15 Minutes After Family Can't Quiet Crying Infant On Plane, Male Flight Attendant Walks Over And Grabs Her

May 01, 2021

No one wants to be that family who has a crying child that they can’t seem to calm down while flying on an airplane. Unfortunately for Ashley Dowell and her husband, that was exactly what happened during a family trip in 2019. Dowell and her family, who hail from Rockford, Illinois, were taking a family vacation to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Aboard the Southwest Airlines flight with her were her husband, her 7-year-old, her 4-year-old and her 9-month-old baby girl. Alayna, her youngest, began crying instantly once the plane took off for their fun adventure.

Flying for the first time can be scary for anyone, especially a tiny baby girl. There is a lot to take into consideration, like the turbulence and the extreme heights. Constant movement could also be startling for the child, as a plane gliding through the air isn’t typically as calming as being rocked back and forth.

This family’s sweet baby was crying loudly while she was aboard her very first flight. Some of the other passengers seemed to be understanding of the situation, but some showed annoyance. While traveling in the air, a male flight attendant came over to assist the family and grabbed their crying child. He needed to calm her down.

The Dowell family was off to a rocky start for their vacation and just wanted to help wipe baby Alayna’s tears away and calm her down. Luckily for them, a flight attendant on board the airplane made the decision to come over and do what he could to stop their child from crying any longer.

During an interview with Good Morning America in May 2019, Dowell talked about her experience on the airplane with her consistently crying baby girl. “We’re feeling like we’re those people on the plane with the baby that’s crying and everyone wants to kick you off the plane,” she told the news outlet.

Dowell and her husband had tried everything they could to calm their little girl down, but nothing seemed to work. The crying had been going on for nearly 15 minutes before a flight attendant decided he was going to try to put an end to it. 

Flight attendant Wesley Hunt, 32, had held Alayna when the family first got on the plane and needed to put their bags away in the overhead compartments. He came over to the family and offered to help and hold her once again, as her crying had still not let up. “We were in such a small, confined area, we were really desperate,” Dowell said. “He was so good with her, and so nurturing and caring, and pretty instantaneously, she calmed down.” 

It took around 15 minutes for her little girl to fully calm down as Hunt held her and walked up and down the plane aisles. "He was rubbing her back, walking up and down the aisle like it was just a day in the park," Dowell said about the way Hunt calmed her crying child. "Once he calmed her down, he handed her back to us, and then we were able to get her back to sleep."

Dowell posted about the kind gesture on Facebook, where she was later able to reconnect with Hunt. She wrote about the kind-hearted flight attendant in a social media post on May 22, 2019. She wrote, “There is so much negativity in this world, we need more stories like this shared! It would mean so much to me. There is still good in this world.”

Hunt talked about why he helped out the family. "First of all, I love babies, and I want like a hundred of them," Hunt said. The flight had just taken off and the baby had not been able to stop crying. Hunt explained how he couldn’t do anything for a while, as it was a safety precaution to stay seated during the first few minutes of take-off. "There was nothing I could do at the time because the seat belt sign was on, and so as soon as they turned off the seat belt sign, I went straight to her," he said.

According to Good Morning America, Hunt got creative and made a rattler out of pretzels with a lid on it to help distract her. He talked about how he knew he needed to help out Dowell and her family. "In a world full of hate, I like to be a shining light to someone who needs it," Hunt said. "I could tell in that particular moment her and her husband kind of needed a little light."

This sweet flight attendant saw a family in need and decided to help out. He walked their baby up and down the aisles as he worked on calming her down. The baby girl finally quieted down as she was handed back to her family — with a fun vacation ahead of them.

What did you think of this heartwarming story? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your friends and family members.