[Travelandtourism] Should an airline's first-class section beadults-only?

Tue Jul 12 16:16:54 UTC 2011

Peter unfortunately, airlines are nickel and diming us!

Including the travel professionals, we no longer make any money on airlines unless we charge our clients a surcharge but I will not do this unless I have to.

unfortunately, we cannot do anything about the charging of the excuse me if this affects anyone out their and mind you I am not slim to start with (But if you are heavy enough not to fit into your own seat and take up another seat some airlines will charge people for the seat). Southwest is known for this, but they cannot determine anything until you are actually sitting in a seat to charge you.

Unfair! Very! Anything we can do about it, yes, Obesity in this country and with some is considered a disability.  And that should be fought in congress as well, along side our other laws pertaining to disabilities

People who are obese are also finding denial or charges to them for being overweight.

I am a mother and understand that issues pertaining to my child or even guide dog and of course myself of the cabin pressure that causes young children, and some dogs to cry, howl or screaming, depending on the age.

To deny them totally from a flight I do not agree, to Deny some one from first class, I have heard some airlines are doing it, is it right no. 

But also we have people who have children, who do not listen, are not corrected by there parents, and let there kids get away with everything. My daughter when she was little and we were in a store and heard a kid screaming for something, and the parent didn’t do anything about it, she said that kid is spoiled.

I spoiled my child with love and kindness, and she never grew up not knowing who was the boss and it wasn't her.

But that is me, and my own opinion. 

Leading the Way in Independent Travel!

Cheryl Echevarria
http://www.echevarriatravel.com<http://www.echevarriatravel.com/>
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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Peter Donahue<mailto:pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com> 
  To: NFB Travel and Tourism Division List<mailto:travelandtourism at nfbnet.org> 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 11:47 AM
  Subject: Re: [Travelandtourism] Should an airline's first-class section beadults-only?

  Hello Ann and everyone,

      This is another attempt to "Squeeze off" particular passengers in this 
  case infants and young children. At one time they tried doing this to the 
  blind and those with other disabilities. Large passengers have since become 
  another target. As I told the passengers and crew on my return flight to San 
  Antonio once we landed and I was ready to deplane "It's time for a shift in 
  the air travel paradigm! I'm out of here!"

      With that I promptly left the aircraft never to return again! If new 
  airlines start up whose service is of the kind we once experienced neither 
  of us wish to fly on scheduled airlines ever again.

  Peter Donahue

   ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: "Anne Musgrave" <amusgrav at toronto.ca<mailto:amusgrav at toronto.ca>>
  To: "NFB Travel and Tourism Division List" <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org<mailto:travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>>
  Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 8:35 AM
  Subject: Re: [Travelandtourism] Should an airline's first-class section be 
  adults-only?

  Hi
  Well I guess I have a different perspective. Wile I sympathize with
  those who don't want to hear crying infants, I have to say that people
  had to listen to mine occasionally, so I guess it is my turn on a
  flight. As for first class, well I have never had the income to get me
  to those exulted hights, so I wouldn't know. As our world has fewer and
  fewer children I think we will think less and less of them as an
  important shared communal resource.

  Anne

  Anne Musgrave
  Staffing Associate
  Human Resources Division
  416-397-5210

  >>> "Peachtree Travel" <info at peachtreetravel.net<mailto:info at peachtreetravel.net>> 7/11/2011 7:43 PM
  >>>

  Ask passengers like James Armstrong, and you'll hear a compelling
  reason for
  keeping babies in the back -- if not off the plane entirely.

  "I was on a flight from Bangkok to Beijing," he remembers. "Royal Thai

  Airways."

  Just to set the stage, this is what Thai's first-class section looks
  like.
  Nice, huh?

  Anyway, there was this German couple with two young children seated a
  few
  rows away. "One of the children was running about, loud and
  disruptive."

  And sick.

  With junior making the rounds, touching the seats, sneezing and
  sniffling
  all over the place, Armstrong became infected.

  "Nothing like spending two days in Beijing in bed with the flu," he
  says.

  Babies on planes is a hot topic again, thanks to Malaysia Airlines
  (www.malaysiaairlines.com<http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/>) banning young passengers on some of its
  larger
  jets. Originally, the airline said it was in response to complains from

  other premium passengers. It later changed its tune, saying it didn't
  have
  the proper facilities to accommodate infants.

  Either way, Malaysia Airlines' actions got passengers talking.

  "I'm quite serious when I say that I'd rather be on a flight with
  smokers
  than with babies," says reader Dick Carlson. "I'd love to see an
  airline
  that offered adult-only flights -- maybe late evening or red-eye. While
  I
  understand that the little squirts have to travel somehow, having one
  squawk
  and scream five inches from my ear isn't anything I want to endure for
  six
  hours."

  By way of full disclosure, I used to think babies on planes were a
  nuisance,
  no matter where they sat. And I had to laugh when Ryanair
  (www.ryanair.com<http://www.ryanair.com/>)
  announced it would begin offering child-free flights earlier this
  year.

  Look at the date on the press release, in case you're wondering if
  they're
  serious.

  But there's a kernel of truth to its joke.

  "When it comes to children we all love our own but would clearly prefer
  to
  avoid other people's little monsters when traveling," Ryanair's Stephen

  McNamara is quoted as saying. And those words certainly ring true for a
  lot
  of passengers, even if Ryanair didn't really mean it.

  I hear the same sentiments from among younger airline passengers and
  articulated by childless thirtysomething airline commentators. They
  don't
  want to sit next to anyone else's little monsters, let alone their
  screaming
  little monsters.

  The "ban babies" from first class -- and indeed, sometimes from the
  plane
  altogether -- proponents' argument goes something like this.

  (I'm quoting without attribution, because I've received several emails
  that
  are virtually identical.)

  .I pay a premium to sit in first or business class and I don't want my
  to be
  disturbed by a crying, screaming or misbehaving child.
  .While I understand the parent pays as much as I do, I don't disturb
  them by
  screaming or crying or misbehaving and I should not have to deal with
  their
  child if they are screaming or crying or carrying on.
  .Some children are absolute angels and some act like they are the spawn
  of
  Satan. While I understand a child's or baby's reaction to the change in

  environment is unpredictable, that doesn't mean anyone should be
  subjected
  to it either. A person's choice to have children and fly with said
  children
  does not take precedence over or trump my choice to not have children.
  Then there are also a great many parents today that think the world
  should
  have to deal with it because "s/he is a child", when the reality is if
  you
  choose to have children you should not inflict them on others,
  especially
  strangers.

  As clichéd as it sounds, your perspective changes when you have
  monsters of
  your own. Notice, I didn't put "monsters" in quotes. I've endured too
  many
  flights, and one or two in first class, where my kids didn't behave
  well.

  So I actually find myself sympathizing with those who would want to
  keep
  children, and particularly babies, out of the very best seats.

  Infants probably don't belong up front any more than they do in a
  five-star
  restaurant. But keeping kids off the plane, period? Not practical.

  If young passengers were barred from flying, then how, pray tell, would
  they
  travel? By boat? Or spending four days strapped into a baby seat of a
  car?

  "I find crying babies on a plane just as annoying as the next person,
  whether they're in first class or not," says Linda Snow. "But ever
  since air
  travel was invented, the rule has been, 'You get what you pay for.' If

  people can pay for first class and want to travel with their babies,
  they
  get to."

  Malaysia Airlines' decision to keep babies out of its first-class
  section on
  certain flights is as courageous as it is controversial. It
  acknowledges the
  fact that its premium cabin is an experience meant primarily for adult

  passengers.

  There will no doubt still be angry parents who think their little brats

  deserve to sit in first class. Fortunately for them, they have a choice
  of
  airlines.

  And in the end, the market will decide whether baby-free premium cabins
  will
  fly or not.

  Peachtree Travel
  Independent Travel Consultant

  (phone) 888-389-2723

  (website: http://www.peachtreetravel.net<http://www.peachtreetravel.net/>.

  Email: reservations at peachtreetravel.net<mailto:reservations at peachtreetravel.net>

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