Okay, you know what, this is one airline policy that I will never have any understanding or sympathy for. Yeah, they don’t weigh much and they don’t take up much space, but you know what? It’s like taking a goddamn air raid siren into the plane. When you’re in an extremely enclosed space with a few hundred other people, the last thing you should be allowed to take with you is something which:
[ol]
[li]Is extremely loud and grating[/li][li]Is liable to smell completely disgusting for prolonged periods of time[/li][li]YOU’RE NOT ABLE OR ALLOWED TO TURN OFF / MURDER![/li][/ol]
Cuz lemme tell you, after two hours of a stupid, spoiled brat screaming in your ears because it can’t get everything it wants and its mother completely failing to keep her under control, that last option is becoming increasingly attractive in just about every capacity. Oh, and that little shitstain pays nothing for ruining not just my flight, but the flight of everyone around me? Jesus fucking christ!
I was about to add this to the OP, because it is so fucking true. Where do we put pets which may be extremely annoying and disturbing for other travelers? Yeah, apply that to babies. FUCK babies.
Ban everyone under 25. After they are babies, they’re toddlers, toddlers who know when they’re being annoying and take joy in pushing your buttons more. But then they turn in to 4 to 8 year olds, the ones that constantly whine about being bored and kick your seat and get up a million times to use the bathroom, putting their sticky hands on the head rest of your seat as they climb over mom and dad’s lap. But wait! Then they become pre-teens and teenagers, and they are loud and annoying once again. They tell loud stories and laugh at an ear drum piercing level for half the flight. They play their video games with the volume on even! And then, then they hit 21 and they can DRINK on the plane. They get drunk with their buddies and harass the flight attendants.
Let’s ban flying altogether. There are too many annoying people in the world and I always forget my earphones so can’t plug in to the TV/iPod/MP3 player to drown out the noise.
You’re absolutely right; parents of infants she should absolutely barred from air travel. Mostly since they put you in danger of not being able to sleep off your hangover, and not having to accept the glares resulting from your SBD farts because you’re asleep.
In fact, airlines should probably have a form letter or letters all made up, for instances when they refuse to allow an infant on board. One example could say something like this:
"Dear Great-grandparents of an Infant,
We’re really, really sorry to hear that you’re unable to travel to see your great-grandchild. We’re even more sorry to hear that you have trouble even getting about town; hell, you barely make it to the bathroom, right! LOL!
Anyways, we know that you’d like to see the little shit. But, you know, that kid might make somebody mad. Sure, it’ll probably be someone who doesn’t have kids and doesn’t understand, but WTF, right?
Of course, maybe the poor kiddo isn’t spoiled. Maybe the mother isn’t unable to control her child because she (or the father) is incompetent. MAYBE:
The child is colicky.
The child is scared.
The child is a fuckingoddamn child, the they fuckinggoddamn cry.
The kid is hungry, and mom (or dad) is really trying to get the right bottle out, and getthecapofforscrewthelidonandnotspillbecausethereareonlytwobottlesfortheentiretripandshealreadyspilledhtelastoneandweknowthatpeopleareannoyednaditsuckssobadbecausewe’retryinghardandsometimes. sometimes. you just can’t DO anything for an infant.
So, great-grandparents, we know that you’d love to see the kid before you die (which may be next week…I mean…LOOK at you!) but it’s just not possible. Mom and Dad will have to take a 39 hour car trip instead.
Your truly,
Asshole Airlines (and the assholes we crate around from place to place)
Great. Another thread by someone who hasn’t had kids, hates all kids, thinks all parents are abdicating jerks, doesn’t appreciate that he was once an infant, and assumes his parental skills will be like ten parents, plus two.
I’ll leave it at that; although I started to type much more inflammatory stuff.
Indeed, especially when it comes to the punishment for murder.
If you can’t understand the difference between an extremely loud sound that we are literally evolved to feel discomfort towards and general person noise, I can’t help you.
I have a problem that this is even an option for safety reasons. We all have to be buckled in for safety but an infant can just be free to get sucked out of the plane if a hole appears in the fusilage or free to roll around on the floor in a crash.
A baby should have to have a seat and a car seat. I don’t care if you won’t be able to fly if you have to pay for your baby. Think about what could happen in an emergency situation with your baby being kicked around on the floor while everyone rushes the exits.
Yeah no. If I started listening to “Rain in Blood” at top volume on my laptop on the flight, it would be FAR less grating than the damn brat’s screaming, but I’m willing to bet that there would immediately be several people screaming at me to stop. Babies don’t get that treatment. Instead, they fly for free. Yay.
I just listened to the kid spend about an hour playing with another kid. Here’s how it went:
– play with penny and pay phone
– other kid decides to take penny
– kid SCREAMS AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS
– mother makes other kid give penny back
– kid stops screaming
Go ahead, tell me she isn’t spoiled.
I swear to god, I wanted to strangle that little brat.
This just in: my parents weren’t stupid enough to fly me transatlantic.
“If you are traveling with children younger than 2, please board at this time”
Does not happen. A small hole in an aircraft doesn’t suck out anything other than air. Any hole big enough to do that would also be big enough to eject adults (or just cause the plane to crash).
What’s to understand? Something like a tenth of all US households include children under 2 years old, and when those people travel they want to take their kids with them. (Well, whether they want to or not, they mostly have to.) The airlines aren’t going to risk losing that market demographic, no way, nohow.
That said, there definitely is some consumer support for airlines offering child-free flights:
So what are you doing venting uselessly here? Grab that keyboard and write your Congressman!
The first time I flew by myself, I was 11 years old and I had to sit next to a crying baby. It seemed like the kid wailed all the way from New York to St. Louis. What a nightmare! All I wanted to do was look out the window and watch the world go by in peace!
