"Baby Ghetto" on Airplanes

As a kid we always flew standby as my dad worked for the airline. From the time we were probably six or seven we knew we might be sitting away from my parents (me and my brother). We never had any problem with it and my parents knew they could trust us to behave, even if we were somewhere back in coach and they were in first. We even had contingency plans in case there were only two seats on a plane and one parent would fly with one kid, but it never came down to that. 'Course this was the 80's and 90's, and we slept in the airport a couple times too.

Children on flights are no problem if they're well-behaved, and well-supervised.
Unfortunately, it is in the nature of children faced with long hours of nothing to do and being told to be still and quiet, to cease being well-behaved.
Babies, of course, are unpredictable, unreasoning, and capable of being extremely loud, incontinent and disruptive, all at the same time.

Now a parent has effectively signed up for all of this. The other passengers have not.
If I had the money to travel first-class, it would be beguiling to me for the extra levels of comfort and peace and quiet. A screaming child or a kid kicking the back of my seat, or a baby puking on my arm would instantly negate that.
So. The baby ghetto? preferably behind a closed bulkhead door too.
Look on the bright side. Your precious pumpkin is in the most crash-survivable end of the plane.

What the heck is going on with the airlines? How does something like this happen? Do they sell out the plane and let the computer randomly assign seats? It is unconscionable that an airline would seperate a parent and child, especially a six year old. It would be one thing if you showed up at the last minute to purchase your tickets, but to make reservations only be split up is just wrong. Tickets purchased together should be seated together. What am I missing here?

The same thing happened to me when I was flying with 2 kids by myself. My kids were aged 4 and under 2, the under 2 was "on my lap" and didn't have an assigned seat, but the put my shy 4-yr old daughter 10 rows up inbetween two strangers. I don't care how well-behaved a child is, they need to sit beside their parent if they are under 8, or so. What happens if they have to pee, and too shy to ask the person to move, do the airlines really want to deal with that kind of accident? What happens if their ear starts hurting? It is horrible that airlines are doing this and not understanding how devastating that can be to a family. I was able to argue with my airline enough to have my daughter sit next to me, but I shouldn't even of had to do that. Horrible business practice. I understand kids can be noisy and bothersome on flights but we've paid to fly too, and understand that it is very exhaustive for a parent to try to keep a young child entertained and happy while strapped to a seat and they are doing their best.

Ah, United. See, there's your problem.

We nearly had a similar problem in the UK, flying back on Virgin Atlantic. Myself, my partner and our two year old were to be split up for a flight to Hong Kong. Fortunately the staff were superb and they made changes to see us put together.

Yet my partner has had woeful experience traveling with with our son on United. No help, no decent customer service...borderline belligerence. Simple solution - we won't fly with them ever again.

As someone who has flown from DC and NYC to Bangkok and Phuket multiple times, flights which ranged from 23 hours to 32 hours with layovers, I say thank God for the baby ghetto!

A screaming baby on a 16 hour non-stop flight can be very stressful for everyone. It's massively annoying, you have no chance at getting sleep and it really can drive you temporarily insane. It's the audio version of second hand smoke but worse. They use the sound of crying babies in non-lethal, audio weapons for the military for a reason... it's torture.

You chose to have a kid. You chose to bring them with you. Your right as a paying customer ends at the edge of your seat. If your kid is crying/screaming and annoying 50 people for hours or kicking seats and throwing things then they're ruining the flight for people who represent a far larger portion revenue than you.

Airlines are a business, not some legal right. As a business, why would you let one or a few passengers completely ruin the flight for hundreds of people?

Separating a 5+ year old kid from their family is a bit much. 90% of the time the annoying ones are babies. Shove the parents with their torture devices into the back, behind a bulkhead.

There should be a required bottle of Nyquil on board every plane to knock those noisemakers out.

I'd never heard of "baby ghettos" before but they do seem appropriate, given that babies DO cry and this is undeniably one of the most annoying sounds conceivable (that's what it's for). By the way if you think your baby won't cry because it's a well behaved baby, he still has underdeveloped Eustachian tubes, and doesn't know how to equalize pressure in his ears, so he WILL cry.

As for companies separating parents from their children, well that's not very good practice, nor will it make their customers very happy. But the key sentence here I think is "unless passengers arrange seat swaps on board"... So if that happens to you, don't just sit where you're told to for 10 hours and then complain about it to the internet, just go near the human being who's at the place you'd like to take and use your vocal chords to ask him politely if he wouldn't mind horribly switching places with you.

Apparently even people flying with babies don't want to be next to people flying with babies. I can't blame them.

I work in the airline industry. Here are some reasons families with infants and little kids tend to end up in the back of the plane. In no particular order:
1. Our rules state kids under 15 can’t sit in the emergency exit rows and should not be seated in the row in front of and behind the emergency exits. So, on a Boeing 717 which seats 117 in 2 class configuration you are already talking about 15 seats unabailable. We try to reserve the front sections of economy for wheelchair passengers. Then you have 12 business class seats and a lot of loyal elite passengers.
2. You have 2 lavatories in the aft section of the plane should be self explanitory.
3. These days a lot of parents are not versed in manners and teaching their young children. We find many seats after flights especially Orlando where it looks lie Hurricane Katrina blew through their seats. When my sister and I were young when we flew or for that matter travelled our parents laid down the law on how to behave. The alternatives were no more trips or stricter discipline. I now appreciate the boundries and rules they taught us. Sadly in todays society its lacking.
4. If parents can afford to fly with their kids its fine with me but, please be prepared to face whatever consequences when your kids act up. It was your choice to be fruitful and multiply. Crying babies, there’s only so much one can do so I can’t fault you. However be prepared to not be Mr and Mrs Popularity with your fellow passengers. It is what it is. Also there seems to be a trend where parents take their kids out of school to go on vacation. Pick up after them if they feel the plane is a place to grind up Cheerios and spit all over. And, why do people insist on flying or for that matter eating in restaurants when their kids or for that matter they themselves are hocking loogies, wiping their runny noses etc…?

Having flown for business for many years I approve of placing small children, along with their parents together in a particular location. Young children up to at least age 10 or 12 absolutely need to sit with their parents. Not just for being afraid to sit alone, but for parental discipline also. - I also have traveled with my own small children. and have never had the airline separate us. I have had a stewardess politely request another passenger move to a better seat in order to not have a single person between any of my family. And I have given up my seat for another family with children also.

I recommend, getting to the airport early, checking in as early as possible, requesting seats together, even if not in the most favored front of the plane seats. Most of the time, you will get the chance to select seats when you make the reservation on most airlines. Then, if you are separated on you tickets, ask at the gate before boarding if they can do anything to get you back together.

Then, take advantage of the early boarding for people with small children, It is for people who need the extra time to get children settled before the 'cattle call' of regular boarding. And wait until everyone else has passed by before trying to get off. Collecting all of your belongings, all of your children's belongings, getting kids overhead bags properly distributed, plus the hassle of keeping older kids from pushing ahead is the reason for this. Most mommies will carry more than the airline technically allows, but I have never seen an attendant demand they gate check an oversize diaper bag.

Could we get a sound barrier between the baby ghetto and the part of the cabins in which humans are seated?

Thanks.

Fantastic idea. I flew from NJ to Reno with a kid kicking my seat for the entire flight. I asked the mother to control her kid but she was unable to. I was afraid to complain to the flight crew for fear of being arrested as a terrorist.

How about flights for familes only? I'd love that....

"Malaysia Airlines have announced that they are to ban infants in first class." http://diytravelexpert.com/peace-vs-babies/

How come no airline has appealed to families with a "families-only" seating section. They would get more families travelling with them, and passengers not in that area could presumably be spared some of the hullabaloo. It might need a bit of sound-proofing though.

I'm betting the reason why some airlines are hostile toward people who want their kids to sit next to them are running into people, who like a few of my friends do and are asses for doing it, actually book wacked out seating on purpose. The abuse the system on purpose and COUNT on the kindness of strangers.

Let me paint a picture for you, Dad books a flight for his family and buys one of those premium seats for himself for $38 bucks or more, then sticks the rest of the family around the plane in the cheap seats, then when they get onboard they ask the strangers around them. "Sir could you please trade seats with my 4 year old so they can sit next to me" Most polite people would trade seats, more so if Dad's (or mom's) got a baby on their lap as no one wants to sit next to a baby. The stranger now is out the cash they ponied up for their flight and Dad just scored a free "upgrade" not to mention people who do this by booking the window and isle seat in hopes that no one wants to be in the middle and they get the whole row to themselves, then spend the next 8 hrs cuddled up next to eachother.....ug!

If you don't move then you get dirty looks all flight, or you're the "asshole" that wouldn't switch with a 5 year old.

Fine call me an asshole I don't care I chose the seat I'm sitting in for a reason and I'm not moving unless the airline is upgrading me to first class! :P Take that families who abuse the system!
-pt

Having just this morning completed a 9 hr flight to Germany I say please, please make the kids sit in one area of the plane. Aside from the noise, there is the issue of the smell, and, as one person pointed out, Cheerios, snot rags, slobber, spit up rags, etc EVERYWHERE. Sure, if you are a parent you paid just the same as I did for a seat. But, I don't have the right to intrude on my seatmate's comfort-why should you?