A suggestion to Qantas and Jet Star

[Aquaman69]

Almost everytime these days I am seated next to or very near a crying or unruly Child , I believe for safety reasons all Families with young children should be in the rear of the Aircraft , Close to the toilets, Close to the " Large" easy to exit Rear doors,first to get out ! and close to the rear service area,for bottle warming and Chuck buckets , with a curtain as is done with 1st Class ,closing off the last four rows , this would make the main body of the aircraft more comfortable and restful place for some of us who use air travel for work regularly and often over long distances, Its a simple solution to keep Most passagers Happy

 

[Maca44]

Almost everytime these days I am seated next to or very near a crying or unruly Child , I believe for safety reasons all Families with young children should be in the rear of the Aircraft , Close to the toilets, Close to the " Large" easy to exit Rear doors,first to get out ! and close to the rear service area,for bottle warming and Chuck buckets , with a curtain as is done with 1st Class ,closing off the last four rows , this would make the main body of the aircraft more comfortable and restful place for some of us who use air travel for work regularly and often over long distances, Its a simple solution to keep Most passagers Happy

Welcome to AFF Aquaman69, but our views differ completely.

If kids need to travel with their parents then they should be able to sit where ever on a plane. I do travel often for work, mostly in J class, but even then I don't feel annoyed about kids that might get upset when seated in J. I don't recall the last time I was on a flight when the curtain was pulled across to separate F/J from Y class. In saying that, I have NC in-ear earphones so they don't annoy me in any event, and I would guess that the majority of regular travellers would use them also.

 

[samh004]

I have a feeling there might be a fire in this thread later on. Quite a few members here travel with children that aren’t disruptive and actually fly in J or F. They might take offence to your idea

It would make a bit of sense to have a Y mini-cabin for young families though, but the number of young families varies with each flight, so sometimes it would overflow and other times not fill at all. Though the idea isn’t totally without merit.

 

[suey]

Well I travel for work and sometimes am lucky enough to take my kids with me. Lucky for me, for most occasions my kids (age 7 and 4) are great travellers, but on the odd occasion they have had a more 'difficult' flight, having tut tutting cranky passengers glaring at me, just makes the whole situation a lot more stressful, so rather than being sectioned off at the back of the plane near the toilets (most likely having kids woken up by people queueing for the toilets and bumping them etc, increasing the chance of crying and unruly behaviour), I would love a little understanding from my fellow passengers.

 

[medhead]

Clearly you too mad to have thought through the consequences of your suggestion. I don't think it would be a good idea to bunch up all the pax that are going to need assistance in an emergency right there in front of 30% of the emergency exits. Do you?

As for crying babies I practice what I like to call self control. I block out the crying. This is an acquired skill, I started by first learning to lock out ring telehones. Once I was able to successfully ignore a ringing phone I found it easy to ignore a range of other everyday noises.

 

[Aquaman69]

Welcome to AFF Aquaman69, but our views differ completely.

If kids need to travel with their parents then they should be able to sit where ever on a plane. I do travel often for work, mostly in J class, but even then I don't feel annoyed about kids that might get upset when seated in J. I don't recall the last time I was on a flight when the curtain was pulled across to separate F/J from Y class. In saying that, I have NC in-ear earphones so they don't annoy me in any event, and I would guess that the majority of regular travellers would use them also.

Let me Be Quite clear here , I am sick of one way Politically correct Nonsense and an Arrogance that Families with kids can have preferance over others , we Are all the same and all have a right to Travel undisturbs should we wish and for that reason alone I made the suggestion , the services they need on Night flights are down the rear of the aircraft so it stands to reason families should be at the rear , I choose to not look at Movies but to rest from a long days work that should be MY RIGHT ! not to have some 5 year old leaning over spitting at me as happen on My last 5 hour flight from Perth , if you say somnething the Hosties look at you as if you are the Big Bad Ogre , they have a first class why Not a Family Class, with Games seats !

 

[anat0l]

We've had this discussion before and I think it's going to open up a whole can of worms again.

Not to mention that those who are single or travel single might backflip when they have families in tow (unless you intend on never having kids). It's all a control thing on both sides. I'll tolerate a certain amount of crying and childish behaviour; no one likes these but if the parents are trying their best then not much else can be done. On the other hand if they are doing nothing, encouraging this behaviour or using it to gain exploits of their own, then we have a different case. I would, for example, not expect a child to throw a glass of water at me as a joke, or at least have the parents reprimand the child that their actions were not appropriate (and perhaps offer an apology). Things that also come to mind include changing nappies in the correct place (i.e. in the bathrooms!)

As a single traveller, sometimes when you're really tired it is hard to not take it out on the screaming munchkins - that is somewhat understandable (although not fair either)....

Also, why QF and JQ? I'm sure no other airline I'm aware of has a protocol in place to specifically seat infant/child families in a specific section of the aircraft (e.g. in the rear, near the toilets and rear galley and away from the other people as much as possible). Exception is of course bassinet positions, which are often ironically located at the front of the cabin(s).

 

[nlagalle]

Let me Be Quite clear here , I am sick of one way Politically correct Nonsense and an Arrogance that Families with kids can have preferance over others , we Are all the same and all have a right to Travel undisturbs should we wish and for that reason alone I made the suggestion , the services they need on Night flights are down the rear of the aircraft so it stands to reason families should be at the rear , I choose to not look at Movies but to rest from a long days work that should be MY RIGHT ! not to have some 5 year old leaning over spitting at me as happen on My last 5 hour flight from Perth , if you say somnething the Hosties look at you as if you are the Big Bad Ogre , they have a first class why Not a Family Class, with Games seats !

Sorry, but I certainly don't agree with you. I have taken my daughter on countless flights since she was born, and I get told all the time at how good she behaves on the plane. She has flown in J as well as Y. She is only 7 now too.

I believe it comes down to the parents and controlling their children. Some might be crying as they aren't used to it, you can't do anything about that. if they are acting up and being little $hits, then nothing beats a word to the parents, loudly.

And at times I have found children better behaved on flights than adults! so you are never going to win.

Also what happens if i want to fly in J or F? should there be another cabin for J families etc? or would they not be allowed to fly in J? Y only?

 

[anat0l]

Also what happens if i want to fly in J or F? should there be another cabin for J families etc? or would they not be allowed to fly in J? Y only?

A point that gets raised in every debate of this sort. "Don't talk about the war".

 

[notzac]

A point that gets raised in every debate of this sort. "Don't talk about the war".

*goes off to find popcorn*

 

[NM]

Let me Be Quite clear here , I am sick of one way Politically correct Nonsense and an Arrogance that Families with kids can have preferance over others , we Are all the same and all have a right to Travel undisturbs should we wish and for that reason alone I made the suggestion , the services they need on Night flights are down the rear of the aircraft so it stands to reason families should be at the rear , I choose to not look at Movies but to rest from a long days work that should be MY RIGHT ! not to have some 5 year old leaning over spitting at me as happen on My last 5 hour flight from Perth , if you say somnething the Hosties look at you as if you are the Big Bad Ogre , they have a first class why Not a Family Class, with Games seats !

And what about the obnoxious, drunk suits? Or those that ate 4 loaves of garlic bread for breakfast? Or those whose flatulence results from eating 4 serves of onion rings as a side to their sauerkraut last night? Or those whose body shape means I have to sit sideways to fit into MY seat? What about those that listen to the comedy channel and laugh out loud with annoying regularity? Should all these groups also be clustered together so I don't have to sit next to them too?

So we need a First Class, Family Class, F@rt Class, body Fumes Class, Fat Class, Funny Class etc. That should leave a row or two just behind the emergency exits for the rest, which we can call Fussy Class. Puts a whole new perspective on a FF program.

 

[anat0l]

Is there a reason why this thread is in the Media Requests forum?

 

[Homer]

My daughter is 4 and she's a WP. She's never flown international whY - only J or F - though she has flown domestic whY on occasion. She doesn't cry or scream on planes and never has. To suggest that my daughter should be segregated at the rear of the plane when she behaves as well as any other pax, and better than some, is outrageous to me.

 

[anat0l]

Before most people here start stating their own experiences of their good children (and no reason to believe that you're all fibbing), but we are mainly seasoned travellers (or seek to be more seasoned).

There are a whole bunch of amateurs out there that don't take such considerations into account and thus stir up the ire as put forward by the OP. If only they could read these threads....


...or even several travel articles. (Crying babies and out-of-control kids consistently rank on surveys of pax's hates on board.)

 

[FlyboyAl]

Last Monday, my wife and I flew ADL-MEL (and even sat next to tupacstar).
We had the loudest, noisiest child behind us that I have EVER had the challenge of putting up with.
The Bose QC3's could not even stop it.
This child SCREAMED the whole trip, and it didn't seem that much was done to settle her down. I don't know if there was a medical issue or not, but it was terrible.
Cabin crew did nothing ( but what can they do?).
When we were on descent and the screaming was still going, almost everyone in front of us was turning around to look back at the source of the noise.
The child was still screaming at the luggage collection area.

I'm not complaining about Qantas, and I don't know what the answer is, but this was definitely my worst experience ever in over 50 years of air travel.

 

[Aquaman69]

We've had this discussion before and I think it's going to open up a whole can of worms again.

Not to mention that those who are single or travel single might backflip when they have families in tow (unless you intend on never having kids). It's all a control thing on both sides. I'll tolerate a certain amount of crying and childish behaviour; no one likes these but if the parents are trying their best then not much else can be done. On the other hand if they are doing nothing, encouraging this behaviour or using it to gain exploits of their own, then we have a different case. I would, for example, not expect a child to throw a glass of water at me as a joke, or at least have the parents reprimand the child that their actions were not appropriate (and perhaps offer an apology). Things that also come to mind include changing nappies in the correct place (i.e. in the bathrooms!)

As a single traveller, sometimes when you're really tired it is hard to not take it out on the screaming munchkins - that is somewhat understandable (although not fair either)....

Also, why QF and JQ? I'm sure no other airline I'm aware of has a protocol in place to specifically seat infant/child families in a specific section of the aircraft (e.g. in the rear, near the toilets and rear galley and away from the other people as much as possible). Exception is of course bassinet positions, which are often ironically located at the front of the cabin(s).

Having Raised two sons On My own I understand all , the problem is as someone on here Put it is that Modern Parents learn the Train track syndrome and block out their Kids behavoiur (not the Hostie Job to control them ) leaving them to Annoy others and as was Noted Glares are Not a good situation to be In, I dont Hate Kids but they should be segregated , as for blocking to Exit Doors in a Real emergency it is preferable (as an Ex Navy seal) to get children off first @! you wont convince me otherwise , as I say we all have rights the airlines could smooth it out and if you dont Mind Noise take a seat at the back dont impose it on the rest , and stay alert one day a train might hit you because you didnt hear it coming ! if you see my point !

 

[whereishome]

Why ANYBODY replying to someone who has a grand total of two posts AND posting about something that is obviously just a trolling vent of their own bad experience.

You always have options :

1. Noise cancelling headphones
2. Drink heavily to pass out
3. Medicate to pass out
4. Buy every other seat on the plane and individually offer them to pax 15 years or older
5. Fly private plane
6. Invent teleportation
7. Start your own bloody airline where you can make the rules.

 

[NM]

Is there a reason why this thread is in the Media Requests forum?

Good point. Moved to a more appropriate location.

 

[Aquaman69]

Last Monday, my wife and I flew ADL-MEL (and even sat next to tupacstar).
We had the loudest, noisiest child behind us that I have EVER had the challenge of putting up with.
The Bose QC3's could not even stop it.
This child SCREAMED the whole trip, and it didn't seem that much was done to settle her down. I don't know if there was a medical issue or not, but it was terrible.
Cabin crew did nothing ( but what can they do?).
When we were on descent and the screaming was still going, almost everyone in front of us was turning around to look back at the source of the noise.
The child was still screaming at the luggage collection area.

I'm not complaining about Qantas, and I don't know what the answer is, but this was definitely my worst experience ever in over 50 years of air travel.

I,m not singling out QF or JQ it is only a suggestion as I travel exclusivly on both while working across Aust and NZ , it has become more frequent as the No Smacking rules have come in to play , let me say this as a Father and Grand Father I have Never But Never had an Intelligent conversation with a child Under 5 but a rolled up news Paper does wonders , Hosties are not trained to deal with Unrully behaviour that is up to the parents , if the parents wont then segregate them EASY !

 

[futaris]

Honestly, the only way that you can guarantee to be on a plane without children is to fly privately, i.e. charter a jet yourself. If you can't afford to fly privately, then you can afford to fly with children, or don't fly, i.e. drive a private car, or take a private boat, etc.