I know there have been a few threads about children in business / first class in the flyertalk forums. They always degenerate into "Children should be allowed in business class" vs "children should be forbidden!"

My most recent experiences on CO have placed me firmly into the latter camp.

You know, I don't mind when babies cry. The sound is irritating and annoying as all heck, but there's really not much a parent can do and the baby obviously doesn't know any better.

What annoys the living &@*!%&$%#@!%$!@$#!# out of me, however, is when small children rule the parents.

Case in point: There was a small boy about 4 or 5 years old with his mother in the row in front of me. Before the flight even took off, the boy threw a temper tantrum, screaming "I want my book!", kicking the chairs and shouting at the top of his lungs. The mother made a half hearted attempt at quieting the boy, but it wasn't until a flight attendant firmly told the boy that he had to be quiet that things became resolved.

We took off, and the boy made period bursts of screaming. Annoying. But oh well.

Then it was lights out... I usually have the most difficult time sleeping on a plane, even in BF, but I can manage a quick cat-nap. Until I was awoken by the sound of humming and thumping. I looked over, and sitting in the aisle was the boy, humming and thumping his hands to the beat into the floor. I asked his mother if she would do anything, and her response:

"Oh, he'll tire out soon. I can't get him to be any quieter"

Really shocked me. Whatever happened to parenting?!

Oh, I realize that the above makes it sound like the flight attendants did not care or do nothing. That was far from the case. They were proactive and did their very best under what had to be incredibly stressful situations. The crew on that flight gets a ^, because it would have been a lot worse without them.

I'll actually be sending a letter of compliments to CO in short order commending the flight attendants... but would a complaint about the flight experience in general do anything productive?

CO isn't responsible for parenting the child. You should have drafted a letter in your seat to the parent and handed it over when the seatbelt sign went off.

I'm not asking CO to parent the child. The first paragraph of my post implies what I would like: "No Children in BF" rule. That is well within CO's rights and abilities.

That was your cue to head to the lav and accidentally step on something on the floor in the dark. Oops.

And deal with the screaming and the temper tantrums all over again?

I guess that�s too old for the bourbon-in-the-baby-bottle trick.

Give him a sippy cup.

Maybe the little monster would get the hint

The solution (as it is to all of life's problems) is DUCK TAPE!

We've all seen or heard of this behavior from adults, too.

These adults tend to get threatened with arrest if they don't calm down. Perhaps the parents of children in BF (or all cabins) could be offered a similar choice for their children.

Noise-cancelling headphones and a couple snorts of bourbon are your friend... ^

Honestly, though, what does this have to do with BF??? Kids are annoying in Y as well. So long as they don't touch me (Kids have the nastiest little clammy hands. Just thinking about it sends shivers down my spine...) or puke on me, I can deal with them. The same goes for adults.

I think roughly half the world gets it wrong

Either tape would work

Start with the mother

Actually you're both right

There won't be a no-children rule anywhere on the flight. In Y, the potential to annoy even more people is greater than the limited-seating area in BF... so one could argue that BF is the best place for children to be.

But it does come down to a parenting issue... and not a CO issue. Unless CO facilitated the unruly behavior of the child, there's really nothing they can do unless the safety of other passengers is compromised... just as if there was unruly behavior of an adult passenger.

+1

I could not agree more. Young children should not be allowed in a premium cabin, especially going east bound to Europe where one of the main benefits is being able to get some sleep.