I would have no problem paying more for a child free flight.
I was once on a flight in the window seat next to a couple with a lap child. The man was in the middle with the little boy. The boy kept throwing his toys and bottle at my feet. I'd pick it up, smile at him and give it to the Dad. Then the woman started giving me ( and him) death stares, lol. I then just kept to myself. When the little boy did it again Dad and I froze. She ended up moving to the middle seat, lol.
I've also been in plenty of flights with screaming babies and toddlers that talk nonstop.
What a weird lady. Did she think you were trying to steal her child or husband?
I was hoping this meant "child flies free flights." Cuz that would be awesome!
But child free flights....? It's just going to make all flying more expensive.
I have only ever had ONE flight with ONE kid who was an issue. One time!!!
Oh and the other problem with this is that it's going to mess up people who miss a flight or get bumped or need to be quickly added to another flight especially if you are flying with kids. Now you have to wait for a plane where its not fully booked with snotty nosed adults.
I want a flight where the last five rows are a giant playpen filled with toys where everyone is welcome to stick their kids under 5 for the duration. If I can have that, Madame Judgeypants can have her child free flight.
The only kids that have bothered me were ones where their parents were assholes. When we flew home from the West coast a few years ago, one kid was whiny as fuck because his parents brought no snacks, toys, or books. Kid was bored as hell and obviously acting out.
Letting parents reserve seats next to their young children instead of forcing kind strangers to take a fucking middle seat so a 4-year-old doesn't have to sit alone would be my first kid-related request to airlies.
That's very true. I remember coming home from my honeymoon (flight was Milan, Italy to NYC) and there was a family trying to get anyone to switch seats around so they could sit with their 7 year old. Nobody would move, which was so odd to me. Would you rather have to help the kid however he needed? H and I ended up giving up our seats together so the mom could sit with her kid and they were so nice about it.
I'll admit that as a parent part of me would be totally happy with you volunteering to babysit while I relaxed for the flight because you don't want us sitting together.
I would just like to point out that this can't be the #1 priority for everyone. If it was then the only airline to ban babies in business class wouldn't be flying near empty planes.
I would just like to point out that this can't be the #1 priority for everyone. If it was then the only airline to ban babies in business class wouldn't be flying near empty planes.
I say this as a child-free woman who is not a huge kid person in general: I don't care.
Seriously. Kids are usually one of the least annoying people on my flights. I have encountered way more annoying adults than children. I would rather pay more money for bigger/more comfortable seats, more leg room, etc. on flights rather than a child-free flight (not that any of those other wishes would happen, either).
This. I'm just not a kid person. I'm missing that gene for some reason. That said, the only time a child has ever bothered me on a flight was because her mother was encouraging the toddler to engage with me (I was prepping for a work presentation) so the mom could read a magazine. "Oh, see what SHE has? Ask her what SHE'S working on. Oh, you want to sit on HER lap? She must really like you!" Clearly, that's not a child problem. It's a parent problem.
Here's what I would like to see airlines do before having child-free flights: 1. Seats that are wider than 12" across 2. Seats that have more than 3 inches of leg room 3. Seats that don't feel like you're sitting on a piece of wood with a piece of cloth on top of it 4. Flights that are on time 5. Go back to free checked bags 6. Food that isn't $12 for a sandwich 7. Complimentary wine and beer 8. Not making me pay $200 for a customer service rep to press 3 keys and have me booked on a flight one day later
They should just have a "quiet flight" at a certain time of day. Everyone who doesn't want to be bothered and can STFU can take that flight.
Requires an extra deposit, refundable if you indeed manage to STFU for the entire flight. If you can't, your deposit is distributed to your in-flight neighbors.
The empty seats were great, she got a seat for herself even though she was booked as a lap child.
ETA: the business class lounges in KL had great kid and baby facilities too.
Oh wow, I hadn't heard that they changed their policy back. It must really have not been working out for them.
FWIW it was stupid of them to implement in the first place since there are so many expats in KL who fly business for home leave. They changed to the kids-free policy a year into our stay there and a lot of people stopped flying them as a result.
I say this as a child-free woman who is not a huge kid person in general: I don't care.
Seriously. Kids are usually one of the least annoying people on my flights. I have encountered way more annoying adults than children. I would rather pay more money for bigger/more comfortable seats, more leg room, etc. on flights rather than a child-free flight (not that any of those other wishes would happen, either).
This. I'm just not a kid person. I'm missing that gene for some reason. That said, the only time a child has ever bothered me on a flight was because her mother was encouraging the toddler to engage with me (I was prepping for a work presentation) so the mom could read a magazine. "Oh, see what SHE has? Ask her what SHE'S working on. Oh, you want to sit on HER lap? She must really like you!" Clearly, that's not a child problem. It's a parent problem.
Fuck that noise. Like seriously, hell no. That shit would have pissed me off. I don't even like adults interacting with me on flights.
Here's what I would like to see airlines do before having child-free flights: 1. Seats that are wider than 12" across 2. Seats that have more than 3 inches of leg room 3. Seats that don't feel like you're sitting on a piece of wood with a piece of cloth on top of it 4. Flights that are on time 5. Go back to free checked bags 6. Food that isn't $12 for a sandwich 7. Complimentary wine and beer 8. Not making me pay $200 for a customer service rep to press 3 keys and have me booked on a flight one day later
Then we can talk about kids on planes.
Hell to the yeah!
I actually haven't directly experienced any asshole parents. Every time there has been a disruptive kid (including crying babies), I've always seen the parents doing all they can to deal /w the child. And especially w/ babies.... there is only so much control a parent has. It sucks but as long as i know the parents care and are doing all they can, I just can't be upset by noise on a flight.
And this is even before I had a kid!! I can still remember being on a flight YEARS ago and a mother was desperately trying to get her baby to stop crying. Some jackhole yelled "Someone shut that baby up". Really?
Then, years later, when I WAS that mom... I even more so "got it". I REALLY understood how for most parents, it's a stressful, mortifying experience!! Most parents don't want their child to disrupt anyone.
there should be such a thing as a few trained "flight-nannies" on board. Each parent chips in $20 per hour of flight time and gets to offload their annoying kids to the flight-nannies to chase for hours up and down the aisle while they recline and watch movies, nap and eat their terrible airplane food in peace
there should be such a thing as a few trained "flight-nannies" on board. Each parent chips in $20 per hour of flight time and gets to offload their annoying kids to the flight-nannies to chase for hours up and down the aisle while they recline and watch movies, nap and eat their terrible airplane food in peace
there should be such a thing as a few trained "flight-nannies" on board. Each parent chips in $20 per hour of flight time and gets to offload their annoying kids to the flight-nannies to chase for hours up and down the aisle while they recline and watch movies, nap and eat their terrible airplane food in peace
I think the article mentioned that the owner of Virgin wanted to do the whole kids area in the back with nannies on staff but flying regulations put a kabosh on it. Their reasoning was that in an emergency, you'd have kids running around looking for their parents and parents running around looking for their kids.
Only once have I flown with a child annoying enough to make me wish the flight was child free. It was nearly 10 hours of hell, this dude had no chill. Anyway, it's only happened once, but if offered the opportunity at the same price, sure I'd take a child free flight, because...why not lol? If it cost more, which it almost certainly would, I'd pass. I don't understand getting riled up about this--some people aren't annoyed by children, some are. We've all been a child and most people have children, so it's not personal. I checked my pockets, no fucks to give about this either way.
Letting parents reserve seats next to their young children instead of forcing kind strangers to take a fucking middle seat so a 4-year-old doesn't have to sit alone would be my first kid-related request to airlies.
So much this! Why does this keep happening? You have to put in the age of kids when you buy tickets, why do airlines insist on seating kids separately? I've encountered a lot more annoying old people than little kids. Flying for the most part sucks. As someone said up thread, bring headphones and suck it up!