To think children should be banned from long-haul flights in economy?

OP: To think children should be banned from long-haul flights in economy?

Also OP: Oh I don't mean I think children should be banned.

Twat parents gonna be twat parents. Bring a decent set of noise cancelling headphones. If you can manage it, cough a lot for the first 10 minutes and wear a face mask.

I have had people approach me and tell me they dreaded getting on the flight when they first saw my kids running around the airport but couldn’t belive how well behaved they were on the flight. I decided letting them get the energy out pre flight was the best option and it worked. We once did NZ - Australia, Singapore - UK and not a peep out of them. Last year I flew solo with 3 kids, older now so no need for running around but they had the talking to on being courteous to others and no sibling fighting or squealing while playing games on the plain, they get it, there is a time and place and in a confined aeroplane with other people is not the place to argue about who’s turn it is to do what.

I’m not the type of parent who allows messing around and disturbing other people, but have experienced bad parenting on flights, so I understand and actually dread flying next to other families. I’m be furious if I was forced to spend every flight with other peoples kids when mine know how to behave.

Id be more in favour of parents who allow their children to cause disruption on flights being flagged and sanctions put on them for future flights, higher prices, banned from airlines etc.. Obviously it’s not so easy with children with SEN, but again I don’t think other people should have to be disturbed if someone else child has SEN, there should be sections on the plane for SEN where a child with SEN can’t kick the seat of another passenger or be directly sat next to a non family members or other SEN families. even if that means the family have to pay for an empty seat.

putting all the kids in one area would work for me

That could work. Maybe down in the hold.?

he was putting up a loud argument about how he should be allowed to watch whatever he wanted whereas otherwise he might have gone into the toilets, had a wank and gone to sleep. Obnoxious twat.

What a repulsive man. To be honest, i'd rather him have a private wank and fall asleep. at lest nobody else would have have to listen to him and his pervy porn then.

It would be great if alcohol was banned on the flights. I had more unpleasant experiences with drunk people on the plane than with crying babies.

I do wear noise cancelling headphones though, so either way I am mostly fine.

Banned in economy? This doesn’t make sense given your argument is that people paying a lot of money shouldn’t have to endure them. If amount of money spent means you don’t have to endure children, you’d ban them from first class.

Hahahahaha. This gave me a good laugh at least. You do realise that children are human beings too right? And just as entitled to travel as you are? Also their parents are ALSO paying “hundreds or even thousands”. We took our 10 month old long haul to NZ to see her family for the summer (my wife is kiwi) whilst I was on maternity leave. I’d have laughed in the face of anyone saying it was selfish or unfair of me to do that. Unless you fancy buying a private jet, it’s a you problem & you have to get on with it I’m afraid.

putting all the kids in one area would work for me.
The single time i had a child kick my seat, i told them to stop. They did it again. I told them to stop, then told the parent to control their child and i didn't want to have to say it again.

It stopped.

Control your feral children and I'm fine. Babies cry, as long as the parents aren't ignoring it, I'm fine.

Adult only flights should be offered, they would sell out in minutes.

I've flown a lot. I've had a few hours of one flight ruined by a child screaming, they had an ear infection and their parent didn't think to give them calpol until the flight attendant took them to one side. The rest of that flight was ruined by a morbidly obese man who, after swearing about the child, promptly fell asleep as soon the child stopped crying, spread himself outwards to squish me, and snored so loudly that I couldn't get to sleep even with white noise / noise cancelling headphones turned up to the max. Every other issue on a flight that's gone wrong for me has been caused by rude / aggressive / drunk / obnoxious adults.

I'd prefer it if they asked people who can't fit in one seat, to buy an extra seat, breathalysed people coming on the plane, and clamped down harder on any sign of rudeness, first before banning children

I find the main issue with public transport is that it is full of the general public.

I would rather airports brought in restrictions around alcohol. Whilst a toddler kicking my seat for hours is not fun, a drunken aggressive stag do group is much worse. I’ve experienced both on medium haul flights (5 hours)

I think they should ban miserable old bats from flying too.

There are plenty of disruptive people who fly long haul & only some of them are babies / children.

Buy a pair of noise cancelling headphones and get on with your life. Some parents have no choice but to travel long haul with babies and children. They’re not doing it purposely to spite you. I’d pay extra to sit in an area without any whingeing or drunk adults who recline their seats.

You say you aren't talking about banning children entirely, yet the title of your thread states just that...

Exactly. It particularly isn't a leap when OP suggested restrictions. Her words.

Airlines evidently don't want to do this, or it would be happening already. So the ban and restrictions that OP clearly stated she wants would have to be enforced by some higher body. Presumably governmental, but it would also have to be across multiple states too. Otherwise you'd have a situation where it was legal for kids to get on a flight in one country but not legal when they landed!

It's just an incredibly stupid and badly expressed idea.

Yabu. I’ve known adults behave worse than children on flights, and was kept awake for 14hrs long haul once due to an adult.

I would like to be able to book a quiet zone, like in a train. I think playing any device without headphones is what should be banned. I also don't think you should have to sit beside an under-12 who isn't your own.
That aside, I haven't experienced problems with kids. A bit of crying which can't be helped and you know the mum is doing her best. I've had an annoying child seat-kicker but the adult male who reclined into my face for a short daytime flight was much more rage-inducing.
A colleague had a recent flight grounded because of two drunken violent adult males. My most recent flight had an adult male who stank like something gone off- was so glad he wasn't near us. I once sat near a hen party who did high pitched screeches and bounced up and down singing.
Overall, I think it's many adults who need plane etiquette firmly spelled out and ideally that will trickle down to their offspring.

I think you are on to something - airlines could charge more for seats in child free areas just like they sell extra leg room

If parents are not making any effort to ensure behaviour that is reasonable by their children, then the parents should be banned from the airline in future. Make it a condition of landing slots that there is a process in place, including an independent appeals process.

Banning all children from economy in long haul flights could be viewed as indirectly affecting certain ethnic minorities, say for example families travelling to any part of the Indian sub-continent.

In an ideal world family zones would be good. But in the absence of that, yabu. They have as much right to be on the plane as anyone else and tbh, I've been on flights with adults who have been more irritating than any of the children.

If you don't want to share a space with the public, charter a private flight.

Your title literally says ‘AIBU to think children should be banned’ so it’s not a leap to think you’re suggesting people are banned based on who they are, it’s literally the language you used. If what you really meant was ‘AIBU to think planes should have family zones’ why didn’t you start with that from the title post?

A lot of these issues would be solved if people used their words and spoke to the offenders and, if that wasn't possible, taking to the FA.