To wonder if child free cabins on planes will ever happen?

[MrsJaxTeller]

Am I the only person who would happily pay for a child free cabin on a plane? We have 4 children and have flown with them both long and short haul when they were younger. I would never have allowed my children to kick seats or be a nuisance to other passengers on flights. I'm actually dreading our holiday in a few days after last years experience when a child had an iPad and watched bloody Paw Patrol for nearly 4 and a half hours. He screamed at the top of his voice "Chase is on the Case" every bloody episode then gave everyone a blow by blow description of what was happening in every episode. Yes, I understand children need to be entertained on long flights BUT the family in question eventually were spoken to by the cabin crew as a lot of passengers in our cabin were complaining about his behaviour. He was jumping on seats and hanging on to back of my seat while he jumped up and down. I tried to put my headphones in but that didn't help when he was rocking my seat by holding onto the headrest and jumping on his. As I said, am I the only person who would happily pay for a child free cabin?

Lime where did you desperately have to be?

angel I'm sorry I don't understand your question. Are you implying that parents with young children shouldn't fly?

Id love that..... Do they provide on board childcare too

crazy wouldn't it be brilliant? I laughed so much at that video, my 4 would have loved it.

"Flying with children is not easy, especially for medium to long haul flights. I wish there was a little more understanding of this."

No amount of understanding will lessen the irritation of having your seat kicked or jolted by the passenger behind you, regardless of whether it is an adult or a child. We all need to be more considerate towards our fellow passengers.

I take the view that if my child couldn't sit still for a flight then I wouldn't fly with her until she could, but that is just me. Plus we don't have family abroad that we have to visit. We first took DD on a plane when she was 5, and she loved it (and behaved herself).

For posters that asked why I didn't ask the seat kicker behind me to stop - I did. I asked the mum very politely to ask her little boy to stop kicking my seat. She just replied that he couldn't help it and didn't know any better. Clearly he didn't because his mum hadn't bothered to tell him.

DD always likes the window seat on a plane. In my experience most small children are seated by the window as well. DD always gets the seat kicker behind her. On a flight to Crete I had to ask the mum to try and get her child to stop kicking the seat. To her credit she tried her best, but the child just wouldn't stop kicking.

I think it's partly because we started flying frequently with ours when they were so young that they're mostly well behaved now. We moved abroad for DH's work when DC's were 2 and 4 months, and have flown back to the UK twice a year as part of the relocation deal. 3 years later they are seasoned travelers.

That said, I waaaay prefer to USA to UK journey because it's overnight and they always sleep through it.

nickname that's fine for you to decide you don't want to fly with a small child, but for many people feel differently.

My DC have cousins, aunts, and uncles abroad, in another continent. Some of them cannot come to us because of health or custody reasons. We believe it is important that my DC have a relationship with their family abroad, as well as an understanding of their own roots.

I try my best with the DC on flights, but even with the best will in the world there is no way they will sit quietly for over 4 hours. I'm surprised to see such intolerant views to children on a parenting forum.

I find drunken adults on flights far more annoying than children.

I have flown regularly since my children were very little. We planned the flights around them so they slept to visit family on other continents. Perhaps I've been extremely lucky with all four of them? I would never have allowed any of my children to jump on seats, kick seats, annoy other passengers, shout, run down aisles, etc. None of my children had iPads either, DH and I entertained them on flights or they watched the inflight films. As I said earlier I'd happily pay to be in a child free cabin on a plane now they are grown up. One day everyone on this thread will be child free (if they aren't already). There is nothing wrong in not wanting to spend a long flight with children who kick seats/scream/run up and down aisles/grab hair etc. Not everyone wishes to be disturbed by someone else's little cherub playing peek a boo on a flight.

Lime get yourself into different parts of the forum, a lot of topics are not just for parenting. There are so many topics that may interest you.

As Virgin no longer offer nut free cabins, I doubt that child-free cabins will arrive any time soon.

I know, for a fact, that my toddler would annoy everyone on a flight, no matter how short it was. Therefore, family holidays are in the UK until he is old enough to sit still and enjoy some quiet entertainment. As a plus, we also skip sunburn, dehydration, overpriced drinks and visits to an overseas A&E.

I think holidays are essential if you are the parent of a small child, but it's not compulsory to include a plane flight.

As Virgin no longer offer nut free cabins, I doubt that child-free cabins will arrive any time soon.

Child free cabins are such a nice thought though . As for nut free cabins, well, there's always a few nuts on planes

It will happen. Until then there's always first class.

(I've never travelled in first. My imagination tells me it is a serene place, where the only sounds are the gentle clinking of champagne glasses and flicking of magazine pages. Sigh.)

MrsJax Air travel has changed beyond recognition in the past 20 years. I get zero help in flights. If my kids want milk then I have to provide it. They are also fed on the flight schedule, not on their schedule. Going to Denmark with SAS, we are not priority boarded and then I am yelled at because I dont have my two kids sat down and ready for an 8 hour flight and I'm asking the flight attendant to make room for my diaper bag because everyone else has filled up the overhead lockers with their handluggage. No my diaper bag can't go under the seat and no it can't go in the hold.

Even with United and BA their flights don't have a kiddie pack for my kids. Both my DD and DS have gold status (we did it for free entry to the lounge!) yet the airline doesn't think to give any child a 4 pack of crayons and a fat coloring book when they get on the plane.

You also really can't compare how your kids were to the kids today. You thought your DC behaved themselves but would other passengers agree with you? Also, were you on long haul flights where every seat is taken and they have squished the seats closer to fit in an extra row?

You also fly for a hell of a lot cheaper than what you did years ago.

Bring your own damn crayons.

Want2b - I find the Asian airlines still pretty helpful- priority boarding for infants and young children and anyone needing extra help, warm up bottles and colouring and sticker packs for longhaul.
The priority boarding also happens with the smaller Chinese airlines which don't generally have a reputation for providing great service.

want2b you've just given me a flashback to our first flight out of the UK to the USA when we were emigrating. We get allocated the last boarding group, and 4 month old DD and I (who are seated separately from DH and 2YO DS because we had the audacity to book a skycot) are literally the last people on the plane. Then there's no where for the changing bag, and when the steward finally squeezes it in to an overhead bin (which isn't particularly near our seat) a man mutters loudly "oh for fuck's sake" and gives ME AND DD the stink eye because she's accidently squashed his fancy jacket.

Then there was the more recent domestic trip to Maryland where 4YO DS and 3YO DD were put in a separate boarding group to DH and I....

And while I've expressed my love for the overnight flight when flying west to east, they simply don't exist in the other direction. If you fly from London to Texas, you're looking at 9-10 hours of solid daytime flight, and even the most compliant toddler is not going to sleep for more than 3 hours of that.

Yes I would! Would be great if they had family only flights for those with younger children.

Recently had a 2am flight family of 6 behind me, all 4 kids shouting kicking chairs. Luckily the plane wasn't full so I was able to move.

Irks me that those of us not travelling with kids are expected to be incredibly tolerant of badly behaved ones.

midnite Back in the day the airlines discounted flights for children. That does not happen today. There are zero discounts for children. Overall we, as a family are paying similar amounts in real terms as to what my parents paid.

shanghai I hear you on the Asian airlines. Sadly I'm stuck using European or an American airline

Want2bSupermum BA still offer discounted fares (pre-taxes, etc) for children - 10% for under 2s without seat, 75% for under 12s with seat. Can't believe they are the only one (especially for infants without seats).

I've flown with DS when small, economy and Business and on one lucky occasion First (but he was eleven, not a toddler), and of course I have had other people's children around me.

The key to me is this: are the parents giving the children all their attention? Or are they trying to read, watch a screen, or sleep, and leaving their DC to their own devices and treating a shoot-em-up game as a child minder?

I know that children have to learn to amuse themselves without adult input but there's a time and a place for everything and the cabin of a plane is not appropriate for that lesson. If you fly with children you must expect them to absorb all your attention unless they are asleep. And you must take with you whatever you will need for the purpose.

The flights we've done with DS have all been BA, and I found their staff really helpful. For the first flight, DH and I arrived separately. As soon as I arrived at the check in counter, one of the staff took me to the first class check in area and got someone to help me with the bags and pushchair. The pushchair and car seat can be checked in as part of the baby's baggage allowance (which is more than we get). For the last flight I did feel a bit for the guy next to us who must have been very chuffed at getting an extra leg room bulkhead seat only to be sat next to a squirmy baby and getting to see lots of my nipples* during the flight.

*i try to breastfeed very discretely, but sometimes stuff happens

Absy Does it occur to you that the guy may have been pleased about the baby and indifferent to the flash of nipple?

Especially if you felt a bit for him

Hmmmmm
It's about money really. The airline needs bums on seats to get money. Preferably every seat occupied. The easiest way to get this is for all seating to be as unrestricted as possible. I don't think the child free cabin is practical from the airline's perspective unless it is very, very expensive to account for the empty seats and admin messing about. Plus if companies are not seen to be family friendly then they get bad press.
A plane is just public transport, albeit a very expensive mode! As in you have to sit the public, kids and all.
The most twatty people I ever encountered on a plane were a couple who were so busy drinking that they made the flight late and we missed our take off slot. I don't know how they can have been allowed to board but they stank of alcohol and got onto the plane where everyone else was seated and ready to go. Some people huffed and puffed. When the flight actually got going, they proceeded to get more alcohol and swear loudly. People were obviously really fed up with them but they just seemed to get away with it all. id have preferred a kid with a cartoon!

I think allocating seats and corraling children/families together would be a good idea (especially around the bulkhead seats - which despite what everyone on here has said we were refused to book on our last flight as the dc were under 16 ). Then let everyone else seat themselves behind them. But as pp have said allocating a whole area which may not get booked up would not be cost effective.

The nearest you'll get to child free, is to leave your dc fly Economy and you fly First class or like a poster in AIBU the other week, book Economy and take very long slow walks through first class alone and hope someone offers you a seat
Disclaimer; I'm joking, before someone jumps on me!