Possibly not sitting with children on airplane

[jodifla]

Why do you assume your 4 yr old kids are going to scream the entire flight? You have 3 1/2 weeks to introduce them to proper behavior on an airplane. Or are you going to instruct them to scream because they are not with you? I hope you do get to sit near each other, but with 3 kids, are you the only adult? If so, there's no way you are all together - there are only 3 seats next to each other on each side of an aisle, except on international flights.

So she can have the baby in a baby seat at the window, then a 4 year old, then her, then the 4 year old across the aisle, still in arm's reach.

See how easy that would be?

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Why do you assume your 4 yr old kids are going to scream the entire flight? You have 3 1/2 weeks to introduce them to proper behavior on an airplane. Or are you going to instruct them to scream because they are not with you? I hope you do get to sit near each other, but with 3 kids, are you the only adult? If so, there's no way you are all together - there are only 3 seats next to each other on each side of an aisle, except on international flights.

This has nothing to do with "proper behavior". Some kids simply do not want to be separated from their parents and sitting next to a stranger will upset them. Children have different personalities as do adults. You can't control how they feel. Also- with 3 kids and one adult you can sit at least 3 kids and one adult across from them in the aisle seat. Or any other variation of those 4 seats. This way Mom can be within easy reach and constant viewing of them.

 

[ducklite]

So she can have the baby in a baby seat at the window, then a 4 year old, then her, then the 4 year old across the aisle, still in arm's reach.

See how easy that would be?

I might be wrong, but I think one of the parents/guardians has to sit in the middle seat next to the car seat per FAA regs.

Anne

 

[HelenePA]

Why do you assume your 4 yr old kids are going to scream the entire flight? You have 3 1/2 weeks to introduce them to proper behavior on an airplane.

my kids have NEVER been on a plane, I can talk til my head falls off to prepare them.. but honestly.. I got NO clue how they are gonna react! One day they are all excited the next they say NOO I dont want to.... I do plan on giving them benadryl just incase.. I do know it makes my kids sleepy and not hyper Its only a little over 2 hrs for my flight.. but even if one of them screams for 2 hours.. its gonna be a LOOOONNNGGG flight!

 

[HelenePA]

I might be wrong, but I think one of the parents/guardians has to sit in the middle seat next to the car seat per FAA regs.

Anne

well that would be easy as well kid, baby, mom, isle, kid..

 

[crisi]

My daughter from the time of her first flight until about seven would scream for a good portion of the flight. Her ears seem to be particularly sensative to pressure changes - we've done water and gum and hard candy and teaching her to hold her nose and blow. Of course, I'd completely space this getting ready for the flight - or I'd have at least brought Tylenol - but I never had anything with me - other than a bottle of water, gum, and candy. A year ago or so it cleared up. She can now tolerate flying. This is a girl who had constant ear infections and tubes in her ears.

Don't assume screaming kids are "ill behaved" - sometimes they are in pain.

 

[ducklite]

well that would be easy as well kid, baby, mom, isle, kid..

Sorry, not going to work. FAA regs are that the carseat must go into the window seat.

Anne

 

[HelenePA]

Sorry, not going to work. FAA regs are that the carseat must go into the window seat.

Anne

stupid rules

 

[ducklite]

stupid rules

It actually makes a lot of sense. If there's an emergency, the parent needs to be next to the child to unbuckle the car seat. God only knows anyone without a little one isn't going to know how to unbuckle one of those contraptions in broad daylight with all the time in the world to figure it out.

Anyhow, the child needs to be in the window seat so as to not block anyone elses exit in case of emergency.

Anne

 

[HelenePA]

It actually makes a lot of sense. If there's an emergency, the parent needs to be next to the child to unbuckle the car seat. God only knows anyone without a little one isn't going to know how to unbuckle one of those contraptions in broad daylight with all the time in the world to figure it out.

Anyhow, the child needs to be in the window seat so as to not block anyone elses exit in case of emergency.

Anne

eh i guess it makes sense just makes it harder on us with 3 kids. I still dont know if i'm buying my little one a seat or not.. i have a credit i can use, but with having the seat near the window its making me think twice.

 

[snowwite]

I am so frustrated with Jet Blue right now that I could scream. I made my reservations in August knowing that this is a very busy time to fly (I did get great rates though). We are flying out of Buffalo so we have to drive there from Rochester. My frustration is that I picked out my seats when I bought the tickets for all my flights. Same seats same row for everything. The flight home was changed 2 times and I changed my seats both times. Being slightly obsessive complusion I went on the check last night (we leave on Saturday) and suddenly we did not have seats on the flight from Boston to Orlando and coming home from JFK to Buffalo. I call Jet Blue say I have my print out in front of me with my seat numbers - lady says nothing she can do and has to separate us 3 in one row with 2 rows separating the other 3. I pity the parties between us. This made me upset, but the kicker is on the return flight there are no seats together. She spent 15 minutes looking up the info and basically said that there was nothing she could do, but at check in they could try and put us together. This is completely not cool. I have 4 children - the oldest is 9 and the youngest is 4. My 6 year old has some sensory issues and there is not way that they can be everywhere on a plane. I don't really know what to say to Jet Blue. I am sorry that this got long - but I needed to vent

Thanks for any information.

kathe

It will get straightened out when you check in. we have run into this before. No one else wants to sit with your kids. Only once did someone say no and I laughed and said to my DH how nice it was going to be to have a quiet trip home. Suddenly she was willing to make the switch. I hte that what I buy is not always what I end up with. Sometime I pay more for a particular flight because of the time and the seats so when it changes I feel like I have been ripped off.

 

[lauritagoddess]

Why do you assume your 4 yr old kids are going to scream the entire flight? You have 3 1/2 weeks to introduce them to proper behavior on an airplane. Or are you going to instruct them to scream because they are not with you? I hope you do get to sit near each other, but with 3 kids, are you the only adult? If so, there's no way you are all together - there are only 3 seats next to each other on each side of an aisle, except on international flights.

My 4 year, almost 5 year old has flown several times and certainly knows how to behave on a plane but I can tell you without a doubt that if he had to sit apart from me on a plane that we'd never get to take off because he'd be screaming the plane down the moment we were separated. When you're talking about young children, how many young kids can handle separation from their parents like that? I know if I'd have been absolutely terrified if I'd had to sit apart from my parents on a flight at a young age. And frankly I can't understand why anyone would want to sit next to a young child who's unaccompanied by a parent. Even the best behaved child is going to act like a child and without a parent there to keep an eye on them and to keep them occupied, I can't see that being a pleasant seating prospect.

 

[Mkrop]

Why do you assume your 4 yr old kids are going to scream the entire flight? You have 3 1/2 weeks to introduce them to proper behavior on an airplane. Or are you going to instruct them to scream because they are not with you? I hope you do get to sit near each other, but with 3 kids, are you the only adult? If so, there's no way you are all together - there are only 3 seats next to each other on each side of an aisle, except on international flights.

The above is not me, I am flying with two kids two adults so my odds are I hope more in my favor but this statement I ahd to respond to:

And I am introducing flying to my child and talking about the plane and such but as someone else said each child is different. DS4 will lose his mind if separated from me I think no matter how much I prepare him. He gets upset when he gets dropped off at school some days yet I prepare him all the time, he actually loves it when he comes out, yet today he told me he is not going back (he is on vacation so no issue)

I think some people are expecting these kids to act like robots. They are children that are being put into a very new, very overwhelming, very overstimulating siutation, and you expect them to react as if there is nothing going on. These are children, at least I want to sit next to them and help them through this for goodness sake and not ignore any misbehavior that could occur. I mean I have also seen the parent who doesnt give a hoot that their kid is misbehaving and we all have to tolerate that. Id rather have mom or dad around to handle the situation than not.

You have no idea how a child could handle a plane ride just like we all know many adults who struggle with air travel. Air travel is not as easy as other means of transportation and you all know it. You can have a perfectly rational adult who is a complete mess on a plane due to fear, or medical issues. I am 37 and I am not thrilled with flying and my ears hurt to this day and so I dont expect any child to handle the situation perfectly either. They may or may not. It is the unknown!

 

[Schmeck]

The above is not me, I am flying with two kids two adults so my odds are I hope more in my favor but this statement I ahd to respond to:

And I am introducing flying to my child and talking about the plane and such but as someone else said each child is different. DS4 will lose his mind if separated from me I think no matter how much I prepare him. He gets upset when he gets dropped off at school some days yet I prepare him all the time, he actually loves it when he comes out, yet today he told me he is not going back (he is on vacation so no issue)

I think some people are expecting these kids to act like robots. They are children that are being put into a very new, very overwhelming, very overstimulating siutation, and you expect them to react as if there is nothing going on. These are children, at least I want to sit next to them and help them through this for goodness sake and not ignore any misbehavior that could occur. I mean I have also seen the parent who doesnt give a hoot that their kid is misbehaving and we all have to tolerate that. Id rather have mom or dad around to handle the situation than not.

You have no idea how a child could handle a plane ride just like we all know many adults who struggle with air travel. Air travel is not as easy as other means of transportation and you all know it. You can have a perfectly rational adult who is a complete mess on a plane due to fear, or medical issues. I am 37 and I am not thrilled with flying and my ears hurt to this day and so I dont expect any child to handle the situation perfectly either. They may or may not. It is the unknown!

I was pointing out that the parent just expected the child to scream if not seated next to a parent - and that the parent wasn't planning on doing anything about it, as in, preparing the child for the chance that he/she might be a few seats away, etc. I guess they could take the advice given by many, and just be asked to be put on the next flight out if they could sit together then. Also wanted to point out that with 3 kids, they couldn't all sit next to mommy, no matter how much they planned ahead. I guess the littlest one could be a lap baby?

Before our first international flight, I spent a lot of time prepping my kids for what they might encounter. Just seems to make sense to be prepared.

 

[Mkrop]

And as for the airlines, not weighing the leisure ticket as heavily as the business traveler ticket, maybe this is why the airlines are suffering. They obviously want me in that seat or they wouldnt have sold me the ticket, they would rather have the plane full than have it half full with only one kid of traveller.

Business 101 in college taught you to treat your customers well because the big and the small ones affect your bottom line. I maybe a leisure traveller today but tomorrow I could become a business traveller so if I had less than a positive experience I will do everything in my power not to travel with you.
I had many bad experiences on USAir including them putting me through the stress of waiting to the last minute to get a seat for my 18 month old that DH and I do everything we can NOT to fly them and they are the major carrier where we live. DH makes enough trips for business that are at ridiculous rates and he goes out of his way to try and not fly USAir so maybe the airlines need to wake up.

 

[Mkrop]

I was pointing out that the parent just expected the child to scream if not seated next to a parent - and that the parent wasn't planning on doing anything about it, as in, preparing the child for the chance that he/she might be a few seats away, etc. I guess they could take the advice given by many, and just be asked to be put on the next flight out if they could sit together then. Also wanted to point out that with 3 kids, they couldn't all sit next to mommy, no matter how much they planned ahead. I guess the littlest one could be a lap baby?

Before our first international flight, I spent a lot of time prepping my kids for what they might encounter. Just seems to make sense to be prepared.

I think you were assuming she wasnt preparing. I am preparing and I am contiuing to prepare yet I also know the unpredictability of children when faced with such an overwhelming situation. I think all the preparation in the world would not prepare DS4 to be separated from me as I stated in my PP. And I think having mommy/or daddy in arms reach is a much better scenario to control what is the unknown (flying with kids) than having her/him several aisles away. So even if she cant be right next to them all having them near is much better than far apart. Must be too much common sense!

I would like to ask you an honest question:Were your children with you or not? Were you able to witness firsthand if your prep work paid off? And if so what ages were said chidlren that had to handle the flight solo? I guess I am just not sure if all the prep work in the world would prepare my child who in everyday life is clingy, I think more maturity needs to happen before that comfort level is reached.

 

[Hannathy]

What amazes me reading all these thread is Why are these kids afraid of flying? Where does that come from, I wonder? Kids aren't born afraid of things they are born looking at everything as an adventure. Kids shouldn't know to be afraid unless it has been instilled in them. My kids have always looked at and been taught to look at flying as a form of transportation just like getting in a car. You get in, put your seatbelt on and go, no big deal. If we are together that is nice, if we aren't oh well we all get there at the same time. My DD once her Brother was born didn't want to sit with us because she wants a window and doesn't want to share so from first grade up has sat in a row in front or behind us so she can have a window. We aren't going backward, flying is only going to get more available it shouldn't be looked at as a big deal or a rarity.

To answer your question my DD has flown solo since first grade.

Now for my flame suit but a child should know how to act whether Mom is next to them or not-most kids behave better when not around parents.

 

[HelenePA]

I love rollercoasters, so does dh, dd2 and ds looks like he loves em too... now dd1 She's a chicken!!!!!!!!!!! where does that come from?? I didn't teach it to her, dh didn't teach it to her, we've been going to amusement parks since she was a few weeks old many many many many times a year! Rides are nothing new to her... but forget even TRYING to get her on one!

 

[MomNeedsVacay]

What amazes me reading all these thread is Why are these kids afraid of flying? Where does that come from, I wonder? Kids aren't born afraid of things they are born looking at everything as an adventure. Kids shouldn't know to be afraid unless it has been instilled in them. My kids have always looked at and been taught to look at flying as a form of transportation just like getting in a car. You get in, put your seatbelt on and go, no big deal. If we are together that is nice, if we aren't oh well we all get there at the same time. My DD once her Brother was born didn't want to sit with us because she wants a window and doesn't want to share so from first grade up has sat in a row in front or behind us so she can have a window. We aren't going backward, flying is only going to get more available it shouldn't be looked at as a big deal or a rarity.

To answer your question my DD has flown solo since first grade.

Now for my flame suit but a child should know how to act whether Mom is next to them or not-most kids behave better when not around parents.

Not all kids are born looking at everything as an adventure. People are born with true fears, phobias...these are not all learned behaviors. Certainly, some phobias are conditioned by past experiences, but to assume fears are all learned behaviors is as ridiculous as saying all parts of our personalities are learned and shaped.

 

[HelenePA]

Now for my flame suit but a child should know how to act whether Mom is next to them or not-most kids behave better when not around parents.

Oh and for us flying is something rare! We usually travel by car... but even I couldn't deal with kids in a car for 18 hours