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

[OneGreenLeader]

Before I get jumped on - I don’t hate children. But I do think it’s unfair that someone paying hundreds or even thousands for a flight has to endure hours of screaming, kicking seats, or being disturbed constantly. Some parents try, but let’s be honest, others just don’t care. Shouldn’t there be designated “family zones” or restrictions on certain routes/times? AIBU to say it’s inconsiderate to bring babies or toddlers on 10+ hour flights?

You can already pay for what you want via private hire.

Mine does none of the things you mention. If anything, it seems often to be the adults that need to learn how to behave.

The RAF did this. Except, their definition of family included groups with dependent teens or guests.
Consequently the family area filled up on one flight we took before all the families with children boarded. (And children could only sit in certain seats). So we and another couple if families went in the "Soldier" area instead.
It was brilliant... that area was near silent, just a few mumours of chatter. (Soldiers like to sleep on long flights)

The "family" area was very noisy as all the children wound each other up.

I thought it was a bit of karma for those groups who had pushed past the families with young children to board first!

However on public flights, the most disruptive people are definitely drunk and obnoxious adults.

I believe BA has age limits in First Class.
Fill your boots!

Economy is just a means of getting from A to B. No one is paying the money for the sheer joy of the flight, they’re paying to get somewhere. so no, no one should be banned. If you want to enjoy the journey then pay for first class.

I don’t think pointing out how disruptive some long-haul flights can be makes someone “miserable”, it just makes them observant.

And no, it wasn’t literally 6 hours of constant kicking - it was frequent enough to be a real distraction and incredibly frustrating, especially when the parent did nothing to address it. That’s the kind of scenario I’m taking about: when other passengers are expected to just tolerate repeated disruptions with no accountability.

Not every child behaves that way and not every parent ignores it, but when it happens, it does affect the experience. That’s not misery, it’s just realism.

Children are part of life. Of course you're being unreasonable.

I totally agree with the people on here saying badly behaved adults are just as annoying. The flight is just a means to get to a destination (and home again). I think we all ought to be tolerant enough to accept that occasionally, possibly due to tiredness, feeling uncomfortable/bored or having ear pressure issues, a child plays up on a flight.

Seriously, adult only flights to holiday destinations might push fares up for everybody whe they have already increased hugely. Maybe the solution is to introduce a higher child fare on term time flights, reducing the price differential between term-time and school holidays.

everyone should have an equal right to travel, regardless of age. Children, after all, are part of the society too and deserve to have the same opportunities as adults. Everyone should be treated fairly, whether you’re a child or an adult.
so these post is utter nonsense and the OP needs to take her head for a wobble

Yet ANOTHER goady thread by someone with a colour in their username. AIBU is becoming almost unreadable because of this. Reported.

@OneGreenLeader Really then we should be having an area for “parents who don’t give a shit”. Let’s face it, kids kicking a seat more than once or twice is down to the parents not parenting. Hardly fair to lump all families together in this category when the vast majority wouldn’t allow their kids to behave like this.

I personally would pay considerably more for an economy flight where the seats didn’t recline and there was a zero alcohol policy (including prior to boarding 🫠). I’ve had plenty of flights where ive been surrounded by drunken idiots arguing the whole time! Would 10x rather have had kids being kids!

Yabu for the rage/clickbaity thread title

Bore off. Long haul in economy is horrific. Am I fortunate to be able to do it? Yes, doesn’t make the experience any less shit though.

I’ll take the noise so long as I have headphones. Seat kickers however, I’d only allow once. After that a flap would open.

This feels like a huge leap. I’m not suggesting people be banned from flying based on who they are. I’m talking about how we manage behaviour that actively disrupts others for hours and whether designated spaces (like quiet cabins or family zones) could help balance everyone’s needs.

We already have class sections, premium seats, and quiet train carriages. This isn’t about discrimination - it’s about acknowledging that long-haul flights are tough on everyone and we should be able to talk about shared comfort without being labelled intolerant.

This wasn’t about excluding families. It was about finding realistic ways to make the experience better for everyone, including parents who might appreciate a space where kids can be kids without glares from everyone around them.

A child of any age has just as much right to travel as you. What if they have family at the other side of the world or need to travel for healthcare, should they be excluded then?
Children are also people who should not be excluded because people such as yourself seem to think they are subordinate to adults. Why should families pay more for flights in business ect just because some people presume when they see a small child they’ll be noisy?
I’ve had more long haul flights ruined by drunk/smelly/noisy adults than children.

I actually find people on long haul flights much more tolerable than short haul.
We do London to Singapore quite regularly and everyone, adults and children always seem to behave well.
Short haul European flights, a large percentage of the passengers seem to be unable to act appropriately. Children shouting and screaming with iPads on loud and no headphones and adults drunk.

My worst flight was sitting next to a drunk man who whilst not threatening kept leaning over me and talked incessantly and incoherently.
I would pay more to be on any flight away from obnoxiously drunk men and women. But unfortunately we have no way of telling who the a###holes are until they start.

When dd was little she was well behaved but had no filter.
We sat behind 3 men and 1 obviously farted.
Dd ‘ mummy I can smell wind, can you smell wind? Mummy someone’s done wind. They have, I can smell it.’ And she wouldn’t shut up. 😂

Recent flight home from New Zealand we had all of them (over two legs of flight). To be fair the cabin crew did have a word with the porn watcher but 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.

On long haul the worst behaviour I saw was a woman have a tantrum. She wanted an aisle seat and no one would swap with her, she wanted her case in the bin overhead, but it was full. In the last boarding group so hadn't paid for her seat.

Can we ban:
Those who stand right next to the luggage carousel?
Those who haven't got their passports ready?
The farters?
The mandspreaders?
People who don't listen to the flight attendants?
Those who do plane Yoga?
Anyone with any form of entitlement?

Thw only problem with this is when you have a well behaved kid and you're next to a shitty family. But I hear you OP, I've always been in favour of child free flights even now that I have one myself!

No it's not a huge leap.

This is about you having a chip on your shoulder and thinking the whole world should fill in line with you. Just get on with it or pay for first class.

I don't want to be around badly behaved kids mucking about and not sleeping. Neither does my well behaved 10 year old. I don't want a whole bunch of other stuff either, but I'm not making demands because I don't think they are reasonable or anymore considerate.

If you stuck all the drunk people in one place or all the kids in one place, you'd actually get worse problems and more flights forced to abort from their intended destination...

Some of us have family in other continents that we need to visit. So long haul travel is a necessity. That said I've never allowed my DC to kick anyone's seat.

Oh yeah and nuns should be banned from all flights because they are upsetting and make people think of the disaster in Airplane!

Wow, you should've filmed that and made it viral 🤮