Michael Rutherford posted a video of his son being spoon-fed by a flight attendant on a Singapore Airlines flight. Courtesy of Michael Rutherford/Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images
- A business class passenger posted a video of a flight attendant spoon-feeding his son.
- Several people criticized Michael Rutherford for allowing his child to be spoon-fed.
- Rutherford told BI that the flight attendant offered to feed his son.
A video of a Singapore Airlines flight attendant spoon-feeding a passenger’s child went viral – and not everyone was happy about it.
Michael Rutherford, a Las Vegas entrepreneur, told Business Insider that the video was taken while he was traveling in business class on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo on December 4. He said he was traveling with a friend, his daughter, and his five-year-old son.
Rutherford shared a video on Instagram of a flight attendant spoon-feeding her son. The video has since garnered around 432,000 likes at the time of writing.
In the video, a flight attendant wearing SIA’s blue tie-dye uniform was seen crouching in front of Rutherford’s son, who was sitting in business class. The flight attendant, wearing a sanitary glove on one hand, was shown picking up some food and feeding the boy.
“What would you do if this happened to you?” We have the greatest flight ever and this just made it more perfect,” Rutherford wrote in the post. “It was wonderful!!!!” Rutherford wrote in the text of the video.
Several people praised the flight attendant for her great service, but criticized Rutherford for allowing his son to be spoon-fed.
“These flight attendants are great. His parents should feed him, the flight attendant has enough to do,” wrote one user, receiving around 67,000 likes.
“Excellent service but completely unnecessary. Parents should be ashamed of themselves,” another user wrote.
Another person commented: “Flight attendants are not babysitters. They are there for the safety of the passengers.”
Others defended Rutherford, saying his son had the right to enjoy the flight.
“So sweet. She probably prefers to feed him rather than allow him to feed himself, who knows. Give him his moment,” one user commented.
“The little man is living his best life! Kudos to the amazing flight attendant!!” another person wrote.
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Rutherford told BI that the flight attendant offered to spoon-feed his son and that he did not ask her to do so.
“The flight attendant asked if she could help him and showed him so much kindness, holding his hand, talking to him and even feeding him a few bites,” Rutherford said in an email.
“He got engaged to her, talked to her, thanked her and the 13-second clip was just part of a 12-hour flight,” he continued.
An SIA spokesperson told BI in an email that the airline was “encouraged to see the warm service provided by our cabin crew to Michael and his family.”
“Our cabin crew receive extensive training to respond to different customer groups, including children, the elderly and those with reduced mobility,” the spokesperson said.
It’s not the first time families flying in premium cabins have divided their people online. In September, Instagram users criticized Chris Hemsworth after he shared a video of his daughter flying first class on Emirates. In August, a traveling mother shared that she receives disapproving looks when she travels in business class and leaves her daughter in economy class.
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Originally posted 2023-12-11 08:52:27.