Flying With Little Children? Go to the Back of the Plane

WSJ via Yahoo! ^ | 11/17/11 | Scott McCartney

[Slings and Arrows]

Babies on airplanes. It's enough to make parents—and all the passengers around them—cry.

Parents are complaining of airline seating policies that create "baby ghettos" in the back of planes. Even worse, families are increasingly split up, leaving small children in middle seats in the company of strangers unless passengers arrange seat swaps on board.

[cicero2k]

I once flew to Las Vegas on Southwest Airlines. During the flight instruction / comedy routine, the attendant said, “And for those of you traveling with small children...WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!??!”

The other SWA line is: "If you are travelling with more than one child, place the oxygen mask on the one you think has the most potential".

[moehoward]

"As far as kids, I lament the security hassles and the poor customer services from airlines generally much more so than kids on a flight."

Ditto. I see about half the passengers with earbuds or headphones. The other half looking jealously at them...

[SuziQ]

Sometimes, with babies, there is really nothing the parents can do. The changes in air pressure on takeoff and landing cause severe pain in babies' ears. Most adults can handle the changes by swallowing hard, sucking on hard candy, or chewing gum. Even our grown daughter gets severe sinus pressure, and ear pain, depending on the type of aircraft. Now think about little babies; they don't understand the concept of pressure changes, except that it hurts, and they don't know how to fix it. Parents can try using a pacifier, but crying babies spit them out, not realizing that sucking on them will help them. A nursing mother could hold the baby and nurse through takeoff and landing, but sometimes flight attendants won't allow that; the baby has to be restrained in the carrier in the adjoining seat.

So yes, it is annoying, but the babies can't help it, and their parents can't do a thing about it. Toddlers are a completely different story; if they're screaming and being obnoxious, the parent's CAN do something about that. Usually it involves talking a lot about what the plane is doing, pointing out the window, if you can see anything, or just doing a mighty job of distraction.

I like the idea of them being in the back of the plane, because they usually take the longest with getting settled in their seats, and not having to wait for them trying to do that in the middle of the plane makes complete sense. The same in reverse; folks aren't delayed getting off with parents having to re-load all the kids' gear.

[EQAndyBuzz]

I don’t really care either way. That’s why headphones were invented.

Problem I now have is getting my headphones through security.

[CodeToad]

“A nation that hates its children is a nation that isn’t going to be around much longer.”

We don’t hate kids...we hate the lousy parents that fail to supervise or discipline their kids.

[Paladin2]

I usually sit in the back. It’s statistically safer, easier to get window seat on the shady side (SWA) and that’s where the dogs sit.

[Responsibility2nd]

When I travel with my baby, I put a burqa on the kid. And a hijab. And the kitchen table cloth... whatever.

That way my kid enjoys all the special priveledges the muzzies do.

[Vigilanteman]

My kids understood that flying, movies and restaurants were very special treats to look forward to and that acting up would have severe consequences, such as being forced to sit in the middle seat between Mom and Dad for the duration of the flight or taken out without desert.

It is amazing how quickly kids can modify their behavior once they understand consequences associated with that behavior.

Even my infant grandson has learned that misuse of his new teeth means early termination of his snack from Mommy.

[Jack Hydrazine]

“I support a sound proof room at the back for idiotic parents who bring babies on planes.”

But what if the Muzzie terrorists get confused and think the door to the baby room in the back of the plane is where the pilots are located? Muzzies threatening a bunch of mothers with babies wouldn’t end well for them.

[Responsibility2nd]

As far as kids, I lament the security hassles and the poor customer services from airlines generally much more so than kids on a flight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eggs-zactly. What with the TSA, unhelpful airports, and bad service from your air carrier - why SHOULDN’T babies get the same rude service the rest of us do?

[Paladin2]

Planes should load from the back, window seats first.

[CodeToad]

Simple fix to a baby ear pressure: Valsalva Maneuver. You do it every time you hold your nose and blow to release pressure in your ears. A quick hold and release of an infant’s/child’s nose can clear their pressure jsut as well. It might take several tries to coordinate their blowing out and you holding their nose for them, but it works just the same. For children that can safely chew gum, gun chewing can also help.

[Slings and Arrows]

A nation that hates its children is a nation that isn’t going to be around much longer.

I love bacon, but I still don't want fly with the precursor.

[bigdirty]

How do I know the parents weren’t trying to calm the kid? Maybe bc they’re sitting there doing nothing?

[Tax-chick]

airline seating policies that create "baby ghettos" in the back of planes

This is okay, imo.

... families are increasingly split up, leaving small children in middle seats in the company of strangers ...

This is not okay. Put the family together, somewhere.

[sodpoodle]

Fly a lot and offer that suggestion to all the airline personnel - as in ‘you could get employee of the month with this idea’. LOL!!!

Make sure I wait until all ZONES have been seated before boarding. Eliminates waiting in a stuffy plane for 30 minutes. The trade-off is no overhead space for the carry-on.

Loading from the back to the front - makes so much sense - from an engineering perspective.

[USNBandit]

I was on a cross country flight where Mom, Dad, Grandma get on with three teenage kids and two smaller boys. They have E and F in 4 consecutive rows. We all know ,in that position, how we would divvy up the seats, but not these people. I ended up sitting next to the two small boys, who really weren't that badly behaved, but I still found myself responsible for running the entertainment systems, ordering drinks, stopping fights, etc. for the next 4 hours.

On one of my bathroom breaks the grandma apologized for the behavior of the one kid because he had ADHD.

What ticks me off is when I bring my family unit aboard I see some people in the surrounding seats start rolling their eyes. Personally, I'm more concerned with the colorful language you hear from drunks on the plane and all the crying and whining associated with a weather delay.

[Paladin2]

They could have a plane seating "fixture" in the gate waiting area (facing away from the gate door) so people could go sit in their assigned seat.

Then the gate crew could just get every body up from the outside (window seats) and march them on the plane. Then the centers and then the aisles.

First class could still board first to get their drinkz down as was the case back in the day (pre TSA) when I flew relatively frequently on day trips.

[Allegra]

As a business traveler, I’d rather sit next to a child than an obese person who takes up 2.5 seats.

Same here.

I just bring an iPod and headphones. When a baby starts crying, on go the headphones and the music gets cranked up.

There is no remedy for getting stuck next to a big person, unless there happens to be another seat available onboard.

[AlmaKing]

+2

I’m getting tired of the threads that promote hatred of children and even violence towards children on Free Republic.