Mom goes viral for leaving baby in economy while she enjoys business class, prompting online debate
A UK mother explained she left her daughter in economy with her boyfriend while she took her seat in business class and wondered if she was "horrible" to do so.
The woman escaped to business class for the 11-hour flight from Paris to Los Angeles while her 11-month-old baby and boyfriend sat in coach, according to her TikTok video documenting the flight.
"Am I horrible for leaving them both in economy?" mother Ellis Cochlin wrote in the caption of her video detailing the flight.
"It was my only opportunity to have a baby free flight and I took it, what would you do?" she asked her 22.5K followers.
"The thought of having a baby-free flight was like music to my ears," she said in the video. "I love that girl with my whole heart but let me tell you, flying long haul on your own with a baby is not easy."
The video, which has garnered over 350,000 views so far, prompted discussion about her decision.
"You’ve spent SO MUCH time baby handling solo, I feel you definitely earned this!" TikTok creator aliceisgratified wrote on the video.
"A bit strange but [to each their] own," one user said.
"A bit strange how?" Cochlin asked.
"that you DONT want to sit with YOUR family," another user said in response.
"Don’t feel guilty!!!!!! Us mamas just want to breath [sic] alone sometimes," one user posted in support of her decision.
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Cochlin explained that she felt she was treating herself because it was the first time that she wasn’t traveling alone with her daughter, Prim.
"I’ve never flown with anybody else, it’s only just been me and Prim," she said. "So the thought of having help on this flight was amazing."
"I think you both should of [sic] been there for each other and shared the responsibility," one user commented in disagreement.
"The amount of flights you’ve posted on your own i hope you enjoyed every single secondddd," a user posted.
Cochlin has documented her solo flights with her daughter in previous videos, where she has detailed the struggles of traveling alone with a baby. She also explained that the airline wanted to charge them thousands of dollars for her daughter to have her own seat despite the fact that she can fly for free in economy. In addition, she justified the decision because she said her boyfriend, Rob, hadn’t ever flown with her and really wanted to do so.