"Should babies get own plane section?"

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Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
No carseats were mentioned, but lap babies were ("If your child is under two, they can sit in your lap.").

Children were compared to smoking in this clip. :mad:
 

Neatfreak

New member
Children were compared to smoking in this clip. :mad:

Well, that would offend me even more than not mentioning car seats!

Why, there are a whole host of qualities that airline passengers could be discriminated against for. Does this can of worms really need to be opened and discussed on NPR?
 

BW1426

Well-known member
That's crap. It really irritates me when people make broad claims like that.

I believe that there are places that are inappropriate for children, but I don't think giving them their own section of the airplane is necessary. Now if the airplane wanted to offer a separate kids section where they showed kids movies, served fun snacks, had coloring books and things like that, that would be awesome. But, I'm pretty sure that's not what they're talking about :rolleyes:
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
LOL, Brie, good idea.

I would vote yes to the separate section...my toddlers are extremely annoying on airplanes, and much, much, much worse when I attempt to put them in car seats. I sit there being a frayed ball of nerves worried about my fellow passengers' hearing loss due to my kids :eek: (Oh, and the times DH has insisted I have a first class seat with a lap baby? 10 times worse :eek:). After about age 3 or 4 they are fine, thank goodness (and knock wood... I hope Leah's just as good...)
 

natysr

New member
I would not care if they made a separate "family" section for people with kids. Althought I think the size of that section should be flexible, depending on how many families are flying. I don't think it should be an issue of "you can't have a ticket because the family section is sold out."

However, I will say that WE as parents are the ones causing the controversy. If all parents paid for seats for their kids, and brought carseats onboard and used them on board, then most of the kids that fly would be much much better behaved on board, and other passengers wouldn't be disturbed, and therefore other passengers wouldn't dred being seated next to a baby/child. I'm not a frequent flyer, but have flown several times. Most of the screaming kids I have seen are lap babies, or kids that are not in carseats.

Yes, MOST of us on this board, who are very consciencious about carseat safety do purchase seats for our young one, and most of us use carseats on planes, but not even everyone here does. So imagine what goes on everyday on planes with parents that don't care and are just trying to save a buck. Or that do buy a seat for a 2 1/2 year old, but don't bring a carseat for them.

Comparing children to cigarettes is offensive. But, maybe, just maybe, for a single, non-married business traveler, there is not much different between the annoyance of a cigarette and that of an unrestrained, unrulely child on an airplane.

I certainly know what it is like to be judged in the terminal as the "most dreaded passengers" to sit next to. Jordan is a very engergic kid and I let him run around the terminal and burn off some of that energy. I've even had a passenger curse outloud when he realized he was sitting next to us. I get dirty looks while juggling getting a carseat and fiesty kid, and carryon on board the plane. However, because Jordan is familiar with his seat, and is comfortable. He is a complete angel on the plane. Once we land, the same people that gave me dirty looks are telling me how good he was, and how they didn't hear a peep out of him, and asking me if they can help me carry anything off the plane. :rolleyes:

So, I firmly believe that if the parents did things right, this would simply be a non-issue.
 

Victorious4

Senior Community Member
Oh, I would love a separate parents + kids section, but mostly so that *I* don't have to deal with kidless peoples' complaints :whistle: Call me selfish, I just don't care what problems adults might have toward my kid -- I care about my kid's problems.... If her ears hurt & she needs to scream to make them feel better, tough luck for everyone else. The only kids who bother me are the ones who purposely injure others. My kid does not scream simply for the enjoyment of it & I certainly don't sit there ignoring her screams either: I do my best to help her find a better way to deal with it. Not so much because of other people, but because she doesn't enjoy the feeling that makes her scream in the 1st place. When other adults cannot see that then I could care less about their discomfort. Annoying noise is the least of my worries. I'm a grown up & I can deal with stress better than a child. I expect as much from other adults, too :twocents: If they can't be nice then I have no reason to try to make it nice for them, KWIM?

I would also love a separate section because it seems like it would make more sense to make it easier for families to board. The last couple times I flew I noticed they did not call parents of small children first, which is a major PITA when you do have a carseat.
 

keri1292

Well-known member
I agree with Natalie. :)

Although, I wouldn't want to sit in that section personally. Could we call it the projectile section? :whistle: My kids are perfectly behaved flyers and I prefer not to sit next to lap children myself. It ruins the book I'm reading while my kids nap peacefully in their car seats. :eek:

However, kids have a right to be on that plane and even if they scream and throw a tantrum through the whole flight, that's their right. Air travel is a form of transportation, not a high flying spa.

Instead of a kids section, they should just pass out complimentary ear plugs. ;)
 

Chex

New member
I, personally, would love a family section. I think it would be much simpler than trying to ignore all the stares and worried expressions of people watching to see if (heaven forbid) you're sitting next to them. In general, people with kids are more forgiving of other people with kids. And even though my kids are well-behaved on an airplane, I can see the benefit of having families all together.

And while I do think families being compared to smoking is extreme and unfair, I can also see how some people really do probably feel that way. Most of us have probably spent more than 1 flight w/some kid behind us kicking our seat and being so loud that we had a hard time getting through the flight. I can see why the business men/women who travel often would get pretty tired of it.
 

AlishaNC82

New member
I personally would not like a separate section for families. I think overall it would simply exacerbate the problem of screaming/crying babies. The domino effect would take over. My daughter has always done wonderful on flights except for one where we were 17 hours into flying/traveling with another five to go after being up for 24 hours straight. Personally. I was having a rough time of it and I couldn't really blame a nine month old for being exhausted either.
They made a statement about the businessmen being stuck near the babies too. I found this funny because on a couple of our flights the businessmen were the ones that were having the most fun playing with her. She was laughing and I turned around to see an older gentleman in a suit playing peekaboo through the crack in the seats with her.
 

BW1426

Well-known member
I personally have a problem with people that bring their pets as a carry on because I'm so allergic and it ruins my flight and the rest of my day. I've started taking allergy medicine and it helps a little.

My point is that I can see how some jerk without kids would try and compare it to that.

I just think it's part of the deal. Yeah, it sucks to be on a flight with a screaming child, but it also sucks to have a cat sitting next to me or obnoxious people that get up to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes and I have to get up for them, or the guy that falls asleep next to me drooling or the loser blaring rap music that you can hear 5 rows away...you get the idea.

If they make a special section for babies, I want a separate, blocked off, section for people that are nasty and rude and people with pets. Why should my eyes swell up because precious Fluffy in sitting next to me meowing the entire trip?

After all, it's mass transit and if you want to travel in perfect peace, get a private jet.

I also try and fly red eyes so I avoid bunches of crying kids.
 

Chex

New member
If they make a special section for babies, I want a separate, blocked off, section for people that are nasty and rude and people with pets. Why should my eyes swell up because precious Fluffy in sitting next to me meowing the entire trip?

I love that statement. Stupid people shouldn't be allowed! :D
 

jewlsvern

New member
I can see both sides of the issue, but personally I wouldn't want to be stuck in the back of the plane (most likely area) just because I have my child with me.

I do myself remember thinking "oh no" when a mom with her lap baby sat next to me on our red eye flight on our honeymoon. We had been up all day and just wanted to sleep on the plane. Yeah, I was glad when she switched places with a college kid.
I too also felt bad for the lady I was next too the last time I flew with my 13 mo old DD. We were in the very last row of the plane and my DD got motion sick from the turbulence. My DD was very good, but I felt bad to have to wake up the lady every time I needed to get out to the aisle. Yeah, my DD was in her carseat, but things happen. It very well could have been an adult who got sick or needed to use the bathroom. Not everything should be blamed on the kids. Adults can be just as annoying or cause problems just like kids can.

Can I just add how much I hate having to be cramped in a middle seat just so my DD can use her carseat in the window seat.
 

Pixels

New member
We flew from California to Boston when DD was 3 months old. We did not buy a seat for her. As we were getting ready to deplane in Boston, the people sitting right behind us commented on how good DD was, and how they never heard a peep the whole way from California. Apparently they had also been on the first flight with us, and transferred with us in Chicago. She did cry when she was hungry, they just didn't hear her. Once we were all standing in the aisle waiting to get off, she started screaming. And screaming. There was some delay in actually opening the aircraft door, so we were standing for a couple minutes. And the other passengers actually made comments like "Cry baby, cry! You were good the whole flight, you've earned it now!" :thumbsup: I felt better about it when they said that.
 

Morganthe

New member
Can I just add how much I hate having to be cramped in a middle seat just so my DD can use her carseat in the window seat.
I discovered the secret of solving that problem :p

When you book your seats, assign your child the window seat and you take the aisle seat. If the plane is full, you can always switch with the poor sap stuck inbetween you two, but no one picks the center seat on purpose if there's any other choices to be made.

Worked for dd & I on our flight from DFW to SEA. Aircraft wasn't completely full and it gave us a bit of room to stretch out. On the way back, our aircraft was absolutely chock full, but it was a 2 seat + 3 seat configuration. She was next to the window and I had the aisle. We were comfy :thumbsup:


If they make a special section for babies, I want a separate, blocked off, section for people that are nasty and rude and people with pets. Why should my eyes swell up because precious Fluffy in sitting next to me meowing the entire trip?
Isn't Fluffy supposed to be in the spot UNDER the seat in front of the paying passenger, not ON the seat? I'd make a fuss if I were you.
My problem is perfume and cologne. :crying:

I personally would not like a separate section for families. I think overall it would simply exacerbate the problem of screaming/crying babies. The domino effect would take over.
Same here. DD would be so involved in what all the other kids were doing that her behavior would be completely out of hand. Besides, I can handle my child fussing and crying. I'd go insane if there were 10-15 of the tykes surrounding me. :p


I, personally, would love a family section. I think it would be much simpler than trying to ignore all the stares and worried expressions of people watching to see if (heaven forbid) you're sitting next to them. In general, people with kids are more forgiving of other people with kids. And even though my kids are well-behaved on an airplane, I can see the benefit of having families all together.

And while I do think families being compared to smoking is extreme and unfair, I can also see how some people really do probably feel that way. Most of us have probably spent more than 1 flight w/some kid behind us kicking our seat and being so loud that we had a hard time getting through the flight. I can see why the business men/women who travel often would get pretty tired of it.

Yeppers, I"ve had plenty of annoying kids on flights syndrome long before dd came along. Now that she's here, it's payback time, even though she's a mild and fairly happy traveller.

The biggest problem is there's just not enough space for a flea in Tourist class. So everyone's stress level is already heightened. I tried to help the Korean businessman who was in the window seat move to another spot on our return flight. Nope. He was happy where he was. :shrug-shoulders:
The only time we ever really looked at one another was when dd finally dropped off asleep. He gave me a smile and I did a thumbs up. She only slept about 3 hours, but she was in a much better mood when she awoke.

He was a really strange man. Drank loads of juice, alcohol, water, tea,coffee.... not once did he ever leave his seat during a 9 hour flight to use the restroom! I have never had such a quiet row mate. Spooky.

While it would be nice to have a 'crying section'... somewhere to walk or go for children to have some moving around space, I would not want a family section. Besides, most other families think we're wierd with our rules and habits. :p
 

Guest

New member
Oh, I would love a separate parents + kids section, but mostly so that *I* don't have to deal with kidless peoples' complaints :whistle: Call me selfish, I just don't care what problems adults might have toward my kid -- I care about my kid's problems.... If her ears hurt & she needs to scream to make them feel better, tough luck for everyone else. The only kids who bother me are the ones who purposely injure others. My kid does not scream simply for the enjoyment of it & I certainly don't sit there ignoring her screams either: I do my best to help her find a better way to deal with it. Not so much because of other people, but because she doesn't enjoy the feeling that makes her scream in the 1st place. When other adults cannot see that then I could care less about their discomfort. Annoying noise is the least of my worries. I'm a grown up & I can deal with stress better than a child. I expect as much from other adults, too :twocents: If they can't be nice then I have no reason to try to make it nice for them, KWIM?

I would also love a separate section because it seems like it would make more sense to make it easier for families to board. The last couple times I flew I noticed they did not call parents of small children first, which is a major PITA when you do have a carseat.

Same here. Plus, it's easier for parents to pass tips on how to handle problems as well as being more likely to get a helping hand. New parents are pretty clueless and being lumped with more experienced parents would be a great help.
 

TXAggieTech

Active member
A lap baby section would be great. It stresses me when there are unbuckled kids around. Yes, it would be sad if the baby got hurt but I'd be really ticked if it was my family they slammed into.
 

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