Impatient parents balk at waiting 35 minutes at the airport, busy daughter tells them to get a taxi instead and refuses to pick them up: 'If you had been nice you would be home already'

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Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Sep 23, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

Airport pick-ups have a unique way of testing peoples' patience. Everyone is tired, cranky, lugging around suitcases, and somehow the minimum expectation is always that someone will be waiting on the curb the exact moment that you step outside. But life doesn't often line up so neatly; there really is no way to perfectly time a pick-up, especially not at an international airport. Personally, whenever my parents pick me up from Houston, I know traffic will slow them down enough that I can grab a sandwich and coffee before they actually arrive.

This is the dilemma a mom and dad find themselves in when their daughter agrees to pick them up from the airport; she's going to show up 35 minutes later than they expected. Their daughter is a single mom juddling a five-year-old's football practice, two dogs, and a busy weekend routine, and she just needs a few minutes to unload some groceries. When her parents demanded that she drop everything and arrive immediately, she pushed back, and told them to take a taxi instead. Now her parents are furious, calling her unkind and unreliable and extra cranky because they got home much later than they would have if they had just waited the extra half hour. 

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  • 01

    My parents were disrespectful so I made them take a Taxi home from the airport - AITAH?

    The inside of an aiport
    via Elena Photo

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02
    My parents (61M & 67F) went away on holiday and it was agreed that I would drop them off
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  • 03
    and potentially pick them up although this was to be confirmed due to lack of space in my car.
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  • 04
    I have a 5 yr old child and am a single parent. My weekends are usually very busy with rigid schedules - my parents know
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  • 05
    this. My son had football this morning from 10:20-11:00 and my mum said that she would let
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  • 06
    me know when I should start making my way to collect them from Heathrow airport to minimise pick-up charges.
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  • 07
    It was a tight schedule this morning as I also had to walk the dogs before football, take kid to football and restock the house
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  • 08
    with essential groceries plus. some extra for a nice dinner that I had planned for my parents upon their return and unpack my very small car to make space for their luggage.
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  • 09
    A car wheel riddled with sticky note reminders of errands
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    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 10
    So my mum calls me at 12:00 to say they've just landed and then 25 mins later lets me know they're ready to be collected. I
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  • 11
    had just finished the food shop and I just had to unpack it then I was going to collect them. This
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  • 12
    would mean my parents would have to wait 35 mins for me to collect them. I let them know as much.
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  • 13
    My parents turned around and yelled saying don't bother and how they didn't care about the food shopping, and that I was
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  • 14
    unkind and unhelpful (I drove them an hour to Gatwick for their departure flight). They just expected me to be there right
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    away. So I responded by letting them know I was on my way as soon as I had put all the refrigerated items away. They let
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  • 16
    me know this wasn't good enough. So I told them, I drove you to Gatwick, did a few chores for them whilst they were away
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    that were a big expense time and money-wise that they've yet to pay me back for and that they
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    can get a taxi home. I then hung up as I found their attitude to be completely disrespectful.
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  • Listen, traveling isn't for everybody. You have to be patient. You really never know at which point during your adventure you will be left waiting, but it will happen quite often, and you need to be ready for it. 

  • 19
    An elderly couple looking judgemental and upset
    via CREATISTA from Getty Images

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 20
    They called me back right away doubling-down that I'm an AH so I repeated "get a taxi". An hour later my dad calls me chewing
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  • 21
    me ear off saying "aren't you collecting us then? When are you getting here". I told him what I told my mum, get a taxi. He said that they have ordered one but that
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  • 22
    it's taking awhile. I said "it will. If you had been nice you would be home already." Then I hung up on him.
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    Taxis lined up in front of an airport
    via Cameris from Getty Images Pro

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 24
    They got home 2 hours later than they would've liked due to me refusing to collect them but I want them to know that they
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  • 25
    can't treat me like sh and expect me to go out of my way for them. They have stonewalled me since.
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  • 26
    In comparison, they refused to drive 10 mins to the train station to pick me up when I came back from Italy with an ear infection so
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  • 27
    had to get a taxi home. Whilst the distance home is considerably shorter, they refused because they didn't feel like it not because they couldn't.
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  • 28
    may have been the AH by telling them to get a taxi and hanging up but I feel that I need to get an outside perspective as I feel justified in my decision based on principle of respect.
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  • 29
    Waste_Worker6122 You offered to pick them up; they just didn't like the conditions (35 minute wait). If they had been as rade and nasty to the taxi driver as they were to you they'd still be sitting at the airport. NTA.
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  • 30
    Environmental_Art591 Right, honestly, I get they might be tired but after a measly 1hr flight all I wanted to do was stand, and go for a walk to stretch my legs, go to the toilet
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    and hit up the Cafe for something to eat and drink, (i hadn't eaten all day because I get nauseous flying due to anxiety).
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  • 32
    I would have happily of said "no worries just let me know when you are on your way and I will head down to the pick up zone"
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  • 33
    OP is NTA and if your still unsure, what would they have done if you talked to them that way.
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  • 34
    Mindless_Ad_6045 I do get their frustration to a certain degree, my dad is like that, when you make any plans with him you have to adjust the times by an hour because you know for a fact that he will be
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  • 35
    doing something else even though he knows exactly when we were supposed to meet. It's not like the shopping was going to run away, if I've to be somewhere for a certain time, it can wait
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  • 36
    ConnectionDue6373 NTA. Life lesson: don't be r de to someone going out of their way to do you a favor.
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relationship advice family drama single entitled parents airport family feud relationships parenting Travel love family raising kids parents vacation
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