No, I wouldn’t pay extra, but then, I wouldn’t pay extra for a window seat, an aisle seat, early boarding, more overhead space, a hot meal – I look at flying as riding a big ol’ flying bus, and don’t expect much in the way of amenities. Maybe this comes from not flying for the first time until the late 1990’s, after many of the delightful freebies had dried up.
I have 2 kids, an 11 year old and an 8 year old. They fly as unaccompanied minors 4-6 times a year and on every flight, we’re told how well they behave, usually by other passengers. I send them with plenty of things to do in their carryon bags, but they also do know how to behave in public.
I don’t hide my kids away – neither do I take them to casinos or strip clubs, but a nice dinner out for my birthday? Hell yes. They can and do eat non-nugget based meals.
Not a parent, but the only noise-related thing I’d willingly pay extra for would be a universally quiet flight. Traveling with a companion and you want to chat quietly with them using your indoor voice? Go right ahead. Traveling with a child past the unpredictable tantrum age? Plug them into their DVD player and we’re fine.
Mr Chatty McTalksalot who refuses to acknowledge that his seatmates headphones and book are not an invitation to conversation is not allowed on my quiet flight. Romeo and Juliet who will spend the entire three-hour flight arguing without a break are not allowed on my flight*. Ear-pressure Infant and Tantrum Toddler are also not allowed.
*This actually happened, Minneapolis to Philadelphia. They were arguing when they got on the plane - late - and they were still going at the bag claim in Philly.
I think that, if we’re segregating anything, we should segregate behavours rather than types or ages of people. What if there was the ‘noise and chaos’ compartment, the ‘quiet enough for meditation’ compartment, the ‘normal conversation’ compartment, and so on?
In Australia “Sprog” is just a (lower-class) generic nickname for someone’s kids. Doesn’t have any especially negative connotations that I’m aware of, FWIW (besides generally only being used by what we politely refer to as “Battlers” here ;))
Let’s not do this, Mkay. This thread isn’t about perceptions of the childfree movement. While there are certainly some child-haters in the childfree community, they’re a small (but vocal) minority. Most of us are ambivalent about kids or even like them.
Another point-If airlines were to offer child zones, and parents would opt not to be seated in them, do you not think there would be all sorts of dirty looks and comments about how “you don’t belong up here”
Segregation by age is no better than by race or sex.
This system is already in place. If you want comfort and quiet, you pay a premium for first class. Otherwise, you book coach, which is called “economy” for a reason. Coach flyers get what they paid for, and that is public transportation, with everything that entails. (I well remember my days in NYC when taking the subway meant meeting up with everything from businessmen to hookers snoring off their hangovers on your shoulder (seriously) to beggers who put scotch tape over their eyes to feign blindness.)
To the OPer, I’d avoid red eye flights, if you can. I’m a pretty tolerant person, but red eye flights are miserable enough without having to deal with an unruly child. Since your child has behavioral problems over which (I assume) you truly have no control, you might explain that to the FA when you board so that she can (hopefully) caution folks around you who might complain. People tend to be much more tolerant of autistic children, for instance, than children who simply need to be disciplined.
I agree with this, I don’t care how old the person is sitting next to me, I just care if they are going to be bothering me during a flight when I may have budgeted the time to work or sleep. I’d be interested in a quiet zone, with no loud conversations, no rowdy or crying kids, no headphones your neighbor can year. If someone wants to sit in there with a 7-year old who is just going to sleep and watch movies then that would be perfectly fine.
I believe Amtrak has quiet cars, which have more or less the same rules, first-come first-serve, and are not priced higher. I’ve never taken one, anyone who has can tell me if they work. In then end, though, I agree with PunditLisa, on airplanes the closest we will come is First Class and Business Class. Space and boarding speed are at a premium on airplanes, much more so than trains and buses. Having to divide up coach would be additional hassle and expense, and as it is airlines are cutting corners everywhere they can.
Here, porch monkeys are people who hang out all day on their porches or chill out on their porches in the evenings to chat with the neighbors. And I’ve never heard the term sprog used as an offensive slang term - I always thought it was just a cutesy thing. You learn something new every day.
With respect to the OP, even though I experienced similar behavior from my toddler yesterday, I would prefer that he not be around other, equally squirmy intractable children his age while on a plane. What I would pay for, though, is a kids’ area in the airport that included a safe, enclosed play area and/or quiet place for naps where he could run around to burn off energy or have some place quiet to de-stress from over stimulation before the flight or during layovers.
My kid was completely calm during our flight; however, before and after, he was an absolute demon. It was the first time he’s ever behaved like that in public and I would have paid a lot of money to have someplace quiet to go, if only to avoid disturbing other people while I managed his behavior and meted out the necessary discipline. The disdainful looks of the other nearby passengers and stage whispers about what a terrible mom I was because my kid had a melt down didn’t help the situation, either. I would have paid a lot just to have a quiet place to take him for 15-20 minutes to calm him the heck down. I was EXTREMELY lucky that he held it together for the flight.
Ditto. A playground in the airport, near the gate? I’d pay for that. A nap room, with little cots and soft music? I’d pay double.
Oh, and while I knew “sprog” is sometimes derogatory, I use it anyhow, in an ironic affectionate way. I’ve also been known to call my kids “little monkeys” and “monsters”, sometimes in front of them, and “demonspawn” and “crotchcritters”, although not in their presence. I just like fun words.
I certainly would pay more to be an adults-only section - about $50 more a ticket, but only on flights longer than 4 hours. If I’m taking a 90 minute flight to Chicago or NYC, I can sweat it out with headphones.
No. So sorry I’m not wealthy enough to have $300 lying around to spend on a toy. (I spend it on silly things like medical bills.)
I bring a book and/or a newspaper, but I’m not one of those people who can read with loud background noise.
The particular pitch in which seemingly every child I’ve run across shrieks makes me physically ill. It doesn’t matter if they’re shrieking because they’re upset or shrieking because they’re happy, it takes about 90 seconds to give me a splitting headache, and if it’s sharp enough or goes on long enough, it’ll lead to nausea too. Listening to it is like chewing glass. It seriously makes me want to scream, that’s how painful it is, and young kids especially seem to be incapable of conversing in more modulated tones.
I think this is a great idea, but I wonder if they’d be able to fill a “families only” plane regularly enough that it’s cost-effective. Maybe approach from the other direction, and sell flights that are adult-only. Since most flyers are adults, I imagine it wouldn’t be nearly as hard to fill the plane.
The Admirals Club at LAX has a main section, a “quiet area” that is cell phone free, and a glass-walled “kid zone” where the younger folks can read, play video games, watch bad television and lounge around on big pillows and bean bags. It’s very cool.
I agree, as usual, with WhyNot- how are kids supposed to learn manners if they are isolated from adults? One of the author’s I have been following, Mark Bauerlein, a regular columnist from the Chronicle of Higher Education just recently published a book called “The Dumbest Generation”. He links the poor performance of many young college students and the disrespectful and anti intellectual culture among young people from high school on to the fact that (among other things) they have often remained isolated in their peer groups, and authority figures have tried to meet them on their level, rather than raising the bar and demanding they move up.
My siblings and I, all under ten at the time, took a 2.5 hour flight to Disney and behaved perfectly. My littlest sister slept (5), my middle sister watched the inflight movie (7), and I read a book (9) and asked dad lots of questions about how planes stayed up in the air (in a conversational tone, cuz dad didn’t tolerate yelling in closed spaces. It can be done.
I have seen plenty of small children on cross country and international flights, and have yet to experience a disaster.
Yes, but the time to work on teaching kids how to behave like humans is not when you’re quite literally trapped in a given location for hours at a time. Take your kids out to dinner and the grocery store and the mall and what have you, sure, because if they throw a tantrum or otherwise can’t deal with it, you can leave, rather than forcing everyone around you to sit through their screaming.
Yeah, but by the time they are flying intercontinental flights and whathaveyou kids should have been exposed to the public enough that they are used to it, have been educated on the finer points of behaving in public, and the parents have assessed the best method to keep them entertained and quiet.
Kids sometimes have to fly. It’s a fact of life. It falls on the parents the responsibility to minimize discomfort for everyone involved as much as possible.
We are flying 14 hours on Thu with my 3 yo. This is the second time she makes the trip. The first time she was 11 months old and behaved beautifully (unlike a few grownups, who should have been dumped off the plane mid-air). This time I have already stocked on toys, coloring books, drawing boards, snacks and all I can carry to entertain her and keep her quiet. Fortunately she’s an exceptionally well-behaved kid, so I am lucky in that regard.
