A toddler was filmed screaming for 8 hours on a flight — and the footage reveals a mounting, divisive issue for air travelers

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February 15, 2018 9:44 PM

Some think families with children should have to sit in a separate section. Others think they deserve sympathy.

How airlines should handle children is one of the most polarizing questions surrounding air travel.
The split reaction to a YouTube video that shows a toddler disrupting passengers on an eight-hour flight illustrates how controversial the issue has become.
There's no silver bullet, as any proposal involves a sacrifice.

If you fly regularly, this story from Patrick Smith, who runs the travel blog Ask the Pilot, might sound familiar:

People are split on how airlines should handle children

Theres no silver bullet

There's no silver bullet that would please both sides, as any proposal involves a sacrifice. The current model, letting parents and young children sit wherever they please, may force a large number of passengers to sacrifice their comfort if the children are loud.

But making families with young children sit in a designated section could compound the stress parents feel when flying with children.

Creating designated, child-only seating areas could become a nightmare for flight attendants, and banning young children from planes entirely would make long-distance travel impossible for some families.

If nothing else, parents can defuse tension before it builds by acknowledging the discomfort their children can cause and making gestures to try and ease the pain, like buying drinks or snacks for nearby passengers.

"At the end of the day, I think it's incumbent on the parent to try and do symbolic things that help make up for the cost of their children on everyone else,”Airways senior business analyst Vinay Bhaskara told Business Insider.

No matter how the debate is resolved, it will likely produce stress for everyone involved. And that’s nothing new for air travelers.

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