A shrieking child three or four rows away or the thumping, tinny noise of music leaking from the earbuds of the guy sitting right next to you? I got to experience both at the same time on a long flight today and, surprisingly, the music bothered me more. I was able to tune out the child after a while.
Thumping earbuds, children are always awesome (parents are not likewise)
Children. Bought headphones.
The tinny earbuds I don’t hear when I have my own headphones (closed ear cups) on.
No known technology can filter out the noise from screaming children, however. This is a result of evolution; children who could be ignored were eaten by the wildlife.
To reverse this unfortunate evolutionary trend, the only answer is to throw them out the door. Or at least threaten to do so.
Being stuck between two people so morbidly obese that I had no place to sit.
Don’t give me lectures about being fat hater. These 2 women could have taken up the entire row. We had to put the arms of the seats up and squeeze me between them (the plane was full).
I never travel without ear plugs in my handbag, they’re cheap, effective and available at the airport usually!
I highly recommend them! Such a tiny little thing that can make ALL the difference!
muzak leakage
The earbud pollution would bother more if I didn’t have ear protection. I usually bring earplugs or ear coverings with me on airplanes and public transit so I won’t have to hear noise leaking out of people’s earphones.
People can’t always control screaming children, but presumably people can set the volume on their music players (not that many of those people seem to care if they’re bothering others or not.)
Drunk people next me who won’t stop talking. Don’t wanna talk to you.
Usually I can manage with the big headphones and laptop. Sometimes they lean in and try to watch. That’s annoying too.
Kids behind me who kick the entire flight are the worst. Eight hours from Munich on a full plane with the kid behind me kicking all the time! What made it worse was the mother and father who kept saying, “that makes Mommy (or Daddy, depending on who was talking) so unhappy to see you kick.” Or, “That’s not nice.”
The flight attendants would hurry by, and I know they knew what was going on, but they just sort of glared at me like, “Don’t even think about making a fuss.” And, my “entertainment system” was broken.
Eight hours and that kid never slept!!!
Kids, even yowling kids don’t bother me at all. I still remember mine like that. The ass with the loud earbuds does bother me.
Earbuds. Babies and kids making noise very rarely bother me.
I think the earbud thing annoys me because I can never quite make out the song they’re listening to. There’s this drone which sort of sounds familiar, but is impossible to follow or decipher. I have to put up not only with their noise, but with mystery.
I’ve always assumed that similar logic is the reason why some people are infuriated by people talking on phones but not by loud discussions in general. Overhearing someone’s boring conversation is one thing, overhearing a boring conversation you can’t quite follow because you can only hear one side is another.
Children. Though I have two myself (they’re grown), I never get used to screaming kids. That’s why I buy foam earplugs and use them whenever I fly. They’re cheap, inconspicuous, and one of the best investments I ever made.
I use foam earplugs on airplanes and don’t hear any annoying stuff. The weird thing about the earplugs is that the announcements come through loud and clear, but the engine noise, crying babies, etc., completely blotted out.
I was recently on a flight where a man about two rows back had the most annoying headphones ever. I am used to some muted thumping, but this was loud.
He was listening to music that I would probably find listenable (not a barrage of blast beats and thumps), but it was still very irritating.
Most kids will have an outburst for a moment and then go quiet.
Crashing.
Space invasion and thoughtless behaviour of grown adults. On a recent (short) flight out to Spain, the guy next to me just kept leaning and elbowing into my seat space. He was as skinny as a stick, so had no good reason to. My arm started to get sore from being rubbed.
He and his companion also kept bursting into song, drumming on the tray table, whistling, etc. Of course I just sat there and said nothing; it is the British way (actually, it was for fear of escalating the problem).
Crying babies may disturb my rest, but not my calm or patience. I figure this is something that the poor parents do not have absolute control over.
Honestly, the most irritating thing about crying babies on airplanes is adults who can’t help but to start kvetching about the crying babies on the airplane.
My wife, a wonderful woman with many positive qualities, is such an adult, so this has become a fixture of air travel for me.
I find the crying babies really annoying – it’s both because they cry in a range that triggers a migraine for me, and because I don’t have any kids of my own.
But then I feel bad for being annoyed, because the babies can’t help it.
Children are never awesome. If they’re your own, they’re tolerable, at best. I’d have on my own headphones to drown out someone else’s headphones.