Originally Posted by
baglady
That's great that you are showing the kids the USA the old fashioned way!
Some of us choose to fly with our kids. We fly once a month to see my step daughter. We fly every few weeks to see my parents (her grandparents) and a couple of times a year to see her great grandmother. We also take vacations and fly for those. I don't recall any of our trips that I would use "anguish" with. We've had some occurances, but I'm pretty used to things happening during travel. I figure out how to turn it into an adventure with our kids.
We don't have the time, nor do I have the patience, to drive these places. Our monthly trips to LAX are Sat-Sun so flying is essential.
Before my daughter was born, I read all I could on traveling with babies/children so that I could be at my best flying with her. It's worked 95% of the time but there have been those few occassions that I wish had never happened.
Because we are frequent travelers, having elite status and a club membership is essential. It makes our life infinitely easier - especially when traveling with kids. I don't expect once a year or so travelers to do that.
I'm pretty sure CO appreciates the revenue they receive from Baglady Jr. and hopes we don't start driving everywhere.
I have seen more than one instance when parents have flown with young children and everything seemed fine. Call it well behaved, well prepared or maybe just experienced - I really don't have a problem with them. I am a parent of three, and I have flown with one child (who was naturally a calm kid) and we had a good time.
However, for the most part, when I see young children flying, it rarely works out very well. The kids are miserable, the parents are miserable and spend the entire flight trying to calm themselves and the children down and apologize to anyone who catches their eyes.
What I cannot understand is why anyone would put themselves and their children through that amount of discomfort for the sake of a quick trip. Sometimes, well, you have to - but don't come on here and try to blame the airline because they missed a fine point or two - because it will happen, welcome to flying in 2007.
For the people who got sarcastic about my driving alternative - really, there is something to be said for seeing the sights from zero elevation... when you have time.
Before I flew all over the place I worked as a union instrument technician and was paid per diem and mileage. I have driven across the country a couple of times and it brought back fond memories of when I was a kid and we would drive across the country to visit relatives while on vacation.
It was great.
Beats the heck out of taking your kids on a plane anyday.
In any event - you have to know that the average business traveller simply cringes when they have to sit near:
1. Crying or restless children.
2. Extremely large people
3. Extremely smelly people
And no amount of reasoning or positive thinking will ever change that.
Cheers,
~Steve