A Vietnamese singer who was fined for allowing her son to pee into an airsickness bag on a Vietnam Airlines flight has many people on her side, who recounted their own stories of doing the same with their children and criticized the bad “service attitude” of the carrier.

Singer Le Quyen and her husband were subject to a civil fine of VND4 million (US$184) each for failing to let their son use the toilet when their Vietnam Airlines flight VN 240 was preparing for landing in Hanoi on July 16.

The couple violated in-flight regulations, according to the inspectorate of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, which imposed the fine on Wednesday.

But many Vietnamese parents have taken to social networks to express their objections to such a fine, saying children should not be forced to hold their need to urinate, while complaining that the Vietnam Airlines flight attendants were “too rigid” and “lacked service attitude” in handling the case.

The head of the cabin crew on the flight neither prevented Quyen from using the vomit bag nor booked the case. She only reported the incident to aviation authorities, who later decided it was a breach of in-flight regulations.

“A friend of mine who is a crew member of an airline said that if parents manage to let their children pee without going to the lavatory or bothering other passengers during landing and takeoff, they should be praised for such a cooperative attitude,” Thuy Trang, a Ho Chi Minh City resident, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on the phone.

Le Tung, speaking from the resort city of Nha Trang, said he was in the same position as Le Quyen on a flight to Germany a while ago.

“My three-year-old son said he wanted to pee, and could not help it right after saying so,” he recalled.

Tung said he then grabbed the children’s blanket delivered during the flight to “respond to the emergency,” and rang the bell to call for help from the attendants.

“An attendant appeared swiftly, smiling and waiting until my son finished peeing,” he said.

“She then took the blanket away and repeatedly reassured me ‘It’s OK’ when I apologized.”

Tung said he was very impressed by such an attitude during an incident which he said is “not as trivial as one may think.”

“My wife then retold the story many times and was effusive in her praise for the carrier,” he said.

In the case of Le Quyen, Tung said while it is not really unreasonable to fine the singer, what is left is a bad impression of the carrier among passengers.

Quynh Giang, a Ho Chi Minh City resident, said it is easy to impose fines because “passengers are wrong anyway.”

“But if an incident with children involved is resolved in a smart way and with a good service attitude, the airline will show passengers whether it is at a high or low level of professionalism,” she said.

Dao Le Hoa An, a psychologist, said when a child wants to pass water while landing, the parents only have two choices: walking the child to the toilet, or trying to solve the problem while remaining seated.

“In the first case, will the parents ensure safety regulations during landing?” he wondered.

“Who will be held responsible if the child falls or suffers even more severe accidents when the plane shakes?

“Will we then regretfully say, ‘if only the parents had let the child pee when seated’?”

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