During a recent flight, I had the misfortune of being seated right behind a demonic child that screamed at a deafening level at least once a minute. As if this wasn’t enough, the idiots who were supposedly taking care of the child decided to order a glass of water for the demon spawn, which arrived in a regular airline cup.

You can probably guess what happened next. The child took the glass of water, and somehow managed to spray the contents into the row where I was seated. Luckily, it was just water and ice, so no damage was done to any of my belongings. But just imagine what a mess would have ensued if the kid had been given something like tomato juice instead.

This raises an obvious question: why do airlines give these easily-spilled plastic cups to children? Why don’t they use small, kid-friendly bottles or provide tops and straws for the existing cups, so the drinks won’t leak as much when tipped over? Surely there are enough people traveling with children to make this small investment worthwhile. Plus, it would prevent the loss of brand equity for those unfortunate few customers who end up covered in tomato juice, soda, or some other colored liquid, courtesy of a rowdy child with a regular drinking cup in hand.