Family-friendly airline puts out the welcome mat for born (and preborn) children
The airline industry has made it abundantly clear in recent months that they don’t want babies on board….
One airline, however, has emerged as the exception to the baby-hating rule.
Asiana Airlines, which is one of South Korea’s two major airlines… offer[s] something called Pre-Mom Service in which expectant mothers in all sections of the plane are gifted with warm socks, seats near the bathroom and high-priority luggage delivery upon landing….
Had your baby already? Try out Asiana’s “Happy Mom” service, which is available for passengers traveling on flights longer than 10 hours. If you’ve got a kid under 24 months old with you, you will be welcome at exclusive check-in counters and offered a nursing cover free of charge….
Can you imagine flying on an airline that actually welcomes your children?
~ Meredith Carroll, Babble, January 2
[Photo via opinionli.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I’m all for civilization in airline travel, in whatever form it takes! If anyone is ever flying to Canada I can’t recommend Porter Airlines enough for this reason. Their airport in Toronto is just amazing – comfy and serene waiting area with latte/coffee machines that you can use, bottled water, etc. The mugs are even stored in plate-warmers! And you get an ACTUAL GLASS for your drink on the plane. And they are all so polite. And you can check in while waiting for the ferry from downtown Toronto.
I always thought it a bit absurd that there is just a free-for-all when deboarding the plane. They should offer those with connecting flights to deboard first, then those with young children, etc. A little bit of civility goes a long way and sometimes it seems like the only reason we don’t have that is for lack of putting a single brain cell towards it. Glad to see a company formally extending some care to mothers.
I often hear people complaining bitterly about courtesies extended to parents, and to some extent I understand why. Our corporate and public life is often structured so as to be completely unaccommodating to any of life’s extenuating circumstances, and it can feel unfair that parenthood gets more “leeway” than, say, eldercare issues, or caring for a mentally disabled sibling, or whatever. But I think the proper response is to expect more, not to expect less. There are some trials that most of us will go through. Having young children is one of them and I encourage any public, formal acknowledgment of and appreciation for that fact, whether other common issues get unfairly swept under the rug or not.
thats good news. Delta airlines flew me to Atlanta for a cattle call and hired me on the spot to be a flight attendant. i just had second thoughts about moving to Atlanta so i turned it down after some soul searching. i love to fly!
that was back in 96 i should have said.
While this is good news, yes, I can certainly understand the view of preferring people not to fly with babies. Having done the LA-to-Tokyo run before (and LA-to-Honolulu, and LA-to-Taiwan…and LA-to-Denpasar once, which was long), I can say from experience that these super-long flights are miserable enough without being trapped in a long, tiny room with someone else’s crying baby. Who. Won’t. Let. You. Sleep. And, yes, when you’re stuck on a plane for 10+ hours, that crying baby is that big a deal.
This doesn’t make babies intrinsically bad, or even any less of a blessing. It means that the airline has a realistic view of the fact that nothing in the world–including a blessing–is going to be composed of exclusively wonderful moments. And unfortunately, the usual solution of “Give the babies a space where they can be as babyish as they please!” doesn’t work on an airplane without somebody (ultimately the passengers) shelling out major money.
So, yes, I see both sides here. I’m glad that there’s an airline trying a new way for dealing with this issue. But the last thing I want to see on my long flights are babies who look like they’re setting up for a long squall. That doesn’t make them or their parents bad people. It just means I’m not lying to myself about not being able to get away from a crying baby.
Very good news!! Might be another reflection of the growing paradigm shift in thinking about the gift of life!
Personally, I’d rather have a crying baby on my flight than the 4 or 5 DOGS that were barking on my plane yesterday. And yet, while no one complained about that, a 2 year old fussing during a rough landing was yelled at.
I just don’t get it.
Kate, that sounds like a pretty good statement on our culture, where we value animals more than children.
“If you’ve got a kid under 24 months old with you,”
I’ve said it before, a BABY is not a “kid”…unless you’re talking about a baby GOAT. ;)
I say, dogs will be dogs, babies will be babies. Don’t bring them where they don’t belong if you can help it. BUT sometimes dogs and babies need to travel. It’s the way of the world. So put on your headphones and deal with it. Now…if a kid is incessantly kicking your seat…then I’m all for the strategic use of duct tape (on the kid and the lazy parents) :-)
I would rather drive three thousand miles than to take that horrible Florida to Oregon flight with my kids again. That was a special kind of torture.
It’s good that the airline is trying to find some way of dealing with the problems that little kids present on airlines. It will be better for all involved.
I always figure that as miserable as babies on a plane are for everybody else, they’re like 800 times worse for the parents! It’s like, “Oh, hey, not only is this kid screaming, but IT’S YOUR PROBLEM. Have fun!” So I try to just smile sympathetically and turn my music (or white noise) up. If it seems like maybe they don’t have things under control I might offer some help if I have anything appropriate (a face wipe, a toy – I keep Automoblox Minis in my purse a lot of the time – etc) but usually they seem in-control, just stressed. I figure I’ve got the easy day, in that situation.
On my last flight out west, I was stuck next to an elderly couple who were VERY interested in talking to me about my life. Fine, ok, I’m a sucker for old people, let me entertain you with my youthful stories. But after 90 minutes or so I was pretty much done talking to strangers, so I started drafting e-mails. The woman next to me actually leaned over my shoulder to get a better glance at what I was writing! It was sensitive work information! wtf lady? So I started playing The Sims instead, which is kind of embarrassing to be seen doing, but whatev, I got no pride. She kept very intently watching, and asked all kinds of questions (“What are you doing now?” “uhhhhhh, making that woman pick the trash up off the floor.” SCINTILLATING.)
Finally she fell asleep. ON MY SHOULDER. I figured it was better than the talking so I just made myself cushy and settled into my book. But then she had night terrors! She started screaming at the top of her lungs for about 90 seconds, until a flight attendant came over and forcibly shook her!
I’d take a crying baby any day over that, honestly.
sometimes the air pressure probably affects the babies sensitive ears, so of course many babies will cry…. I know I have enough trouble when we drive to Colorado and get into the mountains and my ears are popping and crackling…can you imagine how a little baby’s ears are?
I am glad some airlines care about pregnant women and offer them a better seat or a place for nursing Moms to feed their babies quietly. We need to encourage life, not banish it…
I wish airlines could have some special seats for parents and kids so they would feel comfortable. I enjoy the bustle of children around me, in restaurants, planes, whatever. I wish public areas could find ways to make life easier for kids and parenst. A local theater has a “crying baby” room–small room with comfy chairs and a small screen so parents don’t have to miss any of the movie just because their child is crying.
alexandrea thats a pretty bad flight. er i was on a flight fron chicago to cleveland in a blizzard. my friend mary was with me. we were chatting away when an alarm began going off. some guy was smoking iin the bathroom. talk about a spook! also i agree with liz. took a flight to seattle and boy were my ears popping. it really hurts. and sarah i agree with you. i might get stoned for admitting it but it can be annoying when a baby cries on a flight. perhaps a private section would be appreciated.
How I wish for society to go back to when kids, even crying babies, were just a welcomed part of normal social life. In church? Little kids wandering around the meeting hall, babies being nursed, toddlers playing musical laps. In travel? Little kids running around shrieking happily playing with dogs or running by the horses with hoops, babies being nursed, carried by whoever was availible, or asleep on top of a horse, camel, ok, etc, toddlers occupied by whoever was handy. Etc etc etc. Once a screaming baby and frazzeled parent was a sigh to anyone within ear shot to happily lend a hand, bounce a baby on a knee, offer a cup of milk or bit of something sweet, shake a pulled-together toy, etc. Now it’s at best, the sign to turn up your white noise or music, and at worst a sign to yell at the parent and get all huffy about *your* world being intruded upon by a less than perfect being.
Not that I’m purely blaming the non-parents in the situations. The obsessively paranoid hellicopter parents wandering around terrified that every person who smiles at their child is a pervert who will snatch their precious baby away are just as bad and just as much at fault (probably more so) as the stranger who doesn’t reach over and pluck up a crying babe or toddler.