Don't move to Italy - the way they treat children there would drive you mad.

Children can be the most despicable human beings ever created. I start to cringe when I think of the long 12-hour intercontinental flights I have flown in Y surrounded by screaming, whining badly raised children. The parents do nothing sometimes but in 95% of the cases, they are inaffective. I advocate having a a special area for people with kids under 8 or something, because KIDS ARE ANNOYING AS HELL. They spit, kick, whine, scream.
Ok, rant over.
Being a minor myself, I am entitled to this opinion because I can honestly say that the bad behaviour CAN be controlled, and that these boisterous pigs whether in F, J or Y are the same.

Hahaha so true, goes for most of Europe. the birth rate is so low there, that when they have kids they are treated like little kings and queens

So, this may be revealing far more than I had ever intended to open up in a public forum, but here goes.

I was flying in BusinessFirst from EWR to BOM. I had a five class meal, starting with shrimp appetizers and finishing with a Sundae. And here I complain about some young boy.

All of that fell into sharp relief compared to what I saw in the streets of Mumbai. A young boy about the same age, but this one was dirty and bone thin, begging for food in the streets. It makes me ashamed that I was complaining about something that seemed so insignificant in retrospect. I *knew* that such things exists everywhere in the world, even in the US. I never thought to compare their hardships to my "hardships".

I'm young and naive, but I do try to learn from my mistakes.

Very good perspective. Your OP brought up a good point. You were tired and angry when you wrote it and perhaps overreacted, but we all do that at one time or another. What you had to put up with is ridiculous. It was not a baby crying, it was an uncontrolled child whose parent needs to learn quickly how to get their child under control. When I knew I had a child on the way and knew I would be traveling with that child, I knew what kind of parent I DID NOT want to be like when I traveled. Having traveled enough over the years and being around enough children I didn't want sit near or by, I was determined to NOT BE THAT PARENT! I read as much as I could on traveling with infants and children and also just used common sense.

I don't think you would complain about flying with BL JR because 1)I don't put up with anything; 2)She has expectations on travel 3)Travel has always been something exciting and something she knows is a privilege not a "RIGHT" 4)I am well prepared (and if I'm not flying with her -whomever she is flying with is well prepared flying with her). She is not a perfect kid - so please don't think I'm trying to pass her off as an angel; but I do not believe in letting kids control the situation.

Have a good trip and I hope that your trip back is child free

I can understand infants getting upset and being noisy during flight - ears popping, etc. and they don't know how to express themselves.

But 3-4 year old kids is a different story. By that age, the parent should have much better control over them.

We had a 3-ish year old girl 2 seats behind us a couple weeks ago that screamed nearly the whole way from Hawaii to ORD.

Definitely a parents lack of control. I just flew by myself with my 3 small children. 8, 6 and 4. Frankfurt to MCO. Over 10 hour flight. Kids were fantastic - I even had 3 different people tell me so. My 4 yr old had a small meltdown period but was very brief and a suggested visit to the bathroom cured all. ( his AVOD was not working for 2 hours - go figure)
Then from MCO - IAD - LAS. Great again. I was very pleased with the way they travelled but I would be lying if I said I was not nervous the whole time
As far as children in first/business. Parents know their children best. I would travel in first/business with my children as I know I can control them. If I knew that it would be difficult to control the child I would have the decency to fly economy, knowing how much one had paid to enjoy a more relaxed atmosphere in bus/first.

I am really glad that you are able to see past your initial irritation.*
































*and yes, all screaming children on airplanes should be shot.

Fly Private if you dont like it.

For me the WORST ever flight was ZRH - SFO N/S Swiss with a 70+ year old man sitting next to me.

He talked the ENTIRE flight, spilt his food all over me and him and had nasty hygene. And the end of the flight I felt like I wanted to quickly end my life.

So yes, lets ban all nosiy kids, drunks, people who snore loudly, people who talk to much, people who laugh loud during the movie, etc.

I've seen a parent loose control over their kid who lost control (Row 7 757-200, might as well have been in BF with the screaming) I thought the FA's would have duct tape him to the seat if they were allowed. Well in response to the kids screaming "I don't want to go home" the mother yelled at the top of her lungs point out the door "Ok then. You can walk right out that door and stay here in Florida and become homeless if that's what you want."

I guess they've heard about birth control?

Europe is such a big place and that is such a sweeping generalisation. Where exactly did you have in mind.

I am minded to say this. An airline cabin - any airline cabin - is public transport and so - I fear that anyone travelling there is subject to the behaviour of others. You do not like it, we do not like it, but there it is. If parents pay or upgrade with their offspring and if these are ill mannered and their parents allow them to be there is unfortunately little that can be done.

The unfortunate part of these threads is that we have the decrying of the presence of children followed by parents reminding us that not all their children - and particularly their children would never be allowed or dream of behaving like that.

For us the worst possible scenario are those parents who are in First or Business and who have left the children unattended in Economy. They come looking for their parents mid way through the flight and we have more complaints about this than anything else.

The children are booked as UMs correct?

Usually not no, and its great when said 1st class parent asks me the FA to check on their kids in coach!!!!!

Indeed Europe is a big place and if one looks at the birth rate (check UN figures) One will find that indeed Europe is at a NEGATIVE birth rate. Meaning they are not replenishing their current population. The US is just under. Replacement birthrate is roughly 2.1% the US as a whole is 2.0% and the EU is now below 1.3%

Where I have personally seen behavior of parents overly spooling their children: France, Spain, Germany, Austria, England, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and the list goes on. (But not Malta, so you have me there).

But as not wanting to be unfair about it all, here in NYC I see a great deal of it as well. I don�t think the European has special claim on over indulged children but I tend to see it more there.

Yes I did make a generalization and it is just that. I would not claim all in Europe fall into this category, but I think a fair characterization.