Okay okay I get it. There’s a big cognitive dissonance between parents of young kids and everyone else. Even (former) parents who no longer have little ones seem to forget what it’s like to have little kids, not to mention people who don’t have kids (some of which actively DON’T LIKE kids)!
So we have people who tell other passengers that they are “the type of people that shouldn’t have children“, or moms that feel like they need to make and give out goodie bags to fellow passengers. And sometimes we have the dads in first class while mom and the kids sit in the back of the plane
Just say NO to giving out goodie bags on planes!
Are children really the most annoying people on the plane?
I read a great article on Scary Mommy the other day – called “Children are not the most annoying people on the plane“. A couple of her points:
You’re essentially traveling on public transportation. And public transportation is undoubtedly annoying. But small children aren’t the only ones who make it so
and
Traveling with small children is stressful because other people make it so. Because if there’s so much as a peep out of your child, you’re treated to passive-aggressive sighs, eye-rolls, and even verbal complaints
The author mentions a NY Post article called “The 8 worst types of kids on a flight” and counters with her own list of the 8 worst types of adults on the flight, including “Mr. Oblivious”, “the Manspreader”, “Drunk Young Professionals” and more. Read the original post for the full list.
What’s your take?
Where do you sit on this? Are children the most annoying people on a plane? Or have you seen worse behavior from adults? I get that kids’ behavior is not always quiet (believe me, as the father of 6, I know!), but generally speaking, I feel like in many situations (airplanes included), kids have better age-appropriate behavior than many adults.
Give me your take in the comments
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
The two more annoying flyers than kids (or their parents) are Chatty Flier and Epic Complainer. There is nothing wrong with Mr. Oblivious, seats are meant to recline! But that’s another conversation 😉
But I do agree it is public transportation and you are going to encounter people that annoy you. It’s life. Bring a book and earphones/plugs and muddle through.
By FAR children are the cause of most disturbances when I travel. As annoying as an adult maybe….they aren’t going to cry and scream for hours and hours on end. If they do, they are quickly dealt with by the flight crew. However if a child is crying or screaming there is often nothing that can be done.
But to be clear, there are two separate issues here which I feel this post is conflating. Who CAUSES the most disturbances or is the most annoying is one issue but who is JUSTIFIED is another.
For instance lets look at two common situations. The first, an adult seatmate who is talking loudly on their phone before take off. They are being rude and obnoxious and their behavior is selfish. However that ends once you take off. The second is a child who is suffering because of pressurization, or other travel stress, may cries for HOURS during the flight…but it isn’t being done out of selfishness.
I’d rather have the selfish adult vs the blameless child. The child is creating more of a disturbance…but the adult is being more of an a-hole.
The whole “oh no, there’s a kid on my plane” has gotten out of hand. I’ve seen some people roll their eyes and make faces before the kid even makes a sound. I vote rude adults are worse.
Yeah – that is pretty wild. I like the comparisons to riding a bus or other public transportation
Maybe it’s just me, but kids making normal kid noises (talking, screaming, whatever) doesn’t bother me much. They’re kids. Planes suck. I get it.
What bothers me *TREMENDOUSLY* however are parents who allow their kids to play with their games, iPads, etc., WITH THE SOUND ON.
There is never ever ever an excuse for anyone’s PED to be audible to anyone else. No one. Of any age. Ever.
I was even on a flight once where a parent played songs out of a PED and encouraged the kid to sing along. I asked them to stop (politely, I thought, given the incredible behavior) and was met with the usual superior “How dare you, this is my CHILD sir!!” attitude that seems, for some unholy reason, to have proliferated in the last decade or so.
Thanks for the comment. I’ve been guilty of that before but upon further thinking, I think you’re right. We had actually brought headphones and splitters (so everyone could listen at once) but either they wren’t working, or were just TOO quiet (probably due to the ambient loudness of a plane)
I’m not sure if it’s available for all devices but we downloaded an app called speaker boost (or volume boost, something like that). It has dramatically amplified the sound through the headphones so the noise of the plane won’t drown out their movies or games.
Be aware though that the boost is no joke… start low and work your way up.
I have a few extra sets of cheap headphones in my carryon bag. I have given them out more than once.
I may not like a child causing a disturbance, but I also realize they have every right to be there. After all, it is public transportation. What annoys me more is adults who complain about children in premium cabins. I know you might have paid $10,000 for that ticket, but nowhere in the contract of carriage does it guarantee you peace and quiet.
“I feel like in many situations (airplanes included), kids have better age-appropriate behavior than many adults.”
Boom. ^This.
Yeah crying kids on an airplane are annoying, but when your seatmate decides to take off her shoes and socks with the stinkiest feet on earth, it’s a whole new ball game. Can you imagine how disgusting it would be if she got up and went to the bathroom in her bare feet too? Oh wait… she did.
Or how about the guy on the window that has to get up ever 30 minutes to use the restroom on a 4 hour flight? After a couple trips I offered to switch seats. “No thanks, I’m ok”. And then proceeded to repeat the pattern.
Right – kids are not “little adults” so it’s foolish to try and think that they are
Go on flyer talk and post anything about a kid you have like 100 responses on 20 minutes about how they shouldn’t fly. The whole thing is absurd. If you don’t have noise cancelling headphones in 2018 that’s your problem.
Honestly, kids are kids. As long as the parents try and it’s not in a premium cabin, you just deal with it.
A simple solution would simply to create a child-free zone on planes, such as the front of the plane. Keep them all at the back with their parents (who unfortunately often just ignore their screams). They could be on the plane just like now, but would be seated in a particular area, such as the rear. It would be known and stated up front to everyone that the rear of the plane is filled with babies and kids and there will likely be noise back there.
I really don’t that it’s unreasonable.
For the record, I’m not a kid person, nor do I think they should be on airplanes. I don’t hate them though. I do blame parents for having poor judgement by taking them on in the first place, and for just letting scream, shout, yell, and generally make everyone around them annoyed while the parent does nothing. I’ve seen it time and time again. Their response? “Oh I just tune it out…” Great for them, but not for everyone else around them.
I don’t have kids. I never wanted kids, and I’m ambivalent about their presence in general. But are you seriously advocating for segregation? Really?
Maybe because I only fly 6-8x per year, it’s not a thing to me; do you fly weekly in order to have so many troubles? Cuz it can’t possibly be the most overwhelming issue. I’ll happily sit next to a 4yo if that means I can steal the armrest with impunity. While I agree that parents who let their kids run up & down the aisle should be told to knock it off, you would think that the FAs would be on that pretty quick, if from a safety standpoint alone. And if not, I can’t imagine them flat out ignoring you if it bothered you so much that you told one. I realize we non-parents have a lower threshold of crying than parents do, but come on. Even with my non-noise canceling headlines, I can turn the volume up enough to hear my movie over the roar of the engines, yours can’t?
It makes me laugh that you say they shouldn’t even be allowed on planes. Poor judgment for taking them on trips at all? So no visits to Disneyland, or trips to see grandma until… What, 10? 12? Puberty? What if grandma dies & parent is just trying to get to the funeral, all the while with you glaringly resenting their very presence?
I’m sorry that you’ve obviously had parents with bad parenting skills on some flights (babies/small children are gonna cry until their ears pop. It hurts, and they don’t know why. Have a little sympathy) but that someone actually said they should be segregated, if allowed on at all, blows my mind.
Anna,
You no nothing of me or about my parents so how Dare you talk about their parenting skills? Seriously? You are wrong for that.
As for putting children and their parents in a different section of the plane — what’s so wrong with that? Do airport lounges not have cry rooms? Do churches not have cry rooms? Why do they get to pre-board if not for segrataging themselves right up front?
My issue is not with children, it’s with parents using bad judgement and bringing overly excitable kids and infants on board. If parents would use better judgement this would not be a problem.
As for the trips to Disneyland…Drive! If you have screaming kids, take them in your own vehicle. And yes, 10 years old or around that timeframe is likely a reasonable time for them to travel. At that point they can act the part and not cut up, scream, and annoy everyone else on the tiny capsule at 35,000 feet. It’s the respectable thing to do.
ChadMC it appears to me that YOU should be the one driving to your destination, rather than children or those with children. YOU are the one with the issue and who cannot deal with society or the events of public transportation. Which is exactly what flying in a plane is! LOL I also would not tell someone to “tune it out” when it came to my crying child however, while I keep you in mind, where is your understanding for us as people apart of society…?
Actually no. I have a handle on how to act in society. Selfish parents do not as they see no difference in their lives before having children and after. There are significant differences. People should have the good common sense to change their lives after having children. Many do not. Many times I have first-hand witnessed parents just totally ignoring their kids screaming and hollaring. Why should others have to deal with then when the parents just “tune them out”?
Thank god you’re never having kids (I hope). Don’t need anymore d-bags out there. So kids can’t be on planes? Lol, I don’t think you should be allowed to leave your moms basement (you probably don’t much anyway). Makes about as much sense.