Thanks!

Anyway, I was giving this issue a bit more thought, and I think it is a lot
like any of the "why do xyz passengers do abc that really annoys me??"
posts.

There are threads between people who hate recliners and people who
always recline; there are threads between people who bring their own food
on-board and people who hate the smell of other people's food; there are
people who think rolling suitcases are an imposition on the carry-on space
or boarding time and people who feel that they need those suitcases
for a variety of reasons. I'm sure there are other examples too.

And for every such topic, there are vehement opinions on both sides
expressing everything from Constitutional rights to poor health/hygiene to
physical limitation concerns.

My point is that this "children should be seen and not heard and by gum,
don't even think of changing a diaper in my presence" attitude is just one
side of a "who will compromise on this one?" issue.

Like all such issues, it will likely be decided (it already is) to the more
Libertarian side...i.e. people will do what they like (recline, bring
strong-smelling food, bring desired luggage, change children as they
please), with a dose of airline-economic-reality or regulations.

I do appreciate the etiquette-nature of this (and other) questions, so it's
not like I think it's great to bug everyone around you etc. etc.

Arguably, to take up one of very few airplane bathrooms with a time-consuming
process that could be done elsewhere -- could be considered ruder than
minding one's own business and changing one's baby at the seat. In fact,
I would consider this to be true, and I would think that it was an unnecessary
wait for me if I wanted to use the bathroom at that time.

The best way to manage children on a plane, I think (and I thought well
before having children) -- is to have them be relatively unobtrusive to
everyone else. In diaper situations, this means changing them quietly in your
own space.

Oh, and no one has discussed the safety concerns, but balancing upright
in the lavatory while your wriggly kid is on a raised platform seems pretty
risky to me. What about unexpected turbulence? If you change your baby
at your seat, you don't have to un-belt.

I'm still not buying the "germ" objection because as a parent, I can
assure anyone that the seats/tables/floors are disgusting enough that
no-one would put their baby's plain tush on them! And, regarding boys
and their possible urine, any parent of boys (and I am one) quickly learns
to hold the diaper to catch any such wayward streams.

Of course, vehement posters will always try to shut down debate by saying
that their side is the only one, or the only acceptable one. (It was a new
low that drbond asked the moderator to close the thread because it bored
him personally.)

I did go back and read the originally-suggested thread about diapers. I
found it to be pretty offensive, and by the way, it was actually a thread
about "why people don't want kids to travel on airplanes" which is a pretty
snarky topic to begin with (though the OP seemed to be asking innocently
enough).

I guess there are about a dozen hard-core FT'ers who make themselves
heard about not wanting children or evidence of children to exist
in their presence. I really hope that there are lurkers or seldom-posters who
don't feel intimidated by this kind of attitude, either on flyertalk or on
airplanes.

While it is true that I'm relatively new to flyertalk per se, I'm no newbie to
the internet or to moderated discussion groups. I'm pretty surprised that it
seems to be accepted netiquette here to be so unfriendly/ad-hominem
instead of addressing content.

--LG