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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

putting all the kids in one area would work for me

That could work. Maybe down in the hold.?

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.

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.

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.

Same. Often had to fly long haul with dds from small babies, back and forth from Middle East, and for holidays. Never had any screaming, and I certainly never let them kick the backs of seats.

Only problem ever was of me arriving with top/trousers showing exactly what they’d managed to spill or smear over me!

I think that Economy was created so that there was a place for the masses - which includes babies and small children. For those who wished to avoid that, they could/can stay in the more expensive seats that were the original cheap seats to pack in extras who wouldn't have been able to afford First Class (when it was the only class available) and likely thought to be more disruptive to those travelling for very important work/needing to sleep to avoid jetlag/work/travel undisturbed by people they didn't want to be sharing an aisle with.

I don’t think children should be banned at all, but I would love options like perhaps paying extra for a child free flight. Just personal preference but I fly a lot, long haul, mostly business, and the odd occasion where there is a crying child on a night flight is really difficult. I appreciate that can hardly be helped though which is why I’m saying I would pay extra to avoid that - it’s a me issue. What I do find is a larger problem than children on flights is the parents of some children on flights and in airports - if we’re talking about banning things then Trunkis are high on my list.

Public transport (yes, that includes economy long haul flights) is not designed to be comfortable. It is designed to be an affordable way to get people - ALL people - from A to B. There will often be uncomfortable situations, uncomfortable seats, rude passengers, crying babies, and terrible food.

“My experience is ruined and I had a terrible time. I think all drinking should be banned on flights because there was a group flying for a wedding who got quite loud and obnoxious.”

Does it work? No. You can’t just segregate groups on the likelihood that some passengers may have a less enjoyable time. The answer is to stop viewing the flight itself as an “experience” and simply another uncomfortable long coach journey. Everyone is desperate to get to the other end and some of the people travelling are cunts. That’s the nature.

If you want luxury travel with only your chosen demographic of travellers you have to pay for it.

I would support a child zone on long flights.

Most long haul flights do have a business option which is more quiet by default. Just do that.

But children aren’t entitled to kick the back of your seat, or misbehave while their besotted parents look on, are they?
I’ve suffered kids kicking the back of my seat, and it’s not pleasant. It’s about parents taking responsibility for their children and teaching them that to behave like that is not acceptable. I’ve also taken children on flights, and no, they didn’t kick the seats in front of them

In crates?