Crying-free zone? Childless passengers back mandatory 'family-only' section on planes

alexmst

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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1307156/Childless-families-family-section-planes.html

They are high up on the list of travel nightmares: the annoying passenger seated next to you on the plane.

Whether it be a screaming baby, or the oafish man who downs three alcoholic drinks before take-off, they can turn a flight into a living nightmare.

So the results of a new poll showing that three in five air passengers would like to see family-only sections on planes are unsurprising.

The survey, by travel research site Skyscanner, could lead to a new, 'stress-free', type of travel where adult passengers can enjoy a peaceful flight, and families with youngsters can avoid the pungent fumes of the drunken backpackers across the aisle.

As many as 25% of people without children said they would like to see totally child-free flights, the survey found, with the biggest support (68%) for family-only sections on flights came from non-parents among the 2,000 people surveyed.

Only 8% of those without children reckoned people should be able to sit where they like on planes, with nearly 70% wanting to sit 'as far away as possible from children'.

Of those who were parents, 45% said they did not want a families-only section because they preferred not to sit next to "other people's horrors" while 24% disagreed with the idea because they felt that people should be able to 'sit where they liked'.

Other suggestions put forward included the provision of a baby nursery and only allowing well-behaved children to travel:D. One respondent suggested 'children should go in the hold'.

Skyscanner public relations manager Mary Porter said: "As a relatively new mum myself I can still remember that feeling of dread when you found yourself seated next to a baby on a long flight.

Child-free zone: Passengers may be willing to pay more to avoid travelling with crying babies
'However since regularly flying with my one-year-old, I am much more aware of what a stressful, and often embarrassing, situation it can be for parents.


'When tempers are frayed, a screaming child can cause a major disturbance for fellow passengers.

'If passengers are prepared to pay extra for child-free flying, perhaps the solution is a premium adults-only section, rather than a pre-allocated families section, giving airlines yet another extra they can charge for?

'I am sure this service would prove really popular on routes that attract a lot of families such as flights to Orlando (in Florida).'
 

alexmst

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Would the premium fee 'adults only' section include Playboy bunny attired flight attendants and massages? LOL. If so, I might sign up. Seriously how can Air Canada justifify 10k for an Executive First round trip ticket to LHR from YYZ without offering any 'extras'? :)
 

zardoz

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I like to play with other people's kids while on the plane it's a nice distraction and could be your chance to score a yummy mommy
 

marikiss

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I like kids, even went to school for early childhood ed, until it clicked I wanted to earn more than $22k a year, but sitting next to someone elses screaming baby for 8+ hours is enough to drive just about anyone insane. I'd pay extra to avoid that especially when going on vacation.
 

GotGusto

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I don't want to pay extra for that. I want the family to pay extra for bringing babies on board. Nobody else wants to deal with your potentially noisy rugrat.

It gets more expensive to be a normal person every day.
 

FatOne

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I support having babies on all flights. Sometimes a guy gets a bit peckish and needs a snack.

I want my baby back ribs.
 

alexmst

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Funny thing, the article reminded me of whrn I lived in the UK...the Brits generally I found were the least keen on kids of any European country, with most adhering to the "children should be seen, not heard" motto. Comparing the view of kids between say, the Brits and the Italians is a lesson in contradiction LOL.

That said I have never had a baby sit next to me in a plane and cry. Of course I save my eyeshades and earplugs from business class trips so that when I am in coach I just plug in the plugs , turn down the eyeshades and zone out anyway.

I do feel for the brits in the survey - if you are going on a romantic holiday, no one wants a crying baby in the next seat for hours, granted. Kind of spoils the mood. My suggestion for those who don't want to sit next to crying babies is is when making seat selection, either pick two seats together in a part of the plane where a row has only two seats (CRJ-200), or, pick a row with three seats as not much chance a mother will put her childf in a single seat alone when she isn't next to it in that row. The middle section of widebodies like B-747 or B-777 is worst as there are 4 or 5 seats in a row, so having two seats means high chance of babies next to you. Also, you could ask for emergency exit row seating as a mother and child don't sit there usually as it requires being able to pull out the window escape hatch. On widebodies, usually the window seat section of the rows have 2 or 3 seats only, it is the middle section to avoid with those 4 or 5.
 
B

burt-oh-my!

I couldn't care less about crying babies - they don't bother me at all, it's a part of life.
 

Aardvark154

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a) How on earth is this going to be practical on short haul flights?

b) the crying and screaming may be less loud but what are they intending to do put a sound proof bulkhead between the crying and non-crying sections? You are still going to hear them.

c) some children can be very well behaved and it is fun being able to point things out to children (they not infrequently are far more interested in geography or natural features (such as icebergs) than adults.
 

alexmst

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a) How on earth is this going to be practical on short haul flights?

b) the crying and screaming may be less loud but what are they intending to do put a sound proof bulkhead between the crying and non-crying sections? You are still going to hear them.

c) some children can be very well behaved and it is fun being able to point things out to children (they not infrequently are far more interested in geography or natural features (such as icebergs) than adults.
Yes, I was a very well behaved child and never cried (so I've been told). My cries were always ignored, so I guess I gave up on it as it didn't produce results lol. Looking cute was more useful for getting adult attention.

My advice on seat selection guidlines is sound - I fly a lot, and as I said, I've yet to ever have a baby in the seat next to me.

And yes, earplugs are great when flying even if no babies are aboard - jet engines and wind produce a lot of noise that earplugs reduce.
 

I Claudius

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Babies and very young kids are still a problem. It would be useful if cabin crew checked with their parents before takeoff regarding using bottles or whatever to prevent ear problems during takeoff and landing. It is amazing that many of them don't have a clue what to do.

With the advent of personal DVD players to keep them occupied, children from about 4 years and up now are much less bored during flights and much less likely to cause a fuss, run around, scream, etc.
 

dj1470

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I have never had a problem on a plane going up or asking the parent and saying "Excuse me I don't want to bother the plane personnel so can you do something about your child? His/her behaviour is very annoying".
100% of the time so far the parent has complied for me.
 

OddSox

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It's pretty simple - if there's a demand for it, some enterprising airline will offer it. Same things works in reverse - maybe there's a need for 'family only' flights where there are clowns and rooms full of coloured balls...
 

themexi

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Jun 12, 2006
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I'd gladly pay a little extra for a ride Guaranteed free of screaming children. Kids crying is a part of life... but it's mainly part of the life of the parfents of siad kid.... If it's not my kid I shouldn't have to be subjected to it.

Other options include a deposit paid by parent(s) of small children refunded if the kids don't cry or a soundproof compartment for a parent to take the kid until it stops....
 

alexmst

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Part of it depends on the age of the crying child. An infant is one thing, but most poorly behaved screaming children I encounter at malls, grocery stores etc are older and walking/running on their own two feet. Best advice for parenting of screaming older kids I ever heard was this:

Ignore screaming child until it decides to stop screaming (as screaming isn't getting it anything). When it stops, calmly and politely ask it "Is there something you want to say" Of course this doesn't work for babies, but, as said, mostly screaming children I see are not babies. Also plane trips aren't the best venue to tune out one's annoying screaming child - but this route applied at home early on might very well eliminate older children screaming in public places and on planes.
 

Brill

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They should gag the babies and store them in the overhead luggage, then the mothers should be stripped naked and flogged for allowing them to disturb my peace.
 

oldjones

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Why aren't they strapped into car seats and carried in cargo, like other pets?
 
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