What to do if other people's kids are noisy during a flight?
By dolfin
@dolfin (71)
Australia
October 27, 2009 7:22pm CST
Recently my family and I went on a well-earned vacation. We were on a 9-hour nighttime flight. Two rows away sat a couple with a toddler. When the plane took off the child became agitated and was fussing a lot... I thought that was understandable, due to the pressure changes which was probably affecting her ears, so I didn't mind the crying. After that cabin lights were dimmed and most of the passengers settled down to sleep since it was well past midnight. All was peaceful. About 15 minutes later however, the toddler started whining. She stopped a while later... but then she continued to wake up and cry loudly EVERY SINGLE HOUR after that. Any attempt to sleep was impossible. Halfway through the journey I finally turned around and looked at the parents and guess what - the mom had earplugs and eyemask on, and the father was also dozing away, ignoring the child! What the...! How can some people be so inconsiderate by allowing their kid to disturb other passengers like that? I am a parent myself and have taken my babies aboard a plane before, but I always made sure they were comfortable/occupied and weren't noisy. Have you ever encountered this kind of situation during a flight? What would you have done? How do you cope with being trapped in a plane with noisy kids on board?
9 responses
@paleorainy (630)
• Italy
28 Oct 09
I hate when there are kids on board of the flight, especially those very young, that have no seat rights but sit on their parent's lap.
Of course being bound on their parent's lap, restricted motion, on a plane that takes off and lands it scary for a child that has no clue what is happening, the noise too. And it happened to me on the 80% of flights I had. There's really nothing the other passengers can do, it should be up to the parents to understand if their kids can fly or not and if they should be given some light sedative before. I think it's a matter of education, but parent's education, kids are just being kids.
@getbrowser (1708)
• China
28 Oct 09
I have never encountered such kind of situation during a flight before.
From where I stand, there are no people who allow their kids to disturb other passengers in a journey during a flight. In fact, you see, it is really a difficult for kids to stay there quietly without any noise during a flight. As you have said above, it is very boring and unbearable in such a exhausting journey. But perhaps we should learn to stand this situation.
It is just a kid, who is neglect to make you be trapped in a plane with noise.
Happy myLotting!
Happy myLotting!
@Bluepatch (2476)
• Trinidad And Tobago
28 Oct 09
A noisy child can be the most annoying thing. Worse, the parents usually ignore that annoyance ( I guess they have to live with it ) and continue to let the child annoy you. All it takes to quieten a child is a little whispering in the ear or a little candy or a hug. And these " parents " just allow the child to wail for everyone. Yesterday afternoon I was in the pharmacy and there was this child crying at the top of his voice. The mother wisely took him outside while I thought of ways to kill him.
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
28 Oct 09
Hi dolfin,
Sorry to hear your Flight was spoiled and that those Parents were so unattentive to their child.
When I had to fly or travel by whatever means I had two boys one was very small and he kept me awake most of the journeys because I had to spend my whole time keeping him as quiet as possible. This was a real strain on me as the other Passengers were not very considerate either. It is not easy to stop a young toddler from being fractious and crying and not able to sleep my other boy behaved more or less but with the younger like I said I was very responsable and I had to entertain him all the way there and then do further travelling after getting off the plane by the time I got to my destination I was absolutely done for but then I had to go around the whole day on my feet after that and he did not sleep till way gone twelve o ´clock at night. No one has ever babysitted for me like ninety nine percent of all mothers all over the world we have had to do everything ourselves.
Children will alway be children lol.
@andocor (7)
• India
28 Oct 09
I can well imagine how irritating it must have been - to be disturbed by the noise. I also feel tht it is not in good taste that the parents just neglected the child. How can they do that? It just shows how inconsiderate they are as adults. The child just maybe needed to be comforted and the mother could have easily pacified the child by holding it and talking to it in soothing tones. If it were me - the first thing on my mind will be the discomfort this is going to cause me too - but the child is a child and so if the parents are not going to do anything I would distract the child by coaxing it with a toffee or something to eat and gradually get it to come to me and make it sit near me. I would try and get its attention by narrating stories and I am very confident that in the end it will just sit close to me and slowly fall asleep. When the parents wake up later on I will most definitely let them know in a very polite way that their kid just wanted them to listen or talk to her. I can guarantee that the little one will definitely have a smile on her face when she disembarks from the plane!
@protogenix (60)
• Malaysia
28 Oct 09
i'll try to slow talk with the kid's parent. why need to be selfish? because im sure not only i was disturbed by the whining of their baby. its was me, where i have low temper when this occured, so can you imagined if the person that had a bad temper. maybe some scene will happened and nobody will be happy.
@katykicker (231)
•
28 Oct 09
As you are in an enclosed space then I would say, from past experience, that it is best just to keep quiet and wait until the end of the flight.
Unfortunately there is no eject button for noisy children or adults for that matter and this is just one of the bug bears about flying.
The worse thing I have heard is a friend flying in first class for their honeymoon stuck for 10 hours with a child who was crying basically the whole way or shouting or generally just running riot and they had spent a small fortune on getting the perfect start to their honeymoon!
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
28 Oct 09
dolfin in a restaurant when I am faced with this situation'and the parents just sit like bumps and allow the kids to scream
and fuss, and pester other diners,I talk to the manager. let him
talk to the parents of the rambunctious brats.On a plane I would talk to a stewardess and tell her my problem,and let her
talk to the inconsiderate sleeping parents of the noisy brats.
@moneymakingtoday (4061)
• Philippines
28 Oct 09
If I were on the same airplane, I would just ignore the crying and put earplugs and eye mask myself, too. Surely, the stewardess and the other airplane crew heard the crying, too. They could have asked what they can do to quieten the child. And for the parents, I am sure they have done their best to appease the child. They could have asked help from the stewardess for something to divert the child's attention or to make the child comfortable to eventually stop crying. Sometimes, we just have to bear some unpleasant and unwanted things in this life and do a little suffering for ourselves. And crying children are surely one of them.
