Innapropriate Show Playing on Delta Airlines

inappropriate, yes.

I love the show, but would not watch it with my kids.......

call & complain. It's always better to be the voice to be heard!

I'd be HOT. Did they warn you of this prior to the flight? I know the movies are not always child appropriate, but that seems way out of line.

I'd be calling and writing letters.

I watch that show, and IMO it is not bad. It is not for young kids, but if they did watch they would not get the sexual stuff anyways. I don't see the huge deal really. I think some people over-shelter their kids.

I suggest that at 5 your child does not know the connotation of such actions. They will go over the child's head. It will not be a big deal for her if you don't make it a big deal.

As far as kissing with an open mouth, my grandson, age 6 wanted to do that. I just explained that we kiss with a closed mouth and he complied. It's not a big deal if we don't make it a big deal. I didn't try to explain anything. I just said, matter of factly that we kiss with our mouths closed.

I think my grandson came up with the open mouth kissing by seeing his parents kiss. Kids are exposed to kissing without every having seen it in a movie.

Way, way inappropriate imho . . . wow. I'd be writing a letter to Delta.

I agree with you, I'm amazed at some shows they choose to play during flights, especially since there are all ages on board.

Ugh! I would be so upset also. We guard our children from such things. They should not ever be exposed to this stuff. I would have summoned the flight attendant and complained. It is way out of line for anyone to put such things in front of children, but especially children who are a captivated audience without the option of turning it off or going to play outside. ;) I don't like much of what they show on tv, but that sounds way over what would be acceptable as family viewing. I am encouraged that the other posters seem to have the same perspective. I agree with them that you should call Delta, write letters, etc. Make sure that you get their attention. Oooh I would be mad.

I would write a letter to Delta because at home or in your own car, you have a choice of what your children see and hear. As an adult in the plane YOU don't have to watch or listen and you can prevent your child from hearing, but unless you put a sleeping mask on her face, she will see something that is unfit.

I have no idea what that movie is but I consider airplanes an adult ride that kids just happen to be allowed on. They have to cater to their target, ya know?

I would suggest making sure you are not close to the screen next time so it would be easier to distract her.

None of us are "ready" to explain things but you have to suck it up and explain anyway. :)

That's really inappropriate. I would definitely write a letter.

that is inappropriate - I would also call or write them.

I totally agree that's inappropriate! I'm so tired of running into this everywhere we go. In this instance, language is one thing since you can keep the headphones off her and protect her that way. But you can't shield her from the images. And I'm tired of people saying we're being too overprotective! I'm sick of being told to relax or "that's just the way things are now". I'm sorry, but I want my kids to be kids, not miniature slutty adults. I don't think that's so much to ask!

I would definitely complain to Delta. It's probably some idiot in an office somewhere who determines what gets shown on the planes. If you let management know, they might start paying more attention.

For example, when my daughter was in second grade I learned that her gym teacher was playing inappropriate musice everyday during gym class. I went online and copied the lyrics to some of the songs my daughter was coming home singing and sent them in an email to the principal telling her my concerns and asking who is in charge of checking the music that he was playing????? Clearly they had no policy of checking the music and thanks to me this glaring error was brought to their attention. The music stopped immediately.

I say complain. If we don't speak up for our children, who will?

What? No, I would say your sensitivity level is just about right-that story is hard to believe-maybe you could fire off a letter to the head of Delta:

http://onyoursi.de/wiki/airline/delta-air-lines/

Yeah, you should complain to Delta about that. In my opinion, movies that contain lewd, graphic, or overly violent scenes should NOT be shown on airplanes for the simple reason that children are sitting there, and as a parent, you have no way to remove your child from the line of sight of the TV screens! If a movie contains bad language, that's fine because as long as your child doesn't have the headphones on, s/he won't hear it. The powers that be at Delta should be made aware of your concerns so they can choose more appropriate movies the next time. There's no shortage of films that could appeal to adults as well as children (or even if the movie didn't appeal to children, it wouldn't contain any totally objectionable images).

I've never seen the show. But I guess I wouldn't be so disturbed about it. Don't make such a big thing of it. I don't show any grown up tv to my kids but sometimes they've watched food nw with me and there's a racy commercial on, and I just don't say anything about it. There's also things they see just walking around the mall, or walking to school etc, like teenagers kissing on each other etc. I don't think we need to make it this big "to-do".

Complain to the airline! They will never know that parents have an issue with this (or any other programming) unless parents tell them. Their web site should have an e-mail link where you can contact them. If you don't get a reply within, say, a week, send a letter, "return receipt" so they must acknowledge that they got it. Ask them to reply and to send you their policy (see if they actually have one!) on what programs to play. They won't change anything, I hate to say, but for all you know you may be adding your voice to those of other parents out there already complaining to them.

We can't shield our kids from everything, everywhere, but we can make ourselves heard if our kids are where we can't really keep them from seeing inappropriate images. I know exactly what you mean; I assume this flight had the tiny TV screens in the back of each seat, and the airline likely will tell you something like, "We make G-rated children's programs and educational programs available on channels X and Y on every flight" etc., but you're right -- kids cannot help but glimpse some images even if they just walk down the aisle to the bathrooms; the screens are everywhere and right at many kids' eye level if they go down an aisle.

I would love to see airlines have a "family section" where the screens cannot play certain shows or films during long flights, but then the airlines would use that as yet another way to shove parents with small children into the least comfortable areas possible on an aircraft....

Does Delta not have individual media devices on their flights?

It can hardly be Delta's fault for people choosing PG13 or R rated movies/TV shows out of a G-R range. Especially since headphones are provided. It's a gazillion times more private than the old version.

If it's the old version of planes (1980's & early 90's type)... then you're SOL. From the 80's onward international flights show 2 movies. A G or PG one, and a PG13 or edited for TV R movie, and domestic flights show just one... the pg13-tvR. We're talking 3 decades+ worth of what's been shown on millions of flights to hundreds of millions of people. With nary a peep. For the good reason that on a 300 passenger plane, MAYBE 6 passengers are children. They're not going to put kids programming on a domestic flight and annoy every adult on the plane, especially not if there's a "screamer" or "seat kicker" in the group of 6 kids. Tensions are already running high. Even on international flights, the kids' movie would come on when most of the adults were sleeping.

When we were on Virgin, you could barely see anybody else's screen, so even though DH was watching a war movie, DD couldn't see it. Were you able to change the channel or was that all there was to see? Certainly write them. Wouldn't hurt. Then I'd redirect DD. "DD, that's not an appropriate way to kiss your mommy good-nite. Try again."

Write a letter if it makes you feel better. Who knows.. most of the airline programming is pre-programmed for flights.

I realize you are upset but you can't shield children from everything. This is a good time for your open communication to be in full force with your child.

Also, the more attention, negative or positive that you were percieved to be giving the the program, the more it made your child curious. You know the deal... " if Mom is having a cow because I am seeing this, then there must be more to it that what I am really seeing"

I do understand where you are coming from. There will be a lot of things you prefer not to discuss right now but the sooner you start communicating openly with children, the better cond you will have for when they have the really tough questions and choose to come to you to ask vs their friends because "mom is too embarrassed to talk about that subject". I am not saying you are "the mom" in my example, it is simply an example.

Good luck.

As the 28th person to respond,I don't know if you'll actually even read my comment but, IMHO, I think you're over-reacting. As other's have said, your daughter didn't have the audio so whatever she was looking at went right over her head. I doubt the open mouthed kiss request has anything to do w/what little she saw on the plane. Writing a letter may help but you & your daughter was just one of 100 of passengers so I also doubt they will not air a show cuz one person was offended by it. Airlines aren't catering to kids, they're catering to adults who make up the bulk of the passneger list. Next time you fly, choose an airline that might be more kid friendly but come also come prepared again w/your own movies for her. And if she gets a glimpse of what's on the screen & you don't like it, don't make a big deal out of it. If she sees & hears you getting upset & angry, that gives it more power & in turn makes it more interesting for her to want to see.

id have lost my mind on that plane....really. if planes are gona show movies that everyone is supposed to be able to watch at the same time regardless of age they had better stick with Disney heartfelt movies....nothing over PG. id have my money back and you would read a crazy lady got kicked off a plane because of a movie.....

Delta has never been family friendly - you want that stick to American Airlines and Southwest, I have never had an issue with them being family friendly in the skies!

Suburgatory is a Primetime TV show that is a bit of a satire on Suburban living and how it can be viewed as Purgatory - it's a cheeky show for adults, I have seen a few episodes and it is not for kids but I also see where they would not find an issue airing it either.

In the nicest possible way, complain by all means, but they can't make every movie on their flights G rated or they'd start getting complaints from adults - including me. As a frequent flyer I would go crazy having to watch Shrek for 10 hours from London to SFO. In future if you're sensitive about what she sees I would recommend getting your daughter a window seat so that she can only see your screen and hers (and will get to look out the window). I find that changing my behaviour to protect my children is much easier than trying to change others. Do let us know if you get a response from Delta. Happy Travels!

LOL, that's awful (but funny, I mean that is some SERIOUS lack of judgement!) It would have been better if you said you were sitting behind 3 rows of nuns and an elderly couple celebrating their 60th anniversary (oooh my grandmother would have given them HELL!!)...

What is seen cannot be unseen, so try to find the humor in it. And yeah, you need to get in touch with someone and report this.

Did you say anything to the flight attendants? Like 'hey, this is really inappropriate'? Make THEM explain to your daughter who can give/receive open mouthed kisses, geez... and to think, one of the geniuses behind this was flying the plane. God help us all.

I would be pissed as I am way tired of sex on television as the norm. But BTW--what is DD and DH (as I have seen on so many posts)?

I think you've got every right to be angry with this and would encourage you to contact Delta and let them know. They won't make changes if folks don't let them know that something is not appropriate.

Good luck.

Hi C., I'm in agreement about it being completely inappropriate, but what I wanted my reply to focus on was to encourage you to continue to stand by your morals when it comes to what kind of influences you allow into your daughter's life. Time will come soon enough where she will be able to make the choices herself about what she does or doesn't watch, and whatg she does or doesn't think is appropriate. Use situations like the one you were stuck on in that plane to show her the differences in people's levels of acceptability, and to teach her what your levels of acceptability are and why. In my family, it is our religious beliefs that separate us from many others in what we think is acceptable and not, but it doesn't have to be a religious reason. What about the portrayal of women in these types of shows, the messages they send to women, and the role they play in how women think of themselves? Or, what about the messages sent when media makes something as serious and intimate as sexual relations, out to be something light, comical, and casual? You're laying a foundation in your daughter right now. You've only got a few precious years to do it, so lay it well! And good for you for recognizing inappropriate when you see it!!! You don't have to stand up to it with the airlines, but your daughter would definately benefit from your sharing your feelings about it, with her.

Fortunately the newer planes have individual screens but if it was the old type plane with one movie screen for all to watch I would definitely complain. But you can still sort of see the little screens of other passengers, however, I do not know if you can stop other passengers from watching the blood and gore or sex in a movie made for grown ups. You could check if Delta could add those screen blockers, all bank employees have them so that you can only see the screen if you are directly in front of it, not from any angle. But that would mean thousands of additions to their planes, so the cost and the added weight (which means more fuel) might prevent that. I read that a company can save tons of fuel by simply not painting the plane, so every ounce counts when you are flying.

I would have agreed with Marta that most of it goes over their head, but I have to think twice if both of your LO's wanted to open mouth kiss you! My GD will be 10 in 2 weeks (yahoo!) and I think she just now realized that there is such a thing as open-mouthed kissing. So, maybe I'm wrong and most doesn't go over their head.

That being said, I know that it makes me uncomfortable to watch anything sexually explicit with my GD in the room; I'm grateful that she's also uncomfortable with it!

I share your frustration. I think that you have a right to expect a more neutral movie when you are a captive audience and kids are there as well. I think that the only thing preventing the complete moral decline of our society is people who stand up and say, "hey, that's not right." I would definitely let them know that you were unhappy. For my part, after a weekend trip to Target where my daughters' and I were treated to the sight of the Sport's Illustrated nearly naked swimsuit model on the cover next to the check out stand, I complained. We all need to speak up when something isn't right. Otherwise we continue the long slide into moral decay.

I'm not familiar with "Suburgatory," but I'd find what you described pretty disturbing. It wouldn't hurt to send an e-mail to Delta and let them know your concerns. Airlines have plenty of shows to choose from that adult viewers can appreciate that aren't inappropriate for kids.