“My Migraine Could Never”: A Kid’s Strobe Light Hat Interrupts Passengers’ Rest on a Flight
Published Aug. 30 2023, 11:53 a.m. ET
Traveling by plane can be a great way to get a nap or a full night’s sleep in between excursions.
However, the trade-off of not having to be stuck in a car by yourself or with your loved ones is that you’re sharing your flight journey with other people — which can include children.
As we all know, kids say and do the darndest things. And one young airplane passenger proved as much by keeping the entire flight awake with their new, bright hat ...
A child beamed as they kept everyone on their entire flight awake.
Although some like cozying up with a good book or movie on a flight, sleeping on an airplane is always my preferred traveling method. There’s nothing quite like that nap you get as a reward for getting up before dawn to get to an airport, though that’s not to say I haven’t slept on an afternoon or evening flight.
Considering that sleeping on a flight is one of my favorite things to do, I can’t imagine it being interrupted by a stranger also boarding the flight. But that’s exactly what happened when a TikTok user showed a child gaining attention from nearly everyone on the plane.
In August 2023, the TikToker, Male Castellon (@malecastellon), posted a six-second video of her flight in the air. The flight’s lights were dimmed, meaning it was nighttime during the TikTok.
Male began the video with calm, ambient music as she turned her camera to show all of the passengers in their seats. She then turned to a child who wasn’t standing in their seat, smiling.
The child had on what appeared to be a bunny costume with rainbow-colored strobe lights around the hat area. Next to the child was an adult who looked stressed as he watched the child interrupt the passengers’ nightly rest.
“My migraine could never.”
While I must admit that the child’s strobe light hat was adorable, there’s a time and a place for everything. I know for a fact that I would not have found the hat cute if I had been on the same flight as the child and they were why I didn’t get my pre-vacation slumber.
I wasn’t the only one who found the child’s strobe light hat incredibly annoying. Underneath Male’s TikTok, she received tons of comments from others about how frustrated they would’ve been had they witnessed the distracting hat on their flight.
“No joke I'd probably cry because that looks like a long-flight plane….” one user said.
“My migraine could never,” another stressed.
“I would lose my mind,” said a third user.
In addition to the outrage, Male received comments from users who said they come prepared for nightmarish flight moments like the child’s strobe light hat.
Several commenters said they try to take all precautionary measures necessary to avoid interruptions like the child’s by packing noise and light-canceling devices.
“That is why I fly with ear plugs, noise-canceling headphones, and eye covers,” one user suggested for Male’s next flight.
