My husband is in the military and I had to do a total of 6 trans-Atlantic flights. All of them were unavoidable.
Flight 1: 3 month old
Flight 2: 9 month old (with my husband)
Flight 3: 9 month old (with my husband)
Flight 4: 5 month old, two year old
Flight 5: 6 month old, two year old
Flight 6: 17 month old, three year old
I had my husband there to help for two of the flights, the rest, I did on my own. Flights 4 and 5 were the worst. We were going back to the states to get tubes in my daughter’s ears, so you can imagine what the altitude did to my girl.
I did my very best, but there’s only so much you can do. I remember one particular woman (another passenger), who volunteered to take my son so I could take care of my screaming two year old. She was middle aged and lovely and took care of him for most of the flight. Saved ALL our bacon.
I firmly believe that there should be an area reserved for the families with small children. It would be less stressful for the everyone, including the parents. Heck, I’d pay extra if they had a small play area for kids.
The kids are grown now and my husband and I have officially reached the ‘get off my lawn!’ stage, but I never get upset with the children or the parents on these flights. Sometimes flying is unavoidable and little ones do suffer. 90% of the time, the parents are desperately trying to deal with the problem, but they have few options.
On flights that aren’t fully booked, I have suggested that either myself and my children be moved away or that irritated passengers are moved from us. Most of the time, staff does their best to make this happen.
It’s just a no-win situation for anyone.