Kids on Planes: A Privilege, Not a Right

An Alaska Airlines flight was recently forced to return to the gate just before takeoff, thanks to a screaming 3-year-old who insisted on lying down with his seat belt around his neck. The family was asked to leave the plane, and they're not happy about it. But instead of seeking an apology from the airline, the Yanchuk family would do well to remember something: Bringing kids on planes isn't necessarily a "right"; it's "something that should be carefully weighed and perhaps, erring on the side of caution, decided against," writes Ruth Konigsberg, herself a mother of two, in Time.

The fact that Konigsberg has kids "doesn’t mean that I should expect special treatment for inflicting them on everyone else," she writes. It's the others on the Yanchuks' plane who faced the real inconvenience, leaving late and potentially missing connecting flights because of the boy. It's time for parents to stop expecting airlines to "bend over backward" for them (which, in Konigsberg's experience, includes flight attendants being made to rinse out sippy cups and toddlers roaming the aisles); indeed, the story underlines arguments for airlines with "kid-free zones." Click through for the full piece. (More children stories.)