Adult only planes

Flying short haul is an unpleasant experience

Adults can be just as annoying as children. More so in many ways

Just bite your lip and get on with it.

It sounds as though it was the parents who were at fault on this particular flight - perhaps ban them maybe?

The answer is for airlines to cater for the needs of children in some way, especially on long-haul flights. Activities - films etc.

Chaitriona I think short haul flights could be worse, not sure.
Long haul flights are generally peaceful although there is occasionally a child who may need attention and isn't getting it from the DP.

Children are given activity bags on long haul flights and there are always plenty of films to watch.
Younger babies usually sleep in the bassinets.

Ha ha well postedChaitriona
Intolerance at it's best.
You forgot about the people who need to go to toilet regularly as well ?

There are some adults that behave worse than kids in flights

Ban the alcohol from flights as well.

My username may give away what I do for a living ?. I am usually loathe to comment on such matters as it would not be looked upon as very professional. However, what you would be suggesting would be "ideal for some"... but, I'm afraid, simply not workable in real life. As you can imagine, aviation and holiday companies are really struggling to hold it all together at the moment in a very challenging environment. Commercially, this far fetched idea is totally unworkable for several reasons. We have watched the sad demise of Monarch, Thomas Cook and FlyBe most recently, with probably more to come. The grounding of the Boeing 737 Max, which still isn't back in operation nearly a year down the line, Volcanic ash clouds a few years ago, sand storms, terrorism (remember Tunisia and Sharm el Sheikh), & now a possible world pandemic to contend with, is taking its inevitable toll on the holiday industry and aviation. There is no way that a whole plane could be designated just for adults only. That would mean a whole plane would also have to be designated for those with children and infants of various ages. Children on our aircraft are considered to be adults at 12 years of age and are deemed able to open an emergency exit. So, theoretically a 12 year old would be able to travel on a separate aircraft from his/her family with younger siblings, which simply would not happen. Similarly, on the designated aircraft carrying just the young families, from a safety angle it would be a total nightmare. There are so many restricted seats where children are simply not allowed to sit due to strict regulations. So.... airlines would not be able to sell any of those seats to families at all, as they will quite rightly not want or expect to be separated. Neither should they. Those seats would remain totally empty. So....who will occupy them to comply with safety regulations? It will mean that the emergency exits would be totally "unmanned " and that is against regulations, so the aircraft wouldn't ever leave the ground! We simply would not have enough aircraft available to segregate.
Bear in mind, young children's ears are often very painful when flying as their tubes are narrow and undeveloped. A lot of the screaming on board is due to this fact and a degree of empathy is needed, as "most" parents are beside themselves with worry when this happens. Yes, you can get very unruly families where naughty children go unchecked. Yes, of course it's much worse in a confined space, (try pouring hot water successfully when a toddler is let loose in the cabin under your feet!).
Commercially and for safety reasons, this simply isn't going to happen. Even if it did, where would you then draw the line? As someone has said...a whole plane load of stag and hen parties? (Safety again?!!) A whole plane load of people with reduced mobility issues? It simply isn't going to happen if you are travelling on a holiday airline. Holidays are for everyone. Hotels are a different matter, as many of the safety considerations will not apply on the ground.
Sorry, but apart from earplugs, I'm afraid there will be no significant changes! Believe me I empathise after a 15 hour day in the skies in the summer...(at least you can get off the other end!) Lol.

Excellent post, flygirl, thank you .

Yes thank you flygirl informed post

I've just flown from Bournemouth to Cyprus with Tui. Bliss, everyone over 60 well behaved. I endured a flight to and from Majorca with constantly screaming baby next to me across the aisle. Sat on dad's lap, dad clearly didn't know how to cuddle and reassure a baby or give it something to suck to help ears. Mum sat with other child clearly ignoring the baby's distress. Horrendous. Hostess ignored it too. Whole plane suffered.

Dillyduck, you say the hostess ignored it, but what would you have expected or liked her to do? She can only offer some assistance, but that is sometimes rejected by the parents, as any intervention panics them. May be, in their eyes, it suggests that they are in some way inadequate?
Sometimes, parents move the fractious baby to the galley, but this rarely works to calm the child down.
It is a very small space filled with 3 hot ovens and pots of boiling water, and 2 or 3 crew frantically trying to run the on board service (around other people "just stretching for a moment" and doing yoga poses whilst queuing for the loo ?). From a safety angle (let's remember, that's the whole reason why we are there!) it's a nightmare, as we could be sued for the slightest splash of hot water. Much as we would like to, we are not allowed to pick up/handle the passenger's babies, (again, for obvious reasons). As you can appreciate, there are only 4 of us with 189 passengers to serve and assist in a very limited time. For an older child, we can offer Olbas oil on a hot tissue in a cup (to help any ear pain by breathing in the vapour), but this is not suitable for young babies. All they can do is feed from a bottle to help ear pain (similar to an adult sucking on a sweet). If a plane isn't full, we do offer to move parents with babies so that they have more space, but you will appreciate this often isn't possible. In the summer it isn't uncommon to have 50 children and up to 18 babies on laps, all on one plane to Majorca! It's carnage?. However, at this time of year our planes are mostly adults only, by default. The destinations in winter tend to attract what we call "empty nesters" ...(parents/grandparents who have no longer have children at home), which brings with it other challenges (older people who have limited mobility and underlying health conditions, where our first aid training comes into focus on a regular basis).
Any suggestions for screaming babies (within our safety limits) would be gratefully accepted! I know how awful it must be to draw the short straw. I wish we, as crew could please everybody all of the time, but sadly, we rarely can!

Sorry, but I would pay more for a child free flight. It's a matter of choice. I would not want to be with badly behaved screaming kids.
I said sorry but it is just a personnel choice.

It may be a personal choice, but as I said before (see above, my first reply), just "paying more" simply wouldn't work. Commercially and for valid safety reasons it just isn't going to happen that a whole plane would have age restrictions.
There is, if course, always a choice to fly business class/first class with a high end scheduled airline rather than a chartered/holiday airline if you have that kind of money to spare. No guarantees you would escape children even then, but it is unlikely that most families could afford to travel in such luxury very often, so that's your best chance.

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I've never encountered either noisy children or adults on long-haul flights with Singapore or Qantas.

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Reported

So glad i never fly

I fly Club class and the children are further away and better behaved.
I’m a snob but we gave up on economy when we retired. It was too traumatic for all the reasons mentioned above.

In normal times (remember those), I flew often and whilst I agree some children were a pain it was really down to the adults with them not controlling them. I don't have children but even I know they get bored easily and need entertaining.

I was on one flight when a father and his young child were sat next to me, the father had come prepared with books and pencils and kept the child engaged the entire flight - he was a delight.

I always fly Business on long haul flights. I occasionally have children near me but they are usually very well behaved. On domestic or european economy flights my absolute bete noire are elbows. Usually men, with an elbow on each arm rest. If they do so much as move I get my arm in quick as a flash and sit with it rigid ?. The other annoying activity is when passengers who are separated from their friends or family, all congregate round a row of seats in the aisle preventing others from passing and lean on my seat taking up my space. They're usually wearing white tracksuits, from which one can view the builders bum as they bend over, oversized white trainers & a baseball cap on backwards ?

I have travelled widely, usually long haul, with two children. Both made their first trip at 3 weeks old, with the second one I had to cope with a two year old and a newborn! We clocked up an average of 12,000 miles each year and not once did either child cry for more than a minute or two.

Why? Because as a mother I anticipated their needs, knew that they needed to suck during take off and landing and came prepared with things to distract them. Children sleep easily on flights, much as they do in a car.

Problem is people don’t seem to know how to parent. Their children are almost feral.
The look of bewilderment I have experienced from mums when I had to suggest the child was screaming because of ear pain is a revelation. A hard sweet to suck on brings almost instant relief. They don’t bring drinks, snacks, toys, books, anything! No child can sit peacefully for hours with nothing to do.
Adults who get drunk are worse. No alcohol should be available in airports or on a plane.

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