As a soon-to-be dad, the results of a survey of 2400 Australian air travelers brought some thoughts to mind.  According to the survey, 81% of travelers thought that there should be a separate area for babies on long haul flights, 16% thought that everyone deserved to be treated equally, while 3% believed that babies did not belong on flights at all.

I can definitely see how sitting next to a crying baby for 12 hours straight might be an extremely stressful experience for some, especially when you are unable move or do anything about it. Worse still if one is trying to sleep, or at least preserve some semblance of peace on the flight.

The other side of the coin is always the cry for more understanding - that we should be more accommodating of fellow passengers.  I’m sure it’s just as tough on the parents as it is for everyone else, and they are just as helpless to alleviate the situation as anyone else.

So what is the solution to this dilemma?  Complimentary noise canceling earphones for all?  A separate area for passengers traveling with babies?  For myself, I would certainly think long and hard before taking my own child on a long haul flight, bus journey, or similar.  If traveling, I would make preparations and try as much as I could to ensure that fellow passengers were inconvenienced as little as possible.  If the airlines were to offer a separate area for babies then I would definitely take up the offer. 

I definitely think though that banning babies completely from flights is not the answer - after all, if we start banning every little thing that causes us inconvenience, where do we draw the line?  What about people who talk to much, or hyper-active kids that won’t settle down, or larger sized people that take up too much elbow room?  What do you think?