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Parents hand out goody bags to apologize in advance for baby on flight

Loud, crying babies are one of the last people anyone wants to sit near on a flight, but for one Redditor, sitting near a baby turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises of his trip thanks to the little one's parents' thoughtful care package. Danaus Chang said he was heading to Miami on a business trip, sleep-deprived and grumpy, not looking forward to the flight. And he said his mood wa

Loud, crying babies are one of the last people anyone wants to sit near on a flight, but for one Redditor, sitting near a baby turned out to be one of the most pleasant surprises of his trip thanks to the little one's parents' thoughtful care package

Danaus Chang said he was heading to Miami on a business trip, sleep-deprived and grumpy, not looking forward to the flight. And he said his mood wasn't improved by the thought of sitting near a baby. "I was definitely not looking forward to be sitting near a crying baby of generally loud passengers," he wrote in an email to TODAY.com. "I felt like the stereotypical unloving businessman."

But Chang's mood was lifted when the baby's parents began passing out care packages for those sitting around them. 

Danaus Chang
Today

The note included in the package started: "Hi Stranger! My name is Madeline. I will be 1 on December 17th and this is my first flight. I'll try to be on my best behavior, but I'd like to apologize in advance if I lose my cool, get scared or my ears hurt."

With junior mints, Rolos, ear plugs and the sweet note "from" Madeline, Chang said, the atmosphere changed.

"It was like a scene straight out of 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas,'" Chang wrote. "I was literally sitting there smiling. I looked around and saw at least eight other smiling faces as well."

Chang posted the photo to Reddit  before takeoff with the caption: "A baby just handed me this on my flight. I ain't mad." By the time the plane landed, the photo attracted so many commenters that the post made Reddit's front page. 

Before leaving the plane, Chang said he approached the couple to tell them how much he appreciated the gesture, and that his photo of the package on Reddit was getting a lot of comments.

"They seemed pleasantly surprised and quickly shifted attention to their baby and we said goodbye," he wrote. "By the way, Madeline was adorable."

TODAY.com's Meena Hart-Duerson contributed to this report.