Comments on: Kids on planes!

By: Kelly Stone

Kelly Stone — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:12:04 +0000

It is a sign of the times. Out of control parents allowing children to misbehave.
Kicking the seat for over 4 hours along with throwing toys over the seat. Yelling the entire time.

By: Mark from the real world

Mark from the real world — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:10:47 +0000

Sorry to all whom don’t know what’s going on, all the time. I have two active children, which most of the time are well behaved but do get bored easlily. We bring everything we can from books, to toys to our own movie players. But what do you do when one of your kids is mild audtistic? Do we ban him from Disney or can people realize that there are things out there that no one can control. Maybe the people who have issues should rent a car and to their destination, because I wouldn’t survive that long with my two. They don’t intentionally upset people, but if they happen to bump a chair or a table, so what. I recently flew back from Mexico and we were reading to keep them calm and our 3 year old slid off his chair and bumped the chair ahead. One instance and the guy turned and suggested we control our children. If that is the level of patience from an adult, how can you expect more from a child. Just a thought.

By: Lisa Dee

Lisa Dee — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:52:40 +0000

Where I’ve come across problems is when the parents were still kids themselves. My flight was only about 2.5 hours, and the child in back of me kept kicking my seat. All “mom” had to say was, “Well, kids will be kids.” Whatever happened to teaching your kids some MANNERS???

By: frostysnowman

frostysnowman — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:37:01 +0000

This is an old article but obviously still a relevant issue.

Airlines should have a policy prohibiting children from being seated far away from their parents. You’d assume as much, but that Israel flight story blew my mind!

My kids have flown quite a bit since they were both babies, and we have always made sure to have books, snacks, toys, and the like ready to keep them occupied. It makes the flight more pleasant for everyone on the plane. We teach them how to be good flyers, and have been fortunate to be able to fly with them quite a bit. They’ve both had their moments here and there, mainly due to ear pain, but that’s to be expected. They are well behaved, our expectations are made clear before boarding any plane, and they are getting good training for flying etiquette as teens and adults.

I travel a lot for business and try to be extra patient when I hear small children or babies on the plane who are upset. I’d be a hypocrite otherwise. Lord knows that flying has become so unpleasant that I’d like to scream and cry about the experience sometimes too! I think most parents try to do their best when they are flying with their kids. Unfortunately, the old saying about one rotten apple spoiling the whole barrel can really apply in this scenario. Anyone’s kid can have a bad day, and unless the parents are deliberately ignorant and oblivious we can’t know the circumstances.

And I loved the comment from BP about fathers doing their part to keep the kids calm! Right on!

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:37:26 +0000

When I was flying from ATL to SWF, my seat was reassigned because I was late to the gate. I then was given a seat next to a mother of 3 toddlers. On the taxi to the runway, and the climb, the kids were crazy. So I just listened to my ipod. And for the rest of the flight, the kids seemed to settle down.

By: jml1066

jml1066 — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 03:15:25 +0000

Lisa, Lisa, Lisa, surely you do not deny that there ARE parents who absolutely do not care one iota whether or not their children behave in public. Those are the ones we have a gripe with, not all children/parents across the board. I am staunchly childfree but WILL say that I do not object to the presence of well-behaved youngsters who don’t kick seats or are otherwise unruly. Sure, sometimes kids have a freakout or painful ears-totally understandable. But deliberate lack of consideration? Come ON…

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:08:07 +0000

I am astounded by the number of adults who expect better behavior from young children and infants than they themselves are apparently capable of. Go back over the posts and look at the volume of voilent and hateful remarks made by ADULTS towards children! I bet many of you wonder why people are generally negative; take a good long look in the mirror.

As adults, you are far more in control of your words, actions and emotions so get a grip.

And for those of you who claim to travel so frequently, I do not understand your comlpaints. Aren’t you experienced enough to know you have many more options available to you than a parent has for young children? Take your own drugs, wear ear plugs, etc. And try to slap a smile on your face once in a while.

By: B P

B P — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 18:17:06 +0000

Many of you missed a very important point:

The parents were obviously in over their heads, too. Even though Blodgett appealed to them, they seemed powerless to intervene. “Dad did nothing,” she remembers. “Mom seemed to be either nursing or changing a diaper for the entire flight.”

Why the (insert your favorite expletive-deletive here) aren’t people PUNISHING the fathers who do nothing? (I am one, and I make sure to do as much as possible!)

So often, we see exactly that: Father does nothing while mother does more-than-everything. I’ve even seen Father in first class, mother in coach.

In the meantime, maybe the airlines need to empower their staff to… relocate the father to next to the kids.

By: Rutger Hauer

Rutger Hauer — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:48:47 +0000

I second the inconsiderate adults who suggest banning babies and kids from flying. Why not post some constructive ideas instead? There are parents who are mindful and try to manage that their kids do not interrupt other passengers.

By: Flora Gaet

Flora Gaet — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 14:53:21 +0000

I find it very inconsiderate that someone would proudly recommend children or babies should not be on flights.The point is that ALL people should be respected on the flight.Everyone wants a peaceful relaxing trip,including children and youth.People -parents,adults without children and children should be considerate and well behaved.Without children flying the travel industry would soon become nothing..by the way these children grow up and fly themselves.I agree with above comment-for all the primadonna adults,that think the world exists exclusively for them,their is first class. Thankfully airlines are continually thinking of ways to improve the quality of flights for families and young children!

By: Cheri

Cheri — Tue, 20 Jun 2006 06:24:48 +0000

I can sympathise with anyone who wishes to fly without kids around. I even do not want to go out for dinner if I have to sit close to anyone who has more than two kids with them. (I always ask to be seated elswhere). I have two boys now 25 yrs and 23 yrs of age. I always got a sitter if we were going out as I did not wish to have my children annoy others. When we went out, we did not want to have to put up with other people’s children when we were paying good money to hire a sitter.
We flew to Hawaii from Winnipeg Canada when the boys were two and four yrs old. It was close to a 8 or 10 hour flight. I made sure that I had plenty of new small toys and (finger foods that they were familiar with). I spent months preparing for the plane trip, shopping for small articles that would entertain them. It was a wonderful trip. We were relaxed and the kids were happy.
I have to admit that when we were waiting to disembark, the people befind us said “When we first got on and saw that there were two little kids sitting in front of us we were not pleased.” “But we have to tell you that they were extremely well behaved, to the point that we did not even know they were here.” Other people while walking down the aisle also commented on how great the kids were. Now my kids were the typical boys but I was prepared and made sure they had things to do. We adults too were involved in playing with them, as you can not expect kids to entertain themselves for 8 or more hours in cramped quarters.
All it really comes down to, is to respect other people’s feelings.

By: Frank

Frank — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 23:32:35 +0000

Kids shouldnt be allowed in first class.

By: Vesna

Vesna — Wed, 17 May 2006 18:58:18 +0000

I have traveled business heavily for 5 years. I have traveled also with infants (I have son and daughter), so I have both experiences. It is hard for me to grasp the attitude of adults towards children and their parents that are trying their best. Kids are our future. We have to grow culture in which other people are willing to help Mom control kids on the plain, not just roll their eyes and demand perfect conditions on the flight . This is quite selfish and imature. If airlines would provide organized seating where they group all kids in one section of the plane, than at least parents around each other would have higher tollerance levels. And for those primadona adults that are so selfish – get the first calss ticket if you are so special and need the whole world to spin around you!

By: A. J. Graham

A. J. Graham — Mon, 08 May 2006 04:57:46 +0000

When my granddaughter was 6 years old, she began traveling alone as an unaccompanied minor from Chicago to visit us in Tampa. Her parents had raised her to have good manners, and this carried through to her airplane travels. On every occasion the flight attendant told me when I picked her up after the flight what a well behaved little girl she was. A couple of times the flight attendant put her in first class. She always brought along in a little carrryon bag a few books and Barbie dolls and never left her seat except to use the bathroom. Unfortunately for us, since 9/11 her parents will no longer allow her or her younger sister fly unless they are with them.
My husband and I have been fortunate in our many travels to not have encountered too many unruly children. When a family is traveling on the same flight as ours and their children are well behaved, I always compliment them and their parents…compliments go along way and are appreciated.

By: Tahoe Joe

Tahoe Joe — Thu, 04 May 2006 02:18:10 +0000

Many parents nowadays are totally inconsiderate when travelling with kids. As long as the kids are not bothering their parents, the parents ignore almost everything else they do, including, in one case, the kid sticking his leg though the seats and kicking my laptop. The parents basically ignored my loud “excuse me” until I finally called them idiots(that finally caught their attention). On my last transcontinental flight, I had the pleasure of being within a row of four children under 4, including one in my row whose parents( who kept asking me to trade my aisle seat for a window) insisted on continually playing a DVD or Barney with the speakers on(thank god for noise cancelling headphones). Have people lost all consideration of others with their “me first” attitudes? I always made sure my daughter behaved herself when she was young ( I used to joke that it was better to travel with her than my parents).