Spider - i think you must not have children, or else you would be aware of the plethora of reasons why parents might be traveling w/ children. Amazing as it might be to someone without children, it may be as simple as the fact that they like to be with them?

Last year, I took my daughter-in-law and my infant grandson to SanAntonio to visit my son who was "temporarily" (in fact, six months) stationed there. You would have had us drive 24 hours so as not to cause you to have to listen to a few minutes of crying? Or maybe you think the kid should have just done without Dad for six months?

We had a ground hold and were off gate for 25 minutes prior to take off. Immediately on take off, the baby fell asleep. For that 25 minutes, however, the term "Rosemary's Baby" comes to mind. The mother was mortified, but there was nothing that could be done but endure it. We couldn't explain it and couldn't fix it. I found most people to be incredibly tolerant, making jokes, and offering their own horror stories. No one was in the least ugly about the situation.

I'm one of the oldies here - three kids and seven grandkids. Yea - I'd like my own plane and complete control of the world. But I didn't get it this year

We better get used to it. Years ago, most of us had children when we were young and broke: we could afford neither baby sitters nor plane fares - for ourselves or our kids. Times have changed. Two-executive families in their 40's with infants are the norm these days. These affluent parents can afford to fly, and do. If sharing our airspace with them is intolerable, we should be looking for other choices for ourselves - not for them.

Just my 2cents worth

[This message has been edited by svpii (edited 01-08-2001).]