Time for adult only flights

Pollycat

I hate to burst your bubble but travelling outside school holidays is no guarantee that your flight will be child-free.

duchy

meer53 wrote: »

What a stupid idea. Who would leave a 2 year old to play at the back of a plane ? The parents need to be close by, where are you planning on putting them whilst the kids play ? Can you imagine the chaos when the "fasten your seat belt" signs come on during a flight ?

With planning, it's possible these days to keep kids occupied on flights, even long haul.

Not suggested by anyone who has ever tried to remove a toddler in a hurry from a play activity they are engrossed in.......... Seat belt light comes on due to turbulence- parents stand to get child (not the greatest idea in turbulence) child is returned to seat screaming .........even more noise. Bit self defeating that idea LOL

Really though few children are excessively noisy and most tend to fall asleep or can be diverted. My son was really quiet on flights to the US - he always had headphones and access to stories, books, games on an electronic device-plus in flight entertainment. I do remember his first flight at the age of five - we had two well spoken, British drunks sitting behind us. They were loud, obnoxious, moaned they couldn't smoke (not frequent flyers then ) used the most foul language and made a ten hour flight feel twice as long. I'd have happily traded them for a planeful of crying babies. Same on a flight to Vegas, fifty strong stag party who spent the majority of the flight bellowing up the aisles at each other , or drukenly staggering up and down to their mates -whilst pulling on the headrests along the way......again the language was ripe.

Adults only flight ? No thanks LOL

Nick_C

ThumbRemote wrote: »

You've proved the point yourself. You've been unable to find an airline offering adult only flights. There is no market for them.

You are confusing supply with demand. Just because no one is currently providing child free flights does not mean there is no demand for them.

15 years ago, your could have argued that there was obviously no market for a premium economy cabin as no airline was offering one, but you would have been wrong.

There are child free hotels, resorts, and cruises. The demand for a child free environment is clearly there. Its unlikely to be met through child free flights (although this could work on routes like LHR/JFK where AA/BA have 11 flights a day, with intervals of as little as 40 minutes between flights) but child free cabins could certainly meet the demands of some passengers, particularly on the A380.

hpuse

Title of the thread reads "Time for adult only flights"....well, ahem , to where - Las Vegas or Macau ?!!!

macca1974

I'd be surprised if any airline does come up with adult only flights, it doesn't bother the airline if a kids crying, so why would they restrict their market. People who have planned a holiday or trip aren't going to not go because of kids on the plane (I wouldn't have thought).

I fly frequently around Europe with my work (on my own) and have found that a good way to get a peaceful flight using the low cost airlines (Ryanair / Jet 2 / Easyjet etc) is to pay the £15 extra for the front seat. Usually on these flights the first few rows don't let children on them (nor the extra leg room rows in the middle of the plane). So you can at least get some distance if that is what you want.

For our family holidays, we have for the last 3 years taken our soon to be 3 year old on the flight to Faro and have managed to entertain her during the flight (the 10 year old just plugs herself into her Nexus..). What we have found works is finding lots of different things to do with her, so books for 20 minutes, dinner for 20 minutes, colouring etc. Also found it a lot easier this year when you pay for a more or less full fare and she gets her own seat. Not a very relaxing flight as you are constantly engaged in entertaining, but thats part of being a parent

The kids / parents that I feel sorry for (although it happens rarely) are when you have a very young child whose ears go when the plane takes off and there is very little that you can do with a child of that age.

No excuse in my opinion for parents who don't entertain their kids on a flight and allow them to disturb other passengers, but thats just part and parcel of using "public transport" you have to be in the same place as people you don't know for a few hours and if you are unlucky, you are going to get stuck with obnoxious / selfish people, whether it is bad parents or drunks. A couple of cold cervesa when you get where you going soon makes it a distant memory though.

quidsy

Commercial airline = long distance public transport. That woman paid her fair same as you, maybe the kid had earache, can happen to little kids on flights, either way, you're a chump.

madrhino

spinybif wrote: »

On benefits - never met a single parent yet who hadn't found some way to screw money out of the working population.

I personally take offence at this. I was raised by a single parent. My mum worked really hard with no financial help from my dad, and this was a time before you could claim things like working tax credit. The only benefit she had was child benefit which was available to EVERYONE who had children.

Just because you may have known of one or two instances of this, don't tar everyone with the same brush.

Pollycat

madrhino wrote: »

I personally take offence at this. I was raised by a single parent. My mum worked really hard with no financial help from my dad, and this was a time before you could claim things like working tax credit. The only benefit she had was child benefit which was available to EVERYONE who had children.

Just because you may have known of one or two instances of this, don't tar everyone with the same brush.

Welcome to the party! :hello:
You're not the only one who has taken offence at the OP's judgemental attitude.

And some of those people aren't single parents, some don't even have children.

sickparrot

It's just transport, get over it.

aqua111

I was a divorced mother of three and worked full time for years to pay the mortgage and keep us.
There were no benefits.
Single mothers are very often in this position through no fault of their own and should not be judged by people who are fortunate enough never to have faced this predicament.