Too bad we can't pick and choose which passengers get to board a plane. Oh wait! We can. Charter your own plane if you don't want kids on board. Besides, why do the kids get all the blame? The ones who are annoying are the ones whose parents think rules don't apply to them and teach their kids they can do as they please. Maybe banning the parents would be a better idea.

I've flown with my young children several times and really wouldn't mind sitting in a "family friendly" section of the airplane, even if its in the back. Yeah, I know my kid is crying. If I could do something about it, I would. But I'd rather be annoying the other parents with kids (who are more likely to be sympathetic) than the businessmen traveling for work.

To suggest that young children not be able to travel at all is simply absurd.

Euthanasia.

What are "airplanes"?

Put the families with small children in the back, separated by a "wall" (think cubicle material) to help dampen all the noise. That'd be ideal! I don't care too much, though, because I just pop in my earbuds as soon as possible into the flight anyway.

Anyone who has an issue with a crying child on a plane is an tadpole.

Sometimes flying is the only option and sometimes it's not about a vacation but something serious.

Get over yourselves. You were once children and whether or not you plan to have children doesn't matter. It's just something you deal with because it's an understandable situation. Most of the time it's because their ears aren't popping. If you've ever had this happen to yourself you know just HOW PAINFUL that can be and how nothing can fix that until you land. Chewing gum doesn't always help as a preventive measure.


Brats on a plane are an entirely different matter and people can complain all they want about them rightfully so. If a parent can't control their child on a plane, no matter the situation they're in, they shouldn't fly. It can be a dangerous situation having a brat that won't listen and stop being rude.

But remember that no one wants a crying baby or child, especially the parent. And they're doing everything in their power to calm the kid. So get over yourselves.

I don't blame the kids, but the tadpole (filtered) parents that think it is cute for them to run around unattended. Not just on planes either.

trip for business, quiet! trip for pleasure, poor baby, i hope it feels better soon.

You could spell would correctly or at least a wootish way like woold.

Sedate *ALL* the screaming children! :D

Don't mind them at all as long as they don't get out of their cages in the cargo hold...

Even better, sedate all the adults...

With the invention of jetliners, we are able to make journeys in 3 hours that once took over 6 months. If you're too busy whining like a baby about a baby crying than to marvel at the fact that your'e inside a pressurized metal tube at 35,000 feet while the outside temperature is -60 something degrees going 500 something miles per hour while watching live TV on a little screen and checking the woot on the free wifi, and FaceTiming the folks on the ground with your phone, and watching a thunder storm below, while the plane you're in is being powered by fuel that was refined from oil below the ocean floor, you're insane and should probably get some noise canceling headphones and a history book and be happy you don't have to ford any rivers on you're trip back to LA.

As a parent with a baby who has traveled on planes a few times now with her, sitting in the back is not a good idea. Most airlines only have changing tables in the front bathroom, and you cant stand up there to wait, so its very very difficult to get in there to change a poopy diaper.

Would you rather let us sit near the front or deal with the baby crying longer and grabbing at everyones hair as we maneuver the entire length of the plane to get to the change table as quick as possible?

Oh hey, even better, I'll change her on the lap of the loudest complainer.

gertiestn wrote:What are "airplanes"?

Come on, you know those blinking lights in the night sky that some people wish were shooting stars? Airplanes!

Checking your populatipn demographics, woot....sneaky....

I don't fly enough to have an opinion on this!

I think that now airlines have stopped serving meals on most flights, it would be a good idea to take the crying children, cook them in the galley and serve them up to the adults sitting around where they used to sit.... or... make them and their parents sit in the back.

Miquela wrote:As a parent with a baby who has traveled on planes a few times now with her, sitting in the back is not a good idea. Most airlines only have changing tables in the front bathroom, and you cant stand up there to wait, so its very very difficult to get in there to change a poopy diaper.

Would you rather let us sit near the front or deal with the baby crying longer and grabbing at everyones hair as we maneuver the entire length of the plane to get to the change table as quick as possible?

Oh hey, even better, I'll change her on the lap of the loudest complainer.

Sure. The airlines would be all for you bothering the first class passengers with your screaming child.

Earbuds are a lifesaver.

What REALLY gets me is the child kicking my seat. >.<

I will take a fussy baby over the obnoxious adult sitting close by talking to his buddies feeling the need to be so very loud that I can hear him even with my earbuds in. It is great to socialize but control your volume, no one else wants to hear about your golf game, work issues or whatever. And by the look on their faces I don't think the buddies want to hear it either.

The sense of entitlement some people have is amazing. I have taken my son on two flights (there and back again), and it was a lot of work (he was just shy of 2), but I got it done and he wasn't terrible. Still, it's a tiring experience, and I had my wife with me, so we were both working at it with things to keep him occupied. I don't know how one parent manages, but that's another topic altogether.

Unless you have done it yourself, you cannot possibly imagine what it's like to spend 2-5 hours (or more for the truly brave) doing nothing but caring for your child with focused effort on keeping them happy and pleasant while constantly worrying about other passengers freaking out because your kid kicked the chair once or got loud once when they get bored of being stuck sitting down. You think your flight is difficult because a kid cries when it's in pain or can't get up after several hours? You aren't the person pouring all of their effort into making others more comfortable.

If you don't like it, bring headphones. And be thankful that a short period of a child's presence (and possibly screaming) is the tiniest sliver of the real experience.

It's one thing to say that kids aren't for you, but to say that kids shouldn't be allowed to share the same flight space, or that they should be placed in some sort of zone of vicious circle of crying in the BACK of the plane, is so selfish and impetuous I don't even know where to begin.

PS - I understand there are some terrible parents who don't try. That's unfortunate, and other passengers should let the flight attendants know if the result of such parenting is making the flight miserable. But respect the parents who try.

I have kids and I think the back of the plane for crying kids is perfectly acceptable. The worst is when you are in a restaurant and a kid is crying and the parent just sits there!

bethhenry wrote:Too bad we can't pick and choose which passengers get to board a plane. Oh wait! We can. Charter your own plane if you don't want kids on board. Besides, why do the kids get all the blame? The ones who are annoying are the ones whose parents think rules don't apply to them and teach their kids they can do as they please. Maybe banning the parents would be a better idea.

great points !!

Doesn't bother me, scream away chappy! After all its the parents that get the awkward glances, and stares. I just sit back, and enjoy the show.

If they won't drug their kids for the flight, the parents should offer to drug anyone else who wants.

They bother me but I understand I need to just deal with it.

JackEhrbar wrote:If they won't drug their kids for the flight, the parents should offer to drug anyone else who wants.

Planes are a BYOB (Benadryl) affair.

I think with all the flying we have done with and without our kid that the altitude effect some of them. Just as in adult the altitude effect us too.

Check as baggage.

They should be in a kid carrier in the cargo hold. With the rest of the pets.

I have kids and I waited until they were old enough to understand and somewhat entertain themselves, age 3 and 4, to fly with them. I did not want to be glared at! Parents are the problem IMHO. Kids kicking the backs of seats are the worst. Then there was the couple who spent ten minutes changing their kid on the drop down trays behind our seats. The constant movement of the kid on the trays was annoying - not to mention - PEOPLE EAT ON THOSE TABLES!!!

All the negative comments on here really make me lose hope for humanity. I don't have children myself, but I'm a preschool teacher and goodness knows it can be hard enough to keep small children occupied in a classroom, I have no idea how parents manage to keep their kids sitting in one place for several hours.

Granted, some kids may just be spoiled, but for most small children it seems more likely that they're just acting their age. And far from blaming the parents, all of you who are negative about children on flights should have a lot more compassion from the parents, because not only do they have the unenviable job of trying to keep their kid occupied on a flight (which considering that small children generally have really short attention spans is not an easy task) but if their child *does* misbehave at all, they're the ones that get blamed for it.

I've spoken to a few parents of small children who have had such bad experiences with other passengers regarding their children that they try not to fly whenever possible, and it's a bit sad to me that people can be so rude to parents of small children on flights.

Yes, sometimes children cry on flights. But don't blame the parents, who likely as not are trying the best they can to keep their child quiet and occupied and are probably just as frustrated as you are.

It's called "being responsible as a parent". My kids hae all flown at one time or another with no problems. Coloring books, read to them, or let them sleep a bit. Some snacks might be good also. Don't forget though, you will have to pay the inflatted price that airport venders charge. Why do they have to do that?? Looks like most of the people who work there probably don't pay taxes anyway..

We're taking our newborn to London at the end of June when she'll be 6 months old, which will involve a long couple of flights from Pasco WA. It's going to be tough, but in all honesty my family aren't going to make it over here in their entirety. I want them to meet her while she's cute, and then not again for at least another two years. If the doc gives us the green light for something like Benadryl then we may try that, but I am nervous about getting her over there and keeping her relatively happy. I traveled a lot back and forth between London and Seattle in my 20s and always took headphones and helped parents when I could, feeling sorry for them!

Spoiled brats and those who indulge them get scant sympathy from me. Crying babies and their struggling parents are to be pitied. (My own kids are now teens.) Perhaps there *should* be a Kids' Section on board, replete with a bit of sound insulation around it? Though I have to admit, I kinda like the idea of the tranq-dart gun. For the brats and their keepers, anyway.

Simple solution: Free alcohol for any passenger under 6 years old.

Shinespark wrote:Euthanasia.

Or they could open the bar and pour enough alcohol into the pampered, overindulged little angel that he passes out.