Seat selection - icons should show where babies and children are!

[Esilef]

As a mum with a small child (not one of those kid haters) I think they should have a colour icon which shows which seats have been allocated to children or they should have a section of the aircraft available for seat selection for people with kids.

The reason for this is simple. My kid will bug the cough out of you during the flight and if you have been pre warned then you would have had a chance to choose seats away from us and would not give me evil eye.......................

 

[mannej]

As a mum with a small child (not one of those kid haters) I think they should have a colour icon which shows which seats have been allocated to children or they should have a section of the aircraft available for seat selection for people with kids.

The reason for this is simple. My kid will bug the cough out of you during the flight and if you have been pre warned then you would have had a chance to choose seats away from us and would not give me evil eye.......................

On the flip side, I see it as a massive Liability issue.

Risk mitigation would suggest that this is not a good idea.

 

[opusman]

Risk mitigation would suggest that this is not a good idea.

Especially given that every male on-board is apparently a potential paedophile!

 

[dodgeyhack]

[/COLOR]
Especially given that every male on-board is apparently a potential paedophile!

What about an option (set in your FF account) to forever block all seats next to children? or in the same block of seats?

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I guess it depends when you are allocating the seats because if it was a the time of booking eg 2 weeks away, not everyone travelling with kids would have booked by then so it wouldn't give you a true reflection of the number of kids travelling.

Also a lot of families book everyone in their group as adults rather than select the 'child' option as the passenger type code from the drop down menu so again wouldn't give you an accurate picture of where the kids are.

Allocating 'child' as the passenger type code for kids 2-11 years will give you a better selection of seats as bookings with kids have a higher PCV (pax commercial value). This applies for QF, not sure about other airlines.

Also if you board first that will eliminate anyone giving you the evil eye.

 

[serfty]

...

Allocating 'child' as the passenger type code for kids 2-11 years will give you a better selection of seats as bookings with kids have a higher PCV (pax commercial value). This applies for QF, not sure about other airlines. ...

It certainly does!

Last month I assisted one of my Daughters family up an back from CNS - I recommended Qantas since they had four sons, two under 8yo and two under 2yo. So the booking was for 6 - 2 Adult, 2 children and 2 infants. Can't allocate seats for infants, so allocated A/C seats (with B empty) as fare back as possible (weird looking at NB seat maps).

Anyway another daughter was travelling with them her seat - selection was even more limited. At T-80 I was able to move all to the last two rows, fare more seat to choose from for the booking with infants than the single booking (all NB).

 

[StevePER]

It would certainly be good traveling with kids as it would dramatically increase the likelihood of an empty seat next to you.

 

[simongr]

I hardly see any kids on my commuter flights so an option to identify large or smelly or chatty or I attractive would be good.

 

[eric2011]

The reason for this is simple. My kid will bug the cough out of you during the flight and if you have been pre warned then you would have had a chance to choose seats away from us and would not give me evil eye.......................

Perhaps it is you who should take some responsibility. You allready know your kid will annoy the cough out of everyone around you. If your kid is uncontrollable, (or maybe you just dont care) then maybe, just maybe you shouldnt fly.

 

[The Rok]

Perhaps it is you who should take some responsibility. You allready know your kid will annoy the cough out of everyone around you. If your kid is uncontrollable, (or maybe you just dont care) then maybe, just maybe you shouldnt fly.

Yea that's helpful. Parents shouldn't fly anymore....

 

[eric2011]

Yea that's helpful. Parents shouldn't fly anymore....

Loud, rude, obnoxious, noisey, uncontrollable, troublesome adults get removed from flights........fairs fair

 

[Major]

Whilst I understand the context of the OP's suggestion, it will not get off the ground. If you have an icon for children then someone would want one for obese people, or old people, or handicapped people etc.

You could suggest quite a large list, but they are all discriminatory and should be avoided at all costs.

Like it or not children are different, you have quiet,well behaved ones and you have noisy annoying ones. A bit like adults actually.

My point is that we are all human and if you don't like your seat neighbours then a request to the FA to change seats may solve your problem. But we should not discriminate against children simply because they are children.

 

[The Rok]

Loud, rude, obnoxious, noisey, uncontrollable, troublesome adults get removed from flights........fairs fair

Presumably you were an angel child! Do you have kids by any chance?

Nobody, including me wants to sit beside or near a noisy child but banning kids and their parents does not solve the problem.

 

[eric2011]

Presumably you were an angel child! Do you have kids by any chance?

Nobody, including me wants to sit beside or near a noisy child but banning kids and their parents does not solve the problem.

Definately not and yes

I am not suggesting banning kids and their parents, what I am saying is that this parent knows and openly admits that it will "annoy the cough" out of those seated around her. Some would almost say, proud of the fact, What I am saying is that they should be a lot more respectful of others and more considerate. Dont make us normal people move because the kid is going to be a little !!!!!. Perhaps consider moving themselves say to the back few rows of the plane where most others try to avoid and hey, perhaps train the child to behave.

 

[medhead]

Definately not and yes

I am not suggesting banning kids and their parents, what I am saying is that this parent knows and openly admits that it will "annoy the cough" out of those seated around her. Some would almost say, proud of the fact, What I am saying is that they should be a lot more respectful of others and more considerate. Dont make us normal people move because the kid is going to be a little !!!!!. Perhaps consider moving themselves say to the back few rows of the plane where most others try to avoid and hey, perhaps train the child to behave.

Yeah and yet the way I read it, IT WAS A JOKE designed to lighten up the topic. Shame it apparently didn't work with "control you kids" crowd and the "I'm not a pedophile" crowd.


Sent from the Throne

 

[Esilef]

My point is that my son is a very active 4 year old and some people do not tolerate children at all.

I flew to Europe with him this year, plus he has flown all over Australia. Now I do what i can to be respectful of others but others should be a little more understanding of people with small children. hence my original post that you should be able to see where kids are sitting and if you do not like it choose another seat.

Here is my list of things I do to keep my child occupied during a long haul flight:

#pack a toy bag full of new and interesting toys.
#keep painstop and other drugs on hand incase he has any pain and starts crying.
#Place him in a window seat so he can not get out and run around.
#keep lollie pops in his bag to suck on if his ears get blocked.
#He has his own iPAD with all his favourite movies loaded.
#I keep a zip locked bag with a nappy, nappy bag & wipe so that when I need to change him I am not getting a bag out of the overhead locker.
#I pack books & other things to keep him amused.
#If he gets upset I sing quietly to him.
#I keep bottled water and a bottle for him with me at all times.
#I pack his favourite snacks incase he does not like the food on the plane.
#I make sure he is in comfortable clothes.
#Where ever possible I fly during his sleep times or over night.
#before the flight I get to the airport and allow him to run around to wear himself out so he will be quiet.
#I try to only take 1 back pack between him and I so I am not taking up over head locker space.
#I ask for a baby seat belt attachment for him so if he wont sit still during take off I can put him on my lap.

If you can add suggest anything else I could be doing to make life easy for everyone let me know!!!

So as you can see I am doing everything I can to make sure he and others around him have a good flight but in return maybe others should think ok he is a small child and he will act as such which does bug the cough out of some people.

I am happy to sit in the back rows or away from others if it makes their flight more tollerable with us on it but my point is let others know when they are choosing a seat.

Here is a few things people did to be rude to me when we were flying to and from Europe with him:

#tried to move my 1 and only carry on bag with all his things and nappies to another overhead compartment as they had 5 bags including all their shopping (we were on first as we had a small child and placed them in our own locker.
#when the childrens food was brought out refused to move their seat to the upright position so that he could eat.
#kept on leaning over and pulling down his window blind even though it was in no way affecting their sleep.
#told us we should be the last off as we had a small child and other people were in more of a rush than us and we would get in the way.

 

[Esilef]

Perhaps it is you who should take some responsibility. You allready know your kid will annoy the cough out of everyone around you. If your kid is uncontrollable, (or maybe you just dont care) then maybe, just maybe you shouldnt fly.

As I have pointed out I do take responsilbilty for my child. I try very hard to ensure that he is well behaved and entertained but he is a small boy whom is very active and interested in everything which can annoy the cough out of others.

I will continue to travel with my child as I do believe that travel is a really great thing for families and children.

 

[medhead]

Just ignore those posts. The person clearly didn't read between the lines of your post.


Sent from the Throne

 

[Esilef]

My point of my original post was simply that others should see where small children are seated so if they wish to be seated away from potential annoyance then they can. WIN/WIN.

 

[harvyk]

#tried to move my 1 and only carry on bag with all his things and nappies to another overhead compartment as they had 5 bags including all their shopping (we were on first as we had a small child and placed them in our own locker.
#when the childrens food was brought out refused to move their seat to the upright position so that he could eat.
#kept on leaning over and pulling down his window blind even though it was in no way affecting their sleep.
#told us we should be the last off as we had a small child and other people were in more of a rush than us and we would get in the way.

The thing you need to remember is some people are just coughholes, take pleasure in annoying them, as they do deserve it.
As for what you do to fly with your child, that's pretty much what we do as well. (4 kids, youngest at 6 months oldest at just under 5) and I son't think there is too much else that can be done, of course there is every so often, an hour and a bit from landing where the kids have decided they'd had enough, and nothing you do will calm them down, it's just part and parcel of flying with kids.

As for the original question, I've lost count the number of times on check in with kids we've been moved to better seats that where not available to pre-select, and I suspect we're not the only ones either. So I'd imagine any such icon would be pretty useless until everyone had checked in (which at that point in time would have been a mute point).