this discussion reminds me of a poem i learnt years ago....

Father Heard his children scream
So he threw them in the Stream
Saying as he dropped the third
Children should be seen
Not Heard

We took my daughter,son-in-law and granddaughter to Florida when she was 17 months.
As my daughter and he hubby hadnt been to Florida before they sat in the window seats and we were in the central section.
My granddaughter was sat on my knee all the way and I kept her entertained with small interactive books and small toys.
She was just as good on the return flight but as it was on a DC 10 on Laker airways there was loads of room.
We came back from Dalaman last week and there was a gorgeous little boy behind us whose mum seemed to have books ,toys etc.
I dont think the children are to blame if their parents dont keep them entertained.

We returned from Goa on Qatar in March.
Sitting in front of us seats A+B were mum and dad and a baby.
The baby filled its nappy prior to take off and obviousley mum couldn't do anything about it just then, that was fairly unpleasant.
their other 3 children aged somewhere between 3 and 8 were sitting in seats C,D,E, some of the time. Most of the time they were visiting the toilets, going up and down the aisles, standing on the seats watching the people in the row behind, etc.
But what really surprised me was that when we were ready for landing at Manchester the kids were fastened in to their seats by dad and they promptly undid the seat belts and continued their antics, without any interference from the cabin crew or parents, who looked on dotingly..
Two of three children were actually stood up looking out of Mums window when the aircraft actually touched down on the tarmac.
After the nappy change the baby was neither seen nor heard......a little angel

adults only flights might be filled with what you often find in areas of adults only hotels- very loud adults! In a hotel you can escape them of course.

i think that I would rather have a couple of screaming brats than some people who intend on getting a drunk as possible in the shortest time or making the most of the in flight drinks.

Actually, when I come to think of it, what I really want is a private jet

Me to Del I love watching films when they get into their private jet with swivel seats and all the mod cons - ah bliss.

Pilot take me to Africa am bored with Asia now

I still think my idea of everyone being put to sleep when you board and only waken 30 mins before landing..
what a peaceful flight that will be

madasharley wrote:

I still think my idea of everyone being put to sleep when you board and only waken 30 mins before landing..
what a peaceful flight that will be

Sounds a bit George Orwell or Aldous Huxley but I'm inclined to agree with you.

Doe

Think id rather a few noisy kids than drunks, a couple of years ago on a night flight to corfu a group in front of us spent the whole flight drinking, when it came to landing they wouldnt put seat belts on, kept standing up and wouldnt listen to anybody.

Another flight to zante 2 years ago hubby was sat in the aisle seat, a couple of lads drinking, 1 felt sick and had to keep going to the toilet then stumbled and covered hubby in beer, he wasnt happy i can tell ya

My kids are a bit older but even so i make sure they always have plenty to occupy them, games, tv shows on ipod etc my son hates flying as he has ear problems so doesnt like the take-off/landing he has been known to grab the person next to him, luckily they didnt mind even tho he was a teenager

If parents engage with their offspring but the children are still noisy or crying etc then so be it

It's the parents who do nothing and think their little angels can do no wrong that are the problem

We travelled with our son since he was 18 months old and I would like to think that we tried to make the flight as pleasurable for him and those seated around us; if he cried then he cried. Other passengers had to put up with him as a nipper so now it's our turn if other kids find the journey more of an ordeal

We're flying with our 14 month old to Turkey on Saturday. It's his first flight. We have stuffed the iPad full of cartoons and plan to take books/toys etc.

Even so, I am dreading the disapproving looks should he kick off! He is a real wriggler so I imagine sitting on my lap for four hours will be a challenge.

On the return flight it's late in the evening so I am praying he will sleep through that one.

Its just one of those things I'm afraid , if a parent is doing all they can to appease a noisy little one then so be it.
I to would rather have an unruly child than a noisy drunk or someone who has bad body odour, and this includes people who stink of cigarettes .

Waiting to board our internal flight last week, after a long haul, I watched the parents with babies go through first- but they had to wait to the enter the plane. I noted one woman with THREE children under the age of 4. She was on her own. I had no idea how she could be so brave to try this. I also hoped we wouldn't be nearby them. Going into our row of seats I noted that she was indeed 2 rows back from us. Two rows ahead of us was another baby and then I realised there was another mum and baby sitting window seat beside us. I groaned internally. What a delightful mum and child though Mum was so well organised- books, comfort blanket, a variety of small toys she took out a various times and healthy snacks. However, I knew immediately I sat down that she was aware of what others would think, I spoke to both mum and baby and tried to help by taking mum's coke on my tray and by playing a bit with the baby to help keep her distracted from what was quite a turbulent flight. I kept noticing though that in the row infront, if the man there heard the slightest sound from the baby( and she never cried once) he turned to look quickly frowning. There was just no need whatsoever for it and it must have placed stress on the mum. Two rows back woman and three youngsters were all peaceful- she got bottles heated up right away. Two rows in front - other baby was behaving. I have to say that I had expected the worse on boarding- but there you go!

Same thing happened to us Fiona on our flight out to Malaga recently. As we boarded the plane there was a baby screaming its head off & as we got to our seats we became aware that he was in the row behind us. People were still boarding & the baby (who was with just his father) was still screaming.

A short while later there was some confusion then, it materialised that they were in the wrong seats, they should have been in our row, next to me, in the window seat. So a big hoo har ensued as the dad, & still screaming baby, got out from the window seat behind, & we got out to let him into the window seat next to me

The stewardesses came along to do their checks & still the screaming continued, the plane took off & ........silence he slept for most of the journey & we never heard a peep out of him.

Through talking with the dad apparently his wife & daughter had flown out 2 days before but the baby's passport hadn't arrived in time so he'd had to catch another flight with junior.

We made a conscious effort not to take my stepson on a plane until he was of an age where we felt it more considerate to other passengers.

Babies cry and scream because their ears hurt due to the pressure changes in the plane. It kills one of my ears and I've always had problems with flights on landing at overseas airports but not so much on returning to UK as the levels change over a longer period of time rather than sudden dips. It always makes me wonder why people want to inflict that kind of pain on babies only a few months old.

So the first flight we took with my stepson was when he was 4 and a half years old when we could have a conversation with him and - no screaming.

I'm one of those who cannot stand the screams from babies when I'm in a position where I cannot escape. At work when mums bring in their new-born's I'm the first who will disappear from the office once I hear the screams.

If there was ever an airline that offered adults only flights, I would heartily approve of them.

When I first met my (now) husband, I didn't know he had a young son or that he had recently separated from his wife until about 5 days into the holiday. I didn't get to meet his son until Boxing Day (after meeting his dad in the late September on a coach trip) and he didn't tell me his was bringing him along that day as he knew how I felt about children. Tom was 22 months old at this time and by now me and his father were living together.

The first 2 years of that relationship were really difficult for me and I could have walked out of the relationship many times over because I found it very hard to cope with a small child with whom I could not communicate. Tom used to stay over every other Friday and we collected him just on the Saturday on the other weekends.

As he got older things got easier and we have a very good relationship, even though at the age of 10 when I was picking him up from school one Friday afternoon as we were going on a last minute day trip to Barcelona early the next morning, he turned around and said to me "you don't like children do you M?" I've always been honest with him and agreed that no, I'm not keen on children especially those who are cheeky and don't behave or have tantrums when they don't get their own way.

Tom was always well behaved (he spent a lot of time with his gran whenever his mum was working) and she wouldn't have any nonsense. The only problem we ever had was with him going to bed of an evening because his mum let him fall asleep on the sofa in front of the tv and would put him to bed when she was going herself. We didn't allow that in our house but once he found the joy of books - that was fine. We were happy for him to take a book to bed and he would often fall asleep after just a couple of pages. (Very much like his Dad does now when he heads off to the bedroom in the afternoon when it's waaaaay too hot here).

Tom and his long time girlfriend are shortly due to come and stay with us during their holiday when he's back on land after 6 months at sea. He's in the Australian Navy and is currently part of Operation Slipper in the Middle East. He's 24 now!

How nice that you are now, obviously proud of Tom

we went on our honeymoon in may 2 benidorm an took our 7 year old an 19 month old noah the 7 year old has always bin a brill flyer even as a baby an we took him 2 new york b4 he was 2 cole the 19 month old was very good he even got 3 new teeth the nite b4 our flight so i fort he mite get upset was not a sound out of him goin but comin home we have a few tears we were up early an got delayed 2 hours i cud have dun with the calpol for my hubby coz he starts worryin bout others an wat they think so i sent him up the front an on the way back he got stuck behind the drinks trolly haha baby calmed down an coloured sum pics an noah played with his ds think aslong as ya got snacks an drinks an stuff for them 2 play with its all good an a trolly 2 trap the hubby lol