, literally, every time I am drifting to sleep, I hear the cries of this one child.  I deal with it; I mean he is cute and just a little harmless infant who couldn't be more than a few months old.  But he drones on and on and on and on....  Until finally, my head is pounding, my iPod is dead and my patience is thin.  Plus, we are landing anytime now (our tour of the Cliffs of Moher will be beginning shortly) and I am tired.

I look at my brother, who is probably just as frustrated as I am, and I blatantly roll my eyes and say, very loudly over the screaming child (whose mother, mind you, has done her best to do, well NOTHING about her screaming infant for the duration of the flight), "SERIOUSLY??"

Well suddenly Mommy Dearest can hear (although she was obviously deaf for the three hours prior to my one sarcastic comment) and she, spot on, gives me the nastiest look I think I have never been given in my entire life and in her Irish brogue says to me, "Have you no compassion?"  Then she gingerly lifts her child our of the basinet and gives him a bottle...  he stops crying.  I am livid and yet, embarrassed.  Everyone in the surrounding rows has witnessed our exchange and now rolling their eyes at me; even my brother is looking at me as though I have committed a heinous crime. 

However, I disagree.  I do have compassion and I consider myself to be an individual who is incredibly understanding.  Other children on the flight had let out little yelps here and there during our trip over the Atlantic, but their parents diligently (like a good parent should) comforted their crying child and appeased their cries.  To me, someone that has compassion actually addresses their crying infant and tries to make the flying experience enjoyable for others around them.

Granted I am in my early twenties; I do not have children, so maybe I do not understand the hardships of traveling with a young infant.  I am looking for someone, parents, other travelers, anyone, to tell me what I am missing.  Am I seriously not compassionate?  Was I wrong here?  I welcome all input.