BenA

Actually, aren't lap infants free?

zitsky

Care to elaborate?

twohundredfifty

Not international.<2 years is 10% of some sort of Y fare IIRC. After age 2 it's 80% of the adult fare but 100% of all surcharges as far as I can tell.

pvn

Sure. Mind your own business. Nobody is forcing you to change diapers. If you mean you don't want to have to be reminded that other people you don't like actually exist, you can "mind your own business" by staying home.

That parent didn't decide to make it a bad day for you, and most likely doesn't feel any sense of entitlement to dump their problems onto you. That's you just making stuff up. At this point you are WAY beyond "minding your own business" and are putting yourself squarely into other people's business.

zitsky

It becomes a pax's business when the kid is screaming or running around, or when parent changes a diaper next to or near you instead of in the lavatory.

Are you a parent? I suppose you must be if you can guess what they are thinking.

pvn

Uh huh. Yes, it's weird how the people who think children shouldn't be allowed out of their own homes are constantly running into kids "screaming and running around" while normal people basically never see this. Clearly the bar for what constitutes "screaming and running around" is extremely low for some people. I'm not saying it's ALL in their head, but... people have a choice of how they react to situations.

The whole point is that the person I was responding to was doing exactly that, assuming what the parent was thinking. That's who you need to direct this snide comment to.

zitsky

I think most kids are cute. I'd wave to them or play with them. They stop being cute when they scream for hours or run around or kick seats. Does it happen often? No. But when it does it's painful to deal with.

gooselee

Why is this still in the DL forum?

zitsky

Well I don't know but it is interesting. I have a Delta flight later this year. I wonder how I'll deal with kids onboard.

Translation: I have no idea.

knit-in

OMG! I had one of these gents on my flight two weeks ago. The otherwise quiet upper deck of the A380 (Air France flight) would rumble every few seconds with this otherwise fine fellow's snores. I was two rows ahead but I could still hear him loud and well. No one's fault, of course, but I had deep sympathy for the young lady next to him on this red eye.

I have traveled with my child, now 12, throughout her infant and toddler years. Being well prepared to keep the child happy is the only way to go about it. 90% of the time, people are tolerant, but every once in a while a person will glare at you just for being in an airplane with a child.

orlandodlplat

This. With a piece of chocolate and some ear plugs as a gag. And only give it to a few rows forward and behind you.

Our first trip with our then 12-week-old, we did this. People thought it was cute and laughed. It made us feel better and a little less stressed out. Kid didn't make a peep anyway, and it's the last time we ever did it.

That was three years ago. I've lost count of how many times we've flown with our son since, and we've never had so much as the stink eye from any other passenger. (And we always fly up front.)

Fact is, most people are reasonable. And if they see you are doing your best, you'll be fine.

GagaPilot

I recall a flight a few months back, the Sunday after Thanksgiving to be exact, where my patience with children was tested. I remember the date vividly because I'm a pilot for a DL connection carrier and I was trying to commute home after being gone 2 weeks. In fact, I had to burn SkyPesos to fly from DFW-ATL because the non rev list was so long and I was determined to get home.

On boarding I was in like 20A or something on an 88. Mother of screaming kid 1 was in 20C, a poor innocent bystander in 20B. Father was in 19E with screaming kid 2. Both were lap children and identical twins. These kids SCREAMED, not cried, all the way from boarding to deplaning. Also in the airport the parents allowed the children to run all over the gate area, including running down the jet bridge as incoming pax were deplaning. I was surprised the GA did nothing except retrieve the unruly kids, multiple times. The parents exchanged kids several times throughout the flight.

The FAs were noticeably bothered. The screaming was so bad I witnessed them spilling drinks during the service at the squealing. I noticed the FA wrote a message on the napkin of the lady next to me in 20B asking for her skymiles numbers for some complimentary miles because of the inconvenience. Had I not been in uniform I'm sure I would've received one as well. I guess the FA did not realize I was not non-revving.

Surprisingly, no riots broke out. Not even that many stares from other passengers. I guess the traveling public has gotten used to it all.

zitsky

No we haven't gotten used to it. It's just that those parents did nothing and everyone knew it. Special snowflakes, indeed. I've been on a similar flight.

quoo

Ugh. As a parent, I recognize that sometimes there's nothing you can do sometimes to stop the screaming. But you have to try and it sounds like these parent's didn't.

We do so much to prep our kids for flight. We read airplane books before the trip so they know what to expect. We talk about how they need to behave and how there's special rules for airplanes. We watch their diet the day of the trip (not too much sugar, lots of well rounded meals). We make them walk to the gate at an early age so they're tired and try to find the airport playground or somewhere out of the way (hint, not the jet bridge) for them to run around.

But on the other hand, I'm not sure what the flight attendants can do at that point. I've seen them similarly unhelpful to deal with loud drunks who somehow haven't learned by their middle age not to kick the seat in front of them (in first no less where they should at least have a halfway decent amount of legroom) :/

SomethingSpecial InTheAir

I can deal with crying and getting antsy, I can't deal with nonstop screaming, seat kicking, and changing diapers in the cabin. There's a difference between kids/babies being kids and poor parenting.