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?

I would kindly suggest that you're a goady f*cker who doesn't like kids.

Either suck it up or don't go on a long haul flight. Or any flight.

Inconsiderate parents my arse! You're just back tracking now to hide the fact you don't like kids.

I've never been disturbed by a child or baby on a flight. I've had a couple of flights become quite unnerving because of grown ass adults being drunken twats. I would therefore support banning alcohol before banning children.

Classic Mumsnet, where banning is the answer to everything.

Ban this, ban that.

Can we ban the sale of Easter eggs in lockdown?
Can we ban the sale of Easter eggs, full stop?
Can we ban people who don't take their shoes off?
Can we ban people who do take their shoes off?
Can we ban door knockers who don't give three months' notice?
Can we ban MILs?
Can we ban Trump or Johnson (now those would be worthwhile)?

I have been caused more issues by the behaviour of adults on flights than children.

A goady fucker with the inability to think anything through to it's logical conclusion. When you ban children from anywhere you're operating a de facto barrier for women.

It's part of travelling, just like the way you can't control how much turbulence there will be, or if the person next to you smells bad or talks loudly or gets tipsy and keeps leaning on you when they nap.

Parents usually try to keep kids quiet and entertained, who wants their own child shouting and wriggling for 2 hours?

Tanked up inconsiderate adults are the issue, not kids

There are kids in business class as well you know. I have had 3 of them all under 9 on an Auckland to Doha flight which is nearly 17 hours. They were good as gold by the way

'The problem' is parents who won't tell their kids when to shut up.

My DC have flown long-haul lots of times, from very young ages, and have been fine.

Nobody should be letting their DC kick a chair. That’s just shit parenting.

Our kids have travelled long haul from 4 months old - which is what you have to do when your family lives on another continent.
They have always been well behaved, and didn’t disturbed anyone else.
Give me kids on a plane over drunken adults, or over entitled people who seem to think that public transport is for themselves only , any day of the week.

Also flown business class with children - there are kids in ‘business’ and in premium, as well as economy.

I had an adult repeatedly kick the back of my seat when flying long haul. I think she was trying to rest her feet on my arm rests and kept kicking me and shoving her feet into my space. It was horrible.

The one time I had a child kicking the back of my seat I popped my head round and (smiling, kindly) said “oh hello! would you stop kicking my seat please! Thank you!” and they stopped.

I mean you pay hundreds for the flight but it’s a way of getting from A-B of course you can’t ban children from long haul flights! They’ve as much right to be there as anyone.

I’ve been on flights before when grown adults have acted a pain in the arse. There’s always going to be an annoying situation when you’ve a few hundred strangers packed into a plane each with different ways of thinking/doing things

If kids are misbehaving and parents aren’t doing anything to stop it then absolutely it is a pain in the arse. But if there’s a baby or toddler crying then sometimes there’s nothing the parent can do.

If a child was interrupting me regularly or kicking my seat I’d have a word with their parent/guardian first and then tell the staff and would expect them to have a word too.

I’ve flown long haul loads pre kids and thankfully never had an issue with kids on the flight, they’ve been well behaved. I remember a mum with her baby who cried a lot at the beginning and the end of the flight but because I knew the kid wasn’t purposely doing it and the mum was trying her best so couldn’t get worked up about it and stuck my music on.

I think instead of banning kids, parenting should be policed. If said parents can't make their children behave and not kick seats or listen to Baby Shark on full volume without headphones etc then the whole family should be moved to the non-reclining seats at the back, next to the loo. That would stop it.

Ear plugs work wonders!

I have travelled long haul with 2 ( now thank fully teenagers)The oldest was 6 weeks on their first long haul flight.

I blame the parents and that included my Ex who did not get that you can not just get on and relax if you have young kids.
Make friends with the cabin crew, tell them what you need and roughly when always after food service - never during!
If they are awake, you are awake, if they are asleep you are asleep. Rules are set and enforced, no screaming, no crying unless you broke a bone, no fighting no biting and no kicking seats - all had immediate consequences ie, treat box had something removed - ie chocolate. They were given lots to drink, so had to get up and go to the toilet regularly, when up they could walk up and down the aisle and come back, sit down and watch the ipad, read or we would quietly talk, read a story etc as age appropriate. They carried their own rucksacks which they put things in they wanted. Soft toy and favourite small plane blanket.Always went for the row at the back as more space and less people to annoy.

There is no healthy eating on a long haul flight. They both got a treat box, exactly the same and they had to make it last - amazing how they work it out quickly. Long haul to NZ twice per year takes a military operation with 2 under 3!

When babies always start drinking half an hour out on the descent, lots of cuddles, stretches and walking, I loathed dummies but they were essential on planes till 1 yrs old.

Once one child cried on descent as a baby, two occasions of puking and never had a complaint.

Now as teenagers they comment on badly behaved children who do not know the "rules" and say the parents are soft!

So much is down to the parents

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.

I would like an area free of noisy boosezers on all public transport. I had this at the weekend on a nearly 2 hour bus journey. 1 woman moved further down the bus they still didn't shut up.

I wouldn't travel long hall with my kids anyway. The most we have done is 2 hour's. But at least with young children we know their usually crying because they're ears are popping and don't understand why. Adults can choose to act like absolute tits or not.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.