BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Family sections on planes?

I read this article this morning and was really dismayed by some of the quotes from parents in it. I noticed the author didn't bother to quote anyone with no children. She even mentioned that people who want to travel in peace and quiet pay more for their tickets. WTF? What am I missing here? Since when should people who want to have a pleasant travel experience have to pay more? Along those lines, why don't they just charge a fee for every noisemaking kid out there? Kind of like overweight luggage??? Sorry...I rant!

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I personally think it's a great idea to have a family section on an airplane. If it could be an area closed off to passengers who aren't interested (me) in hearing everything that goes on while young kids are on the flight, GREAT!

Yes- I agree it is a great idea. I would welcome the opportunity to sit in a section without kids. I guess I just have a problem with the author saying that those who want peace and quiet should pay extra for it.

That definitely would be out of the question!

She's obviously biased. You mentioned yourself that she didn't quote anyone with no children. That article was perfect for the child-free to be addressed within!

I think some authors purposefully choose to only quote those who's views they share in order to convince others of their beliefs.

What I don't get is the parent's defense of "kids will be kids". I know, but if you take them to adult type places, then everyone else is going to expect them to behave accordingly. If you are the type of parent who thinks it's fine for your kid to be a kid and run wild, then don't bring them out to places that don't condone that- for instance- if you want to eat at a restaurant, go to Chuck-E-Cheese, or leave the kid at home. If you want to go on a trip, drive! That way the only people that your kid will be annoying is YOU. But YOU don't want to be in the car with your kid for 10 hours, so you subject US to his bad behaviour for 3 hours. Does that seem right?????

No it doesn't seem right and yet in our culture there seems to be this pervasive sense that we all have to tolerate other people's children no matter the setting. I'm growing increasingly tired of it and have found I really have to watch my big mouth sometimes in public!

As much as I don't agree with the "pay more" idea, it seems to me that the flying experience has been so diminished now that squalling kids is one of just a long list of unglamourous indignities one puts up with when one flies. Fewer meals and drink; less and less legroom due the airlines cramming more and more rows into the same amount of space (I'm 6' tall, with a 34" inseam; my DH is 6'5", with a 34" inseam. Flying is *murder* on us; our knees literally get bruised sometimes from trying to fit into those seats!); dozens of planes stacked up on the tarmac, polluting the air even more as they idle, so that the airlines can make their "on-time" quotas; and now, it seems, a larger and larger proportion of people with very young children travelling (as flying is more affordble than it used to be, due to...um...more crowded rows of seats!!!).

It's steerage, folks. We might as well face it. The days of pleasant air travel are gone!

Bonsai- You are so right...it is probably wishful thinking on my part to have a pleasant flying experience at all. My husband also suffers on airlines because of his height. He is 6'3" and we always try to get him seated in an exit row so he can be somewhat comfortable. I can't relate being only 5'2" but I know he is just miserable every time we have a long flight!

Speaking of places children shouldn't be ... I was at a wedding yesterday at 3 p.m. We got there early. As we were trying to walk to our seats, we couldn't get down the aisle. This woman had her baby there, and blocking the aisle was the diaper bag and car seat. To top it off, the woman was moving the baby around quite a bit to entertain her. We couldn't get through. I had to say "excuse me" twice.

Now, this was the MAIN AISLE! There were about 100 people who had to get seated. WHAT was she thinking? (By the way, she moved but didn't even say "oops."

Then, the ringbearer was a 4-year-old whose mom was standing up in the wedding. He was sitting with his grandma near the front of the church after walking up. About a minute into the ceremony he starts crying and yelling "I want my mommy!" who was only about five feet from him. She turned around and glared at him and put a finger to her lips, then turned back. Grandma stood up, picked him up, and proceeded to hiss at him to be quiet. Thus, not only did she contribute to the noise, she blocked the view for a bunch of people.

Why on earth couldn't she take the kid outside or in the back or something? Geez.

Oh BOY DON'T get me STARTED!!!
Yesterday I flew back, me and hubby, from an absolutely wonderful holiday in Walt Disney World and I'm pleased to say we had overall a fun, romantic fabulous holiday.
BUT
the FLIGHT!
Let me see I had a kid behind me kicking the seat but as the seat was quite comfortable and well padded it wasn't an uncomfortable experience, a bit annoying but tolerable.
HOWEVER the kid in FRONT of me was a DIFFERENT story.
I noticed he was a bit fussy anyway, he asked the airline staff at least twice when the movie he wanted to see would be on, I think he complained about the food, that he didn't want to eat the meal - we ate veg cos of hubby's dietary restrictions but we'd ordered that about two weeks previously!
But before all that he leaned his seat back - a LOT so I had little space. My husband and I complained to the man next to him who we assumed was his dad and he just smiled at us! Then my husband said something to the flight attendant (even though I told hubby not to, I was fine) and she told the boy to put his seat forward, which of course he did. The plane was taking off anyway.
Not long after, of course, the seat went back again!
Well I let it be until I was leaning forward a little bit, writing something in the notebook and the boy's seat went back suddenly and hit me on the head and it hurt!
So, fed up by now, I headbutted it out of my way!
And then the moomy complained to me so I explained WHY I said I think "I understand your son is more comfortable with his seat back but PLEASE just tell him to be more CAFEFUL and put it back SLOWLY cos he just moved back quickly and the chair hit me on the head! And it hurt!"
And she snapped at me with a very snarky defensive tone "He didn't even MOVE!"
So I admit we argued (I tried to be as calm as poss) and hubby called for the flight attendant. The woman asked to be moved but was told it was impossible. She said to me that the boy next to us had been kicking her seat. I replied he was nothing to do with us.
(Later on I thought, you know, I NEVER saw that boy kick her seat and found him VERY well mannered and polite to us, the flight staff etc. You know, good manners like please and thank you and excuse me. Plus he was about 12 or 14, the head butter probably between 8 and 10. And if the older, mature boy's parents heard her say that I doubt they'd be very happy!)
ANYWAY she then said "He's kicked my seat and I said NOTHING." And I thought later, someone was kicking MY seat(like I said, another kiddo, this one about 3 or 4 I think.) And yet, the seat kicking was nowhere NEAR as annoying as the leaning back and hitting me on the head, plus the leaning back actually HURT!
Despite all this!
I was incredibly grateful we had no screaming babies at all on our flight so I realise it COULD have been worse!
But STILL after THAT little experience I would LOVE to fly child free!
(By the way, what annoyed me the most about the situation was the LIES! I admitted moving the seat forward in defense - and by the way I'd TRIED talking! - but the mother and son denied he'd moved the seat!! Even though from the start of the flight on my husband and the man next to the boy saw that he'd been doing it AND we complained to the staff about it! It's like she couldn't BELIEVE that little PWECIOUS might do something he shouldn't! And I just KNOW she would have said to him "you never moved your seat, DID you darling." you know not even really ASKING him! GRRR!
By the way, we were given juice five to ten minutes before landing. I held onto my roll so I could chew on it slowly when we landed as that makes my ears hurt usually.
Well as we started landing, the daughter of this not so lovely family decides she needs some water so she can take some medicine! And from what I could gather initially the flight attendant said no because they were needing to land. And the mother said something to her and a few minutes later the flight attendant came back with water which darling daughter put in the water. My point IS, WHY did she have to decide THEN she needed the water and if she knew her ears might hurt (she was not American so would have been on a plane at least once, to go over there.) why not hang on to the orange juice or ask for water instead when it was handed out and THEN use THAT?!
She just had to pick on of THE most inconvenient times for flight staff to ask for water, and by the way as she had medicine with her she must have known she'd need it.
You know, it's like they just thought their needs came before EVERYONE else's! GRRR!