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Crying baby. Photo: a4gpa / Flickr
You’re excited. You’ve just boarded a plane to start your vagabonding journey. Then it happens: a baby starts crying. Sometimes it gets worse: other babies start crying too. What was going to be a relaxing flight has turned into a scream-fest. If you don’t have noise-cancelling headphone on hand, what can you do?
Air Asia X has approached this problem by creating a Quiet Zone on its long-haul planes. Starting February 2012, the first seven rows in economy class will be reserved for guests age 12 and above. The nice thing is that there is no extra charge for this preferential seating.
Would you prefer airlines to go further, say having an entire class that’s for adults only or flights that are child-free? Worth an extra fee? If you have horror stories, how did you deal with this? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
October 3rd, 2012 at 4:19 pm
An entire class? I’d settle for an entire PLANE free of crying babies. Then again, I have sensitive hearing. In all honesty, though, I’ve had to deal with crying babies on flights, but not for the duration or even a quarter of the time.
October 3rd, 2012 at 5:41 pm
I would absolutely pay extra for an adults only class. I didn’t handle my last flight very well and ended up being wheeled off on a gurney… The flight started off being delayed for an hour after we were already seated. The five sixth graders sitting behind me were arguing about the window shade being up. “Tommy, put your shade up. Put it up! It’s the rules Tommy you have to put it up! Put it up right now! Mrs. Smith! Tommy isn’t putting his shade up!” Plane finally takes off. No headphones were used on their very loud electronics and unfortunately I had left my headphones in my checked bag. Bickering continued. Now, I don’t have blood pressure problems, but it got so high that I got a bloody nose, which I never get. So both of the flight attendants assisted and asked their routine questions. However, since I never have nose bleeds, they felt obligated to have medics waiting when we landed. It was a disaster. Needless to say, I will never be on a flight again without headphones, and would jump at the chance to have an adults only section.
October 4th, 2012 at 7:31 am
Yes, children crying can be annoying, but I try not to take it personally. The kid isn’t out to get me. I try to be of help to the parents or make faces at the child as a distraction and would worry that sitting in the “adult only” section I might miss something for kids can also bring joy to a trip. Also, I have seen more than enough adults (sometimes but not always fortified with alcohol) make an ass of themselves, I find myself a lot more forgiving of a child!
Because I have often travel on small prop planes, I keep ear plugs in my computer bag.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
At first I thought the title was “How to Avoid Crying Like a Baby on Flights.” This reveals something of my current view of flying.