Noises of Air Travel

When making plans to travel there are many scenarios that play through your head, such as missing the plane, forgetting an item at home or merely nervous about how the trip goes. You do everything possible to prepare yourself for any inconveniences during the stressful time of traveling. However, if traveling by plan there are a lot of things that are uncontrollable. If you are lucky enough to be able to pick your own seat and also have familiar people to sit next too, than you are already set for a decent flight.
Although, while you are sitting in your semi-uncomfortable chair with your legs scrunched in some odd position, you feel a bump on the back of your seat. This is fine, until the bumping continues repeatedly. There seems to be a child behind you that has taken it upon themselves to give you a very unhappy flight. This is not the worst scenario. The worst is the crying child and the parents that cannot seem to stop the noise.
According to the recent article in the New York Times titled “Passengers Push for Child-Free Flights” by Douglas Quenqua: “Next to landing hastily on something other than a runway, sharing the cabin with a fussy toddler is about the worst luck many travelers can imagine.” Based on this fear, there has been talk about creating child-free flights. Of course this would likely require higher ticket prices, but some people would do this to avoid the chance of a troublesome child. “I would gladly pay extra for a child-free flight,” said Ian Burford, a frequent flier from Boston, “Or at least if they made it easier when booking a flight to say ‘I don’t want to be seated next to a 1-year-old.’ That would be helpful” (Quenqua).
Child-less flights appears it would be an endeavor that would be worth the hassle. However, with the already tight constraints of Airlines and the cost of tickets, the chances of this happening is slim. Not only would getting tickets, but Airlines would hardly profit from forcing someone to choose one flight over another due to restrictions. With last minute substitutions, the seat planning would not be able to offer any stable ‘family only’ sections without eventually giving away those seats.
With the Airlines not wanting to hinder any passengers, toddlers or not, from buying tickets the chances of creating a more comfortable environment for flights is not going to occur in this direction until Airlines have enough of a budget to make changes. The solution cannot forbid any particular passenger from getting a ticket and short of kicking a family off a plane before it takes off which has been done, the only solution is to somehow offer other passengers a relief from the noise. Airlines should offer noise canceling headphones that would provide a better experience because there is always going to a troublesome child and parents who cannot or will not do much about it.