Story highlights Parents create and distribute care packages for fellow fliers

Kind gesture or not necessary? Weigh in with CNN Parents on Facebook

New York (CNN) What's a quick way to make friends on an airplane if you're a parent traveling with infant twins? Hand out earplugs and candy.

This is a lesson I learned on Sunday afternoon from Alia and Chris McCants, a couple traveling with their 5-month-old twins Aria and Carter on a flight from Detroit, Michigan, back to New York City.

As I approached my seat in the very last row of the plane, I saw the couple and their babies in front of me and, because it was already a rough travel day filled with cancellations and near-missed connections, thought, "Great. This will be a flight from hell."

But the universe works in awesome ways. Almost immediately, Chris McCants handed me this care package that included a plastic bag filled with two Twizzlers, two Tootsie Rolls, a Hershey's kiss, the ear plugs and a note.

"This is our second flight, ever," the note said. "We came to Michigan to bury our Pops, Marcus Belgrave, and we'd like to apologize in advance if we get scared or our ears hurt on the plane on the way home.

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