How you get around?

[civvver]

I wish I could pay more for plane tickets that would guarantee me no children on the flight.

I don't quite understand why the market is failing in this case.

You can, it's called first class tickets. What family can afford to sit in first class with kids? And the plane is so noisy there's no way you'd hear kids in the back all the way up front.

Anyway my kids behaved great. The baby slept or ate the whole flight and my other one watched tv. The plane engines were louder than they were.

 

[Zelig]

Nobody except the wealthy and those with expense accounts can afford first class tickets. I asked about the cost of upgrading at the counter on my last flight, would have been $11k extra over the $600 I paid for my seat. I think you'd be able to fill planes full of people with no kids if you charged everyone $20 extra to avoid children though.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Personal car. I live far enough away from the city that while public transit exists, it doesn't come close to matching my schedule and would add an hour to my commute if not more.

 

[Farm Boy]

It'd be bad press. It's safer to annoy you somewhat than enrage social media mom.

I'd never pay 20 bucks for that though. Of all the massively irritating things about flying somewhere, kids really don't make the top part of the list. I'd rather they banned booze, if you forced me to choose.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yeah maybe I haven't flown enough but I have never encountered a big problem with babies on an airplane.

 

[Synobun]

The "babies crying on planes" is an outlier phenomena.

But it's memorable because once they start crying, they don't stop. A cramped cabin is not an ideal place for baby-soothing unless you've trained them real well (which 99% of parents don't/can't do).

 

[W|M]

My first ever flight was just before I turned 2 years old and involved me throwing up and crying for basically the entire 11 hour flight. I've been on planes with crying babies since then, and it's pretty bad when you're sitting near a loud baby or toddler who won't shut up for an entire transatlantic flight

 

[Cutlass]

I was just reminded that the church I was taken to as a kid had a sound proofed room in the back. And parents with crying children were supposed to relocate to that. So maybe what we need to do is to force airlines to keep a couple of seats in the cargo hold. And if a child starts crying, then and their parent would be forced to move to there.

 

[Lexicus]

I mean

have people never heard of headphones

 

[Quintillus]

I was seated next to a mother and daughter on a plane when the daughter was just less than 2 years old once. Thankfully, she was much better behaved than west india man. No crying, no throwing up, no temper tantrums. Playing with toys some, looking out the window, napping... really a model almost-2-year-old for flying in an airplane.

I get around primarily by bus, walking, and car, in order by how many trips I take (car would be second in mileage, since it gets the longest trips). Public transportation is so-so here, but I'm near a couple of the most frequent lines so it's much better for where I am than for most people in the city, and I found I like the extra time I get by not having to focus on the road for 20 minutes in the morning and evening commute. I bike for recreation, but not really for point-a-to-point-b, so I didn't vote that. I forgot to vote for carpool, but I do carpool with friends when going to events; if we're going to and from the same place, or one of us is along the other's route, it would be silly to take two vehicles, especially if the destination's parking situation is limited.

 

[Zelig]

It'd be bad press. It's safer to annoy you somewhat than enrage social media mom.

I'd never pay 20 bucks for that though. Of all the massively irritating things about flying somewhere, kids really don't make the top part of the list. I'd rather they banned booze, if you forced me to choose.

I'd expect to get kicked off a flight if I got drunk and made as much of a racket as kids do.

I mean

have people never heard of headphones

I travel light, and I've yet to find a pair of IEMs or earplugs that aren't uncomfortable after some hours. And even with IEMs that give better sound isolation than headphones, I'm still able to hear kids.

 

[Farm Boy]

Well, they're kids. They get a pass on crapping their pants too, up to a point. <shrugs>

 

[Zelig]

Yeah but I don't have to deal with their crappy pants.

If I did, I would absolutely be willing to pay money for a free market solution to the problem.

 

[Hygro]

I'd rather they banned booze, if you forced me to choose.

Nooooooo

 

[Zelig]

I dunno, I'd be alright with airplane booze being banned. Problem is that the beers are all crap macrolagers from blacklisted brewers (mostly ABIB), which basically leaves wine, which is either too expensive, or only free on long-haul flights where I'm abstaining in order to optimize jet-lag recovery.

 

[W|M]

I mean

have people never heard of headphones

Sometimes the babies are loud enough to drown out even the sound from the earphones

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Given that it's multple choice, did anyone NOT tick "walking"?

 

[The_J]

Given that it's multple choice, did anyone NOT tick "walking"?

Well...yeah. Because I don't walk considerable parts outdoors (probably not even a 100m in one go).

 

[Catharsis]

Given that it's multple choice, did anyone NOT tick "walking"?

I missed that it was in the poll

In any case I harbour a suspicion that the forward-roll is actually more efficient than walking (seems to work for Sonic), but I don't have the necessary panache to live my life that way.

 

[W|M]

Surely rolling everywhere would tire you out a lot quicker than walking would?