I thought this announcement was interesting.

For one, I support this move by United. I hope other airlines follow suit.

 

https://www.gatechecked.com/united-airlines-crackdown-headphone-audio-video-calls-11491?ref=flightaware

100% Should also apply to London Transport. 

Absolutely ... now if they addressed a more regular problem ... screaming children with parents that do nothing to corral their kids ... THEIR kids, but everyone's problem apparently. 

United will do NOTHING about that.  I'm not anti-child at all, but parents don't seem to recognize "time and place" when it comes to THEIR kids ... and yes it's difficult parenting, very difficult, not for everyone (in every sense) 😉 

49 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

Absolutely ... now if they addressed a more regular problem ... screaming children with parents that do nothing to corral their kids ... THEIR kids, but everyone's problem apparently. 

United will do NOTHING about that.  I'm not anti-child at all, but parents don't seem to recognize "time and place" when it comes to THEIR kids ... and yes it's difficult parenting, very difficult, not for everyone (in every sense) 😉 

See I've always been of the opinion that when kids are playing up it's the duty of other adults in the vicinity to control their own emotions and let the parents get on with what needs to be done - even if it means letting the tantrum play out. There's no such thing as "time and a place" for a kid who's stressed and in a confined environment where they might not be feeling very good - and you can't simply tell the kid to STFU or beat them to get them to be quiet, that's not how it works.

Good luck to any airline that tries to enforce children being quiet ... and therein lies the difference; as an adult you're expected to know what is sociably acceptable or not.

Good luck with parents trying to children being quiet.

 

1 hour ago, FPVSteve said:

See I've always been of the opinion that when kids are playing up it's the duty of other adults in the vicinity to control their own emotions and let the parents get on with what needs to be done - even if it means letting the tantrum play out. There's no such thing as "time and a place" for a kid who's stressed and in a confined environment where they might not be feeling very good - and you can't simply tell the kid to STFU or beat them to get them to be quiet, that's not how it works.

Good luck to any airline that tries to enforce children being quiet ... and therein lies the difference; as an adult you're expected to know what is sociably acceptable or not.

Not if I've paid for a premium economy or business class seat in an attempt to take my chances of sitting in an area free from screaming kids.

1 hour ago, FPVSteve said:

when kids are playing up it's the duty of other adults in the vicinity to control their own emotions

And why should someone else’s kid be my problem?  

Not sure what you mean by control my emotions?  The issue is distractions and more specifically for those several million of us that suffer from Tinnitus, a screaming kid is more than just me having emotions, it’s physically painful … like someone drilling a hole in your head.  Since my tinnitus doesn’t impact others, but someone else’s child does then why is this “my issue”?

Hmmm … my parents told me to “be quiet” and any tantrum was control by a swift smack over the head or butt … discipline.  But there are plenty of other ways to prepare a child for a confined environment if they’ve never experience one before … all part of the parenting process prior to aircraft travel.  And I’ve seen this process in action and effective on flights, not all kids wig-out as the parent is capable of managing the situation.

Airline are certainly more than capable of having “Adult” only flights in their schedule and Airlines are certainly able to establish Adult/child sections in the cabin with appropriate noise separation.  Can also setup a first class section with no Adults and make us pay for it even when we’re not the problem.  Plenty of options for Airlines to take into account everyone’s desire and not just the few.

 

Edited April 2Apr 2 by SayAgain

Devils advocate would be to suggest you stay at home with your tinnitus in case you encounter screaming kids - because the fact is, you don't have any additional rights over that of a child in a public space. In short - you have to put up with it in certain situations because it is going to happen, parenting or not. Kids are kids. And you can't beat them to shut them up even if you wanted to and suggesting otherwise is a ridiculous argument which suggests to me that you don't actually have kids and so probably shouldn't be advising me on how to parent 😂

By your logic they should have Tinnitus-only flights ... although I have to say, wouldn't the quiet make the tinnitus more obvious? 

The reason airlines don't do that is because they expect adults to have emotional control and be able to deal with the minor inconvenience of children crying. It's that simple.

43 minutes ago, FPVSteve said:

Devils advocate would be to suggest you stay at home with your tinnitus in case you encounter screaming kids

So you’re saying even though I’m not the source of the problem, I need to stay home?  So screaming kids and lack of parental action should be my problem and I should be kicked off an airline that has screaming kids?

Devil advocate, don’t have kids if one is unable to manage them in public environments.

So you’re saying Airlines don’t have the right to kick people off with loud audio/music playing?  Adults are Adults?

No, Tinnitus is a result of hearing loss where the brain produces noise (high pitched whine) so the more noise present the more the brain compensates and the high/louder the high pitched whine becomes.  Anyway, not sure why you latched onto Tinnitus, but there are MANY more reasons of screaming children have a negative impact those within range, shame you are unaware or more accurately seem to just not care? 

43 minutes ago, FPVSteve said:

In short - you have to put up with it in certain situations because it is going to happen, parenting or not. Kids are kids

And yet I listed the alternatives where I/we don’t have to put up with it and can provide an effective solution/compromise.

 

Edited April 2Apr 2 by SayAgain

44 minutes ago, FPVSteve said:

The reason airlines don't do that is because they expect adults to have emotional control and be able to deal with the minor inconvenience of children crying. It's that simple.

No idea what you mean by “emotional control”?  It’s not minor inconvenience … very serious and painful.  Why should we be expected to deal with it?

Of course you don't need to stay at home, but neither do kids have to be silent just because you can't tolerate them. You either remove yourself from the situation or put up with it because unfortunately that's real life. If it wasn't noisy kids bothering you it could be a squeaking fan or a rustling plastic bag. Any kind of annoyance - you just have to suck it up.

Unbelievably you're advocating for beating kids to shut them up and make your life more convenient which is a bit over the top 😂 As a parent you can't press a child on and off to make them stop screaming when they're upset and sometimes they get upset for weird, irrational reasons that make no sense to anyone. Cracking them over the skull isn't a solution, it's a lack of emotional control ... you say it happened to you, I say "exhibit A".

As the adult you're expected to make concessions for kids as unreasonable or inconvenient as it may be and whether or not they're your own - lashing out by beating them or shouting because you can't handle the stress is the exact opposite of what they need while they're learning how to be part of society... 

 

7 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

No idea what you mean by “emotional control”?  It’s not minor inconvenience … very serious and painful.  Why should we be expected to deal with it?

Because it's a "you" problem and a child isn't responsible for controlling how an adult reacts to situations.

2 hours ago, FPVSteve said:

Because it's a "you" problem and a child

The source of the screaming comes from where?

2 hours ago, FPVSteve said:

Unbelievably you're advocating for beating kids to shut them up

Nope … hopefully being an Adult you’re able to distinguish between “beating” and “discipline”?  As a child in a UK boarding school we actually got whipped for not behaving … oh the horror, damaged goods and I should have been sent to therapy for years … well I didn’t and it taught me discipline that helped me achieve my goals in life … no drama, no therapy, no harm.  Oh, and we still had fun and enjoyed being a kid, hard to imagine huh?

2 hours ago, FPVSteve said:

If it wasn't noisy kids bothering you it could be a squeaking fan or a rustling plastic bag. Any kind of annoyance - you just have to suck it up.

So why did United ban loud noise from audio equipment on planes if people should just “suck it up”?  So I guess kids can crank up a radio on plane but Adults can’t?  Oh it’s a kid, he/she can do anything … sure go ahead and pull the emergency exit handle, no worries, all good.

2 hours ago, FPVSteve said:

As the adult you're expected to make concessions for kids

Really, is this some global document/rule I missed out and didn’t get the memo?  Or is it just a parent being lazy and not involved with their child and not taking responsibility for THEIR kids and trying to offload said responsibility to the rest of society?  Your kid, your responsibility.

Like I said, there are solutions but for some strange reason you refuse to accept those also?  

Well you’ll probably need to sue the Hotel I stayed at recently that was “no kids” and “no pets” … oh the horror!  Well as it turns out these place are often fully booked for months or even years in advance … seems like A LOT of people don’t share your philosophy and the pampering approach to parenting nor willing to accept it’s their responsibility to “suck it up”.

 

Edited April 2Apr 2 by SayAgain

25 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

Nope … hopefully being an Adult you’re able to distinguish between “beating” and “discipline”?  As a child in a UK boarding school we actually got whipped for not behaving … oh the horror, damaged goods and I should have been sent to therapy for years … well I didn’t and it taught me discipline that helped me achieve my goals in life … no drama, no therapy, no harm.  Oh, and we still had fun and enjoyed being a kid, hard to imagine huh?

"It happened to me, and I turned out okay" ... no it made you think beating children for slight behavioral issues is acceptable when it could otherwise be dealt with without resorting to violence. 

25 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

So why did United ban loud noise from audio equipment on planes if people should just “suck it up”?  So I guess kids can crank up a radio on plane but Adults can’t?  Oh it’s a kid, he/she can do anything … sure go ahead and pull the emergency exit handle, no worries, all good.

Because loud noise from audio equipment is anti-social and (critically) controllable - very easily. Unlike a crying child who as I said, can continue whining for no reason whatsoever for an indeterminate amount of time. There is no "mute" button.

28 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

Really, is this some global document/rule I missed out and didn’t get the memo?  Or is it just a parent being lazy and not involved with their child and not taking responsibility for THEIR kids and trying to offload said responsibility to the rest of society?  Your kid, your responsibility.

Apparently so - it's basic knowledge for anyone who goes outside that young children whine at times. It doesn't always happen at convenient times and yes, it can word not allowed you off. As an adult you should be capable of dealing with that whether you want to or not (which seems to be the issue here).

The biggest problem I can see here is you considering yourself as more important than the child which isn't the case.

32 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

Well you’ll probably need to sue the Hotel I stayed at recently that was “no kids” and “no pets” … oh the horror!  Well as it turns out these place are often fully booked for months or even years in advance … seems like A LOT of people don’t share your philosophy and the pampering approach to parenting nor willing to accept it’s their responsibility to “suck it up”.

Yes well maybe instead of sharing public transport with these hellish spawn you could also make an adult decision and hire a child-free private jet for the full holiday experience next time. What's the problem?