To wish that child free flights existed

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

I'm just sick of people complaining about children making noise on flights so I'd love it if those people could have a flight of their very own and leave us to it! I'm not talking about allowing kids to run amok but so fed up with people tutting and sighing when a baby starts crying, this always seems to result in the mother getting more stressed and more tears all round

[badbride]

Give me a screaming baby any day over idiots who refuse to turn their bloody phones off, despite repeated warnings from the flight captain. What part of "electronic devices could interfere with the plane's systems" do they not understand? Or perhaps they hear "...unless of course, you have emails and games to attend to that are so mcuh more important than everyone's safety, in which case go right ahead."

I was trapped next to 2 such arseholes on a flight last week. Perhaps the OP's question should be rephrased as "AIBU to wish that arsehole-free flights existed." That should cover pretty much all the bases.

[1Veryhungrycaterpillar]

As long as I can include people who stand up in the aisle before the doors are even open, chill out!

[quesadilla]

This neurotic aversion to kids on planes is a very British disease. I had to fly longhaul with my 2 yo dd at Xmas to the country my DH comes from (DH flew out ahead), and was dreading it.
It wasn't as bad as I feared but on a flight that was roughly half British and half people from my dh's birth country I noticed that the people who were tutting and eye-rolling were the Brits.

[badbride]

1Veryhungry Absolutely. Ditto folk who are strangers to personal hygiene/ soap

[WorraLiberty]

Sitting near a screaming baby on a long flight, is worse than being forced to listen to a car alarm going off repeatedly.

But you won't see me tutting or eye rolling. I just pop my headphones in and thank God my kids are well past that stage.

I don't envy people who have to fly with young babies and I don't envy those who have to sit near them.

[Binkybix]

It must be horrible looking after a crying baby on a flight! It would really stress me out because I'd be worried about the baby being in pain and disturbing people.

If a child was kicking my seat though, I would defo have a word with the parents. In answer to someone's question up-thread about what you would do as a parent if they would not listen to you - I would get the steward/stewardess to tell them off. Hopefully would work for most!

On a wider point on plane etiquette, I'm surprised by people getting annoyed by seat reclining. Would not cross my mind to get annoyed by someone doing that - it's a feature of their seat to be used, surely?

[LittleBearPad]

More annoying than people filing their nails are people who paint them. The smell in that confined a space is really annoying.

And the seat recliners. It's only a three hour flight. You can sit up for at least some of the flight. (One of the only benefits of Ryanair is that the seats don't recline.)

And people who think switching on the flight safe mode equals switching their ipad etc off during take off and landing. Grrr

[cathers]

Sure, the seats are designed to be reclined for snoozing but to recline your seat back onto someone who is trying to eat their meal forcing the drink and food to spill is down right rude. This happens ALL the time to me.
Reclining should only be used outside meal times. That's the rules.

[MrsOakenshield]

people paint their nails on a plane???????

[Binkybix]

Oh yes - seat reclining not reasonable during meal times!

[babybythesea]

I have a dream that when I win the lottery (the proper money, you know, 100 million plus, not the piddling 2 or 3 million!, I will make sure DH gets to visit his family in New Zealand every year. We will of course take both DDs. And on every flight we are on, we will completely book out business and first classes.
Then, as families check in, they will be given an upgrade, the younger the children the higher the priority for the upgrade. Business and first class will then be full of families. Parents will have enough room to manouvre themselves (eg to pick up dropped toys) without needing to be a contortionist. No-one needs you to put your seat upright because it's dinner time ten minutes after your child has finally gone to sleep. The chairs are big enough to not mind having a toddler on your lap for a chunk of the flight. You could even lie down reasonably comfortably to sleep with them on your lap. And everyone has children and is so grateful to not be in economy that there is not a single tutting adult anywhere. (And the kitchen is stocked not only with all the drinks the grownups would like but a good selection of drinks and food suitable for kids, including spare milk, and possibly even a range of spare clothing for children and their parents who have been vomited on!)

[EugenesAxe]

Haha! Your DH's attitude rocks Caterpillar.

babyby - you sound lovely. Air Nirvana; I'm not surprised you've daydreamed about it!

[arabesque]

Even outside of meal times if its a short flight it's inconsiderate to recline. It takes space away from the person behind (and space is usually already pretty tight on economy flights).

[babybythesea]

Eugene why thank you.
It comes after I flew back from NZ with DD by myself. 6 months pg, and with SPD. Got stuck on the overnight leg of the journey in the middle of 3 seats. DD (aged 4) slept in the window seat the whole way. However, so did the rather large gent who was in the aisle seat, and who got cross when I finally had to ask him to move so I could go to the loo before I exploded. So much for the advice to move around a lot during the flight! I had plenty of time to come up with the perfect flight scenario as I sat, horribly uncomfortably, in my seat!

[User21276799]

We've been on lots of flights with DD, now one year old. On most, she's been fine - either slept all the way through or been very calm and cheerful. On two occassions she screamed for 45 mins to an hour each time, and there was NOTHING I could do. Believe me DH and I tried every trick in the book and were very aware of the potential impact on other people.

On both occasions the passengers around me were awful - a relay of tutting and head-shaking five rows in either direction. On the most recent one, another passenger complained about 'that baby' and asked to be upgraded! This was on a two-hour flight! The cabin crew told me and had a good bitch about him - they were really sympathetic.

The only thing I could do was ignore the disapproval. I knew I was doing my best, it was out of character for DD, and it was the only way she was going to get to see her granny so I'm not going to stop taking her on planes.

I do think the reactions were over the top, TBH. People seem to expect that flights will be totally silent and an opportunity for spa-like relaxation. As someone said up-thread - a plane is public transport...

[leavesalmondoutofit]

Babies are generally not a problem. Last holiday, what turned out to be a lovely gentleman, reclined his seat into my daughter and granddaghter 10 moonths, He got a huge fright when he was yelled at. He apologised as she was so quiet he didn't know she was there, He did at the end of the flight wonder how you were supposed to adopt the crash position with a baby on your knee. Fair point. Five and a half hour flight.

[Binkybix]

I think they have a pic on the safety card on the brace position with a baby.

I don't tend to recline on short flights, but really wouldn't bother me if someone did - I think of that as 'their' space and think of it as a bonus if they don't use it.

[EstelleGetty]

God, I feel sorry for parents with young DCs on flights. I don't have DCs, but some people should really get a grip. A crying baby is not fun for anyone but, to be honest, neither is flying. It's not like you're in the cinema and a baby is shrieking. A flight is a few hours (OK, more than 10 in some cases) out of your life, so just try to show some compassion and realise the parents aren't going out of their way to annoy you!

If a person with learning difficulties was on a flight and was noisy or audibly upset, nobody would allow themselves to be seen tutting as that would look reprehensible. In both cases, people should show more compassion and stick their bloody headphones in.

And I find stag/hen parties waaay more intrusive. I was once on a flight to Barcelona, just about landing, when some very drunk girls behind me started going on about how coming into land was the time when the plane was most likely to fall out of the sky and crash! A very pale, worried looking woman next to me turned round and told them to shut up.

[MidniteScribbler]

I do think that the way the parent acts will determine how other passengers act in most cases. A parent who watches indulgently while their darling kicks seats, dances down the aisles tripping over flight attendants and insists on watching four hours of peppa sodding pig at top volume without earphones is going to cop the glares. A parent who is trying to calm an upset child, has provided toys and games that can be played within a seat and apologises to those around them when their child misbehaves is generally left alone.

[cloutiedumpling]

I'm usually pretty chilled out about these sort of things but I had a baby sitting in the seat behind me for an 18 hour flight and she didn't stop crying the whole time. I don't blame the parents - they were trying to do what they could to comfort her but she was just miserable. I wished that the air crew could have found the family alternative seats half way through the flight though as 18 hours of screaming was a lot for the people sitting around them to put up with. Headphones didn't block out the sound.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Every time I've ever flown it's been another random adult who has caused the problem/irritated me not a child.

I've flown quite a lot and honestly have never encountered a particularly irritating child. But then I don't consider babies/toddlers crying due to the cabin pressure as annoying.

[Bunbaker]

The only thing that bothers me is a child kicking the back of the seat. DD always seems to get a seat in front of a kicker and she hates it - so do I.

OH likes Ryanair because you can't recline the seats. He is tall with long legs and suffers in cattle class because of the lack of space. Luckily he has managed to get extra legroom seats the last few times.

[LittleBearPad]

Yep MrsOakenshield. Last time I flew home the woman next to me took off her nail varnish and then reapplied the exact same colour GRRR the smell of the acetone etc was awful. But I didn't say anything. Why!!

[landofsoapandglory]

We're flying with Jet2 this Summer, IIRC all of the seats are fixed in the upright position. I am quite relieved about it, actually, I have had my dinner and drink my lap in the past!