N9373M

Benadryl! Benadryl!

Gomerglideslope

I must have been a "wimpy parent", because my oldest sure had a couple of meltdowns when he was 2 or 3...bad behavior and "wimpy parenting" notwithstanding, somehow he righted himself and got through college (well an academy, which is sort of like college) and law school.

Bucking Bar

Kids screaming used to bother me, now it helps lull me to sleep. Strange how a person's perspective changes after a couple little monkeys of their own.

Got a screaming two year old? Hand them over ... we can play with toes and noses until everyone's laughing. Got a frown? Turn it upside down. Lots of games to play.

captjns

Give the little kipers doggy downers before the flight.

ehe2

Since the parents bought a seat on the flight, why on god's earth did they not bring on the car seat? Children behave better when they are given a familiar environment. It's safer for the child anyway.

Wingtips

+1 its what I wondered. Stupid is, as stupid does.

DYNASTY HVY

+1 right there !
Your damned if you do and damned if you don't .


Ally

Timbo

Love your Bobby Orr avatar Gomer!

We had twins first, then another two kids after that. We NEVER traveled with them when they were in the "Terrible Two's" because, you cannot control an out of control 2yr. old. BUT we were traveling as non-revs, and in that capacity you don't want to be 'that guy' with the unruley kids and get into a squabble with a P/O'd F/A, and risk your passes, so we just stayed at home until they were older.

When the twins were about 4 we finally took a trip from BOS to MCO to visit the In-Laws. Back in those days, you could sit in First Class with little kids as non-revs, but my wife had been a F/A and there was no way we were going to sit up there with two 4yr. olds!

So I told the gate agent we would gladly take seats in the back. She just glared at me and said, "You will sit where I tell you to sit!" Oh Kay...so she hands us 4 seats in F/C...

When we boarded the airplane (an L1011) I talked to the F/A at the door, and told her I wanted to be in the back, WAYYY in the back, but the agent gave me F/C, and I was going to find some seats in the back, if that was OK with her. She said Sure, no problem. (flight wasn't too full).

We walked to the back, and I found a nicely dressed family of 4, with two older kids, and I said, "How would you all like to sit in First Class today?" I handed my 4 tickets to Dad, told him I was a non-rev and my little kids would be a disruption, so he gladly took them and they moved up while we took our rightful place in the back of the bus.

Later in the flight, the F/A's came back and thanked us many times. My kids weren't bad, no tantrums, but they were 4 and active. When we finally got to MCO, one older lady sitting near us said, "How did you get your kids to behave so well?" I said, "I told them if they opened their mouths, or got out of their seats, the mean F/A's would throw them out the door!"

She had a pretty good laugh over that.

To this day, those twins (now 23) have never used their passes...I wonder why not?

MrBigAir

Who knows, obviously the article doesn't quote anything from the crew perspective. I wouldn't be surprised if the kids kept releasing their belts and standing up and after 30 min of up and down, up and down it was becoming obscene to keep 130 other people from getting to their destination. "We have them seated now" could mean "they are seated for at least the next 30 seconds take-off and turn off the seat-belt sign and we'll be OK".



I've been riding around in the back of airplanes since 8 weeks old as a non-rev. My parents basically kept me in line with "be quiet and don't move or Mommy and Daddy will lose their jobs and go to jail and you'll be in an orphanage eating brussel sprouts for the rest of your lives." Surprisingly effective.

Gomerglideslope

If I remember correctly, most car seats are not FAA approved for use on an airplane.