So I’m flying home from Texas with the sprog, who is now six. We had a very rough flight down last week; the plane was full and the sprog had behavioral problems that were not conducive to good relations with the people sitting near us.
This got me thinking. Based on threads here and experiences elsewhere, I think that “child-friendly” sections or whole flights would be a great marketing tool for the airlines. Those sections or flights would be clearly identified as such so people who do not wish to sit near children or fly with them at all could avoid them.
As I’m envisioning this, the “kids’ section” would just be a specific section where families would have guaranteed seats together, and which would have a larger concentration of kids. Ditto for “kids’ flights”. There would be flight attendants who don’t mind working with kids, kid-friendly activity books available, and so forth. Parents would still be responsible for their children’s behavior, so this isn’t a free pass to let little Jeffrey run amok. This would just be a way to segregate families with kids from people who do not wish to be near them, and a way to make flying easier for families. This would also not be mandatory; families who do not wish to do this would not have to, although people flying alone would not be allowed to sit in the kids’ section.
The benefits are that, by seating kids together, they’ve got more opportunity to talk and play with each other and keep each other busy, thus relieving stress for parents. People who don’t like kids or who don’t want to fly with them wouldn’t have to, reducing stress for them as well.
So the topics for discussion are:
[ul]
[li]Would you take advantage of such a thing?[/li][li]Is it worth a premium to you?[/li][li]If it is, how much of one?[/li][/ul]
For me, I’d love it, and I’d be willing to pay up to $50 more a ticket.
Please note that this thread isn’t the place for opinions about how you think that kids are savages who shouldn’t be allowed to fly at all. If you want to do that, start a new thread. Thank you.
I would be more willing to fly with my kids if such a thing were available. I’d even pay a bit more for it.
However, I think maybe the airlines wouldn’t want to do it except for summer flights to Orlando or on holidays, because families with children wouldn’t be prevalent enough on other flights/times.
Oh come off it. Do you honestly believe that’s what she’s trying to say? You really believe that she thinks all people flying alone are child molesters? What’s wrong, isn’t there anything else to get mad about today?
It also reduces recreational outrage and people looking for freebies for their “inconvenience”. By not allowing it in the first place, airlines and parents reduce their exposure to assholish behavior on the part of people who have no business being there in the first place.
See, for me, that’s the problem. I’m afraid that the sort of parents who already do let their children run amok, will see this sort of place as a justification to do even less for the sanity of other passengers. Paying a premium to sit in that sort of section would feel like paying a premium at McDonald’s to sit next to the playroom.
Our kids are fairly quiet by nature and are just as bothered by the noise of undisciplined children in enclosed spaces as any adult - as are my husband and I. The kids have been travelling since they were babes in arms and are now seasoned flyers, well aware that kicking seats, whining, fighting, etc sind strengst verboten on airplanes. The younger one would probably still enjoy extra child-friendly entertainment - he’s almost 9 - but mostly I think they would prefer to sit in the normal section, listen to their mp3 players, read, play games at their seats, talk with us and one another, and nap. Which isn’t all that different from what adult passengers want to do, after all.
Off the top of my head: to avoid anyone complaining that they didn’t want the kids section, to make more room for people with kids.
Sure, that’s only two but that’s more than enough time I care to spend on finding reasons for someone who feels like being a knee jerker on a Sunday morning.
Who pays extra? The people with kids or the people who don’t want to be near kids? People with kids aren’t going to pay more to be put into a zoo. People without kids may pay more to be isolated from kids, but I doubt that there’s a practical way to do that. Some adults are more annoying than kids anyway - can they be kicked out of the quiet section, too?
I would rather take the extra money and invest in a portable dvd player. I tend to try to come prepared with toys, books, snacks, etc. I don’t really see much that they could do that I couldn’t already have anticipated the need for on my own.
I was just on a flight on Thursday with my 5 kids, and I’ll have to go on one on Wednesday. No, I don’t want to be in a special section filled with uncontrolled kids. Oh, hell no. This is also the reason we don’t go to to places like Chucky Cheese, or Disney world/ cruises.
Kids need to learn how to behave in public and around adults. There are times when running around screaming your head off is ok, even necessary, but there are times when you need to be calm and quiet, too. Dealing with boredom is an important skill.
As an aside, there was a woman traveling with 8 kids, No toys, no MP3 players, no books or coloring books. A couple started screaming when we took off; I’m sure they were scared, and the older siblings tried their best to help with the younger ones. After a while they started getting bored. We ended up giving the younger ones some coloring stuff to help keep them occupied. We were in the front of the plane, they were in the back, but we could still hear them. Thankfully the plane was only half full, otherwise it would have been bad.
Honestly, I wish that you could separate the kids more, let them talk to other adults. They would behave better than surrounded by other kids, and could learn some interesting things about other travelers. This would be a better solution than having a kids only area.
I wouldn’t pay more. I don’t fly a lot, but frankly, I’ve never encountered a child on a flight who was unbearable (or even real sucky) to be around. I know your idea comes from a desire to keep from inconveniencing people, which is commendable. However, I think your plan encourages intolerance. Kids are kids and being around them is part of life. If you get a screamer on a flight, there is no corner of the plane far enough away to insulate passengers from the noise, anyway.
Personally, I think people expect too much from life. I do not expect to be comfy and content every minute of a flight. The airlines will cram people into seats that are far too small to accommodate a normal-sized person for the duration of a flight (which to me is far more uncomfortable than a cranky kid).
This is not to say that I don’t expect a parent to try to control their kids. However, I also know that no parent in their right mind feels good about a cranky kid in any public place. My sympathy goes more toward the embarrassed, exhausted parent than to someone who has to be inconvenienced or uncomfortable for a couple hours.
They have a premium seating area on planes, that is usually kid free. It’s called First Class. If you’re flying coach, kids are part of the deal. I say we all just grit our teeth and understand that life happens.
I enjoy interacting with kids on planes and trains. If they have something positive to occupy their time, they won’t start with the antsy, negative, bored behaviors that result in annoyed travelers.
No, not at all. Because it would only increase this:
Segregation does no one good. It doesn’t help to civilize the children or the adults. Frankly, I’ve consistently seen far worse behavior from adults around children than children around adults, and I think a lot of it has to do with our recent experiments in segregation of this sort. When you corral all the kids into their own area of the restaurant, movie theater, hair salons or whathaveyou, you condone and encourage the thinking on the part of adults **and **the kids that children are little savages who can’t be trusted in polite company.
My kids didn’t learn restaurant manners by eating at McDonalds. They learned how to behave at adult restaurants by going to adult restaurants, observing what other diners were doing, getting firm yet quiet correction when they got out of line and basking in the compliments of other diners and waitstaff when they acted properly.
Segregation isn’t the answer. Integration and training is. And that means we have to stop being scared to correct other people’s kids when they’re being little shits, and stop being scared to compliment them when they’re being good. And that’s not going to happen until we cease the molestation hysteria in our country. I sincerely hope it happens before I die, but I’m not at all certain it will.
I agree. IQ’s, common sense and behavioral choices of any group of peers, of any age, plummet when in aggregate. Commonality leads to mobs. Amalgams lead to refinement and civilization.
The thing with small kids and flying is that no matter what you do, it sort of sucks for the kids (and for the people around the kids). It isn’t safe to have them run around, and they don’t sit well for that many hours (unless they are sleeping). Video works fairly well when they get to be three or so - but for the first few years, even that isn’t great. For half an hour of takeoff and half an hour of landing, their ears hurt - and a bottle may or may not help. Constrained to seats, interaction is pretty much limited to the person sitting next to them (usually Mom or Dad) - and unintentional interaction with the person in the seat in front of them (kicking the seat) or the person behind them (slamming little bodies repeatedly into the back of the seat - which, as a traveller is for me more annoying that the kick from behind.
If they could take out seats and give kids a place to move - that would be worth paying something for - but I don’t think you could do it in a cost effective manner, nor would it be safe in case the plane hits turbulence.
Now, I would pay more for a kids ticket if the airlines made a deal with the DVD rental folks in the airport and had my DVD player and kids movies I preordered ready for me (and delivered by stewardess and picked up by stewardess), as well as the ability to rent Nintendo DSs and games. And I would think that having the restaurant four crayons and a six page coloring book for kids on every flight would be something the airlines could probably cover without charge (of course, now that some airlines want to charge you for the can of pop, maybe that would be the end of the airlines). Getting the kids, their luggage and all their stuff through the airport - plus the portable DVD player is a pain in the back end - and I’d be willing to pay for not lugging the portable DVD player through the airport… For the past few years, video has been watched on the iPod or some other small portable device, which makes it a lot easier - but its still a matter of preloading the iPod with videos…
I’d pay a surcharge gladly for all children under the age of 8 to be packed in crates and shipped in the cargo hold.
Or better yet, the airlines should just stop selling tickets for kids under age 8. The parents can bloody well wait until their podlings are old enough to behave before they travel and inconvenience everyone else on the plane.
This is the U.S. You almost have to fly to see family if you need to even if it is just for a funeral. The reproductive years last a while so, asking people to go 15+ years without traveling with their family is a bit much.
My two year old daughter stopped pooping on day 3 of one of our trips to France. By the time we left 4 days later, she was in hysterics but doctors said she was OK. She wailed and flailed so badly on the plane back to Boston that I had to do something so I commandeered a bathroom with the approval of a stewardess. We just stayed in there for most of 5 hours and that was the best possible solution that I could think of. Every time I looked out, there wasn’t a line for any of the other restrooms so I think I made the right decision. The entire coach cabin was still filled with her screams but at least they were greatly muted and I think everyone was as happy as they possibly could be given the circumstances. A few hours after we landed, she started letting out shits that would make a racehorse blush. I made a trip to the local drug store and got some hair dye and all worked out well.