On Monday, I was in F on a 738 and a couple with a toddler was seated in the row in front of me. The child ran around the F cabin a few times after boarding was complete. After takeoff, the mother allowed the child to watch a dvd with the sound blaring out from the dvd player - no headphones. Finally, before anyone had a chance to complain, a flight attendant came back with a pair of state of the art, ear-conforming headphones for the child to use. Add that to the a*****e accross the aisle from me who took off his shoes and subjected the entire F cabin to his smelly feet, and I was glad it was a relatively short flight.

But, but, but...darling precious wanted to watch Spongebob! :rolleyes:

It's always entertaining when at the mall to pass by the "parent prison": those play-areas with slides and whatnot in the atrium areas. There's usually a contingent of morose, hollow-eyed fathers sitting on benches at the fringes, rocking empty strollers back and forth idly and disinterestedly and checking their watches as a mass of children turn into wild beasts around them.

Actually, it was Shrek.

Penalty Box
 

The "Penalty Box" is that area of the infield (or outfield)
of the tarmac where a/c are sent (with all inhabitants)
to serve their penance for being out of queue or for
being awarded with an ATC hold or just awaiting an
open gate upon their unexpected arrival (hardly ever)

Obviously there are other meanings

Chic

J Edwards -- this is much too serious for Penalty Box! :(

Cheers.

Big :td::td::td: from those of us who have toddlers. :(

I was in your frame of mind approx. 21 months ago but sometimes situations, and opinions, change. :D

1,000 apologies for dragging this into the PBox - consider my previous comment retracted.

That's seems fair; I have no children...and I guess my attitudes would change if I did...but what drives me berserk is when the kids are unhappy or running amuck and the parents do nothing!

Arrgh! If I had behaved like that when I was little I'd have a sore behind!

No need to shy away from the controversial. I eagerly await the first "Persons of Size" series of posts that's sure to lodge here at some point :D

Sky Kennels
 

Having NO children and often not enjoying the antics
and unruly behavior (sometimes severe) of todlers in
both cabins (first few rows of coach almost as bad
as if they were in first) I have pondered the possible
alternative use of Sky Kennels as they are deemed
safe and comfortable for many much beloved pets

Just a thought
Chic

If it weren't for the somewhat recent rash of pet deaths, I'd be inclined to agree with you. In all seriousness, though, I'm surprised that no U.S. airline has yet thought to designate a section of its aircraft as "family" sections.

I'm not certain if such a seating scheme could be mandatorily enforced. However, it could be incentivized (e.g., extend pre-boarding, after F & Elites, to all families - not just those with extremely young children - seated in said section). On domestic flights having IFE, free headsets could be distributed to those seated in the Family section (to keep the lil' 'uns occupied).

Naturally, the family section would be located at the rear of the aircraft, just in front of the stink-shields, and as far from F as possible.

You and me both!

On B6 the first row is held back for airport check in. jetBlue's policy is to seat families in this first row.

As you have aluded to, one interesting sidebar to this whole incident is the fact that there is a far more effective "drug" than baby Benadryl, namely Boomerang, Nick, or TV Land. Many families with children of all ages fly B6 and there is a notable lack of screaming and crying as the young ones are mesmerrized by Scooby Doo, Drake & Josh, the Smurfs and their various cohorts.

I'm not sure, though, that our littlest passengers on Continental would be kept entertained very long by another Reba re-run...

I'm not sure that anyone other than mental patients pumped full of Thorazine would be entertained by Reba re-runs. As to CO's future IFE plans for short-haul aircraft, have there been any announcements regarding what sort of IFE will be onboard the incoming 737-900ERs? As I believe these are slated primarily for Transcons and other formerly-domestic 757-200 replacement duties, knowing what sort of IFE CO will be placing on its newest domestic workhorse would be telling.

J.: I'm frankly a little surprised by this post, since you are always so even-handed and reasonable.

Certainly there are toddlers who misbehave and also parents who do a rotten job of being parents (although the two groups are not necessarily in the same sub-set).

Many terrible parents will have children who are very placid during a flight while good parents will have kids who are so uncomofrtable with the exprerience they are noisy (for toddlers this is the only way for them to communicate their discomfort, unfortunately).

If you're referring to the CoEx incident in IAH, while we do not have the full picture (and most certainly will never have it) we can distinguish between what little Garren Penland did (repeat "Bye bye plane," until the f/a grew annoyed) and his mother's response.

While she is coming off as very calm and collected now, it is not inconceivable that she grew irritated, even hostile at the f/a's comments.

But let's not forget that nineteen-month-old Garren endured a 10-hr wait at IAH. That's not easy for a grizzled road warrior such as yourself, just imagine what it's like for a toddler.

Also, please keep in mind that the ear canal in many toddlers is very sensitive to pressure changes and this is one of the principal reasons that so many young children cry in pain, especially during the approach, during de-pressurization.

In the end, it is public transportation. Children, of all ages, are allowed on board, so there will always be kids who are loud. And there is actually very little direct correlation between how loud these kids are and the kind of parents they have.

LOL :D (not pumped full of baby Benadryl I take it?)