What to Know
Traveling with small kids is such a stressful experience. Most parents spend so much time worrying that their kids will be disruptive, trying to keep track of snacks and iPads and stuffies while hoping that maybe their kids will fall asleep if it’s a long enough flight. Regardless of who you are, it’s not an easy experience. Actress Brenda Song has two young kids, and isn’t unfamiliar with that stress. Which is why she got first class plane tickets for her kids on a recent trip. So when the airline separated her family, she was rightfully pissed off.
She used social media to voice her anger.
Song shared her experience on her Instagram Stories on March 21, 2026, Page Six reported.
“I didn’t know when you book your first class tickets 6 months in advance for your family of six for your son’s birthday — @alaskaair can just give away your seats the morning of with no warning — splitting up you and your 3 and 4 year old kids,” she wrote.
“We will never fly @alaskaair again and neither should you.” Song shares her two sons with fiance Macaulay Culkin. She also tagged her supportive partner in her post.
Ever supportive of his partner, Culkin reposted Song’s rant, adding “Hell hath no fury like a Brenda scorned…”
The airline issued an apology.
A representative for Alaska Airlines shared a statement with People, saying what Song and her family experienced was “unacceptable and not reflective of the care” they offer customers.
“Traveling can be stressful, especially with young children, and we pride ourselves on being a top airline for traveling families. We are deeply sorry for adding friction to the experience,” they wrote.
The representative added that they “have reached out to the family to make it right,” adding that “we appreciate that guests have a choice in the airline they select and we take our responsibility to deliver a safe, reliable, and caring experience every single time.”
People completely agreed with Brenda Song.
The story made its way over to the r/Fauxmoi community on Reddit, and people shockingly took Song’s side. Even when a celebrity makes a valid point, some people like to make them out to be the problem in the situation.
“She has every right to be pissed and call them out. She booked in advance, chose the seats, and they changed them. That’s f—ed up, and she’s absolutely right to call them out. Those kids are too young to not be sitting with a parent,” one person wrote.
“This happens all too often, not just on Alaska. United did the same with us, they ‘canceled’ the flight, then put everyone on a new flight departing 30 min later, and all seats that were paid for were all of a sudden unassigned….. and then the whole family got separated,” another person shared.
Another user wrote, “I’d be pissed too. You know those weren’t cheap tickets. Even though Brenda has money, she’s right.” Someone responded “Even if she has money, it her money to spend on her family not for some random to benefit.”
“As a famous parent you’re probably on edge the whole time during that flight. So many weirdos out there, where if they realize who the parents of those kids are, anything can happen,” someone added.
Others pointed out that her situation is indicative of a bigger problem.
While what Brenda Song talked about isn’t a new problem, some people tied it back to failures on the part of the airline industry and the United States Federal government. It’s important to highlight these issues.
“I’d be pissed too, flying with kids is stressful enough. Isn’t it illegal now to split up families? I thought there’s a law that recently passed,” one person wrote. “The Trump admin rolled back consumer protections for airline customers the minute they got back into office,” someone replied.
“The practice of airlines, rental car companies, and hotels (etc) overbooking really needs to end. Buying something and being guaranteed to receive that thing should just be a basic consumer right. Companies have to take the risk that there will be cancellations and they may lose money. Not everyone is using these services for fun vacations so before someone uses the ‘but it’s only rich people who travel are affected’ argument, miss me with that bulls–t,” another user wrote.
Someone else added “It’s almost like there should be consumer protections in place to protect consumers from companies who do not have their best interest as a priority.”
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