Dad Didn't Understand Why His Baby Was Getting Distracted on Airplane. Then He Met His New BFF 35,000 Feet in the Air (Exclusive)
- - Dad Didn't Understand Why His Baby Was Getting Distracted on Airplane. Then He Met His New BFF 35,000 Feet in the Air (Exclusive)
Hannah SacksJanuary 15, 2026 at 8:36 PM
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Taylor McGrath/TikTok
Taylor McGrath's son meeting another baby on the plane. -
Taylor McGrath didn't know why his son Kingston was getting distracted on the airplane — and then he turned around
He recorded the sweet moment his son met another baby on the Internet, delighting the rest of the plane
Now, McGrath tells PEOPLE about the special moment in an exclusive interview
Taylor McGrath was settling into his flight when he realized his son Kingston was getting distracted.
The dad, who was flying with his son and his husband, Blake McGrath, didn't notice that his son was doing anything particularly special until he sat down on the plane. Taylor was holding Kingston, who kept getting distracted by something behind him.
"My husband suggested I let him stand up, and the moment I did, I realized he was playing with the baby behind us," Taylor tells PEOPLE. "That's when Blake pulled out his phone and started recording."
The video, which has since gone viral, shows Taylor holding Kingston up to meet a baby behind him. The little one stretches his arms over the seat to hold hands with his new friend. "When your kid meets his new bestie at 35,000 feet," Taylor wrote over the video.
In his caption, Taylor joked, "Our in-flight entertainment for the evening @delta."
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Taylor shares that everyone around him on the plane loved watching Kingston find his new best friend.
"Everyone on the plane loved it. You can actually see it in the video," he says. "People were laughing, smiling and cheering them on. One woman in particular in the background caught a lot of attention online because she was grinning ear-to-ear."
"A couple months later, by total coincidence, she came up to us while we were sitting in a restaurant. It was such a small-world moment. She told us she had been on that flight and was actually the woman in the viral video," explains Taylor. "She also shared that she was pregnant at the time. She was just as radiant and joyful in person as she was in the video. Her smile was just as unforgettable."
Courtesy of Taylor McGrath
Taylor McGrath's family
The proud dad says the moment was particularly special because Kingston hadn't really played with other babies before.
"He's always been friendly with other kids, but he's never been that intent on interacting with another baby before," says Taylor. "That was the first time he was truly locked in and determined to play with another child. He loves people, but that moment was definitely new for him."
Taylor adds that he and his husband knew how special that moment was, but having it on tape makes it even better.
"In the moment, we knew it was special, we both were like, 'This is the best thing ever,'" he says. "When we watched the video back, it was even better."
"That clip was only a small snippet of a three-minute interaction, so there was a lot more sweetness that people didn't even see," continues Taylor. "We didn't expect it to reach nearly 30 million views across platforms, but we weren't surprised that people loved it. Our son is pretty amazing, so it checks out."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
