<story><title>Airlines are finally fixing the middle seat</title><url>https://www.fastcompany.com/90377949/airlines-are-finally-fixing-the-middle-seat</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>braythwayt</author><text>I have always felt the same way. Flying with other people&amp;#x27;s children is infuriating. (So is dining with other people&amp;#x27;s children, or taking public transit with other people&amp;#x27;s children. Or a car-share pool with other people&amp;#x27;s children...)&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: Sharing an environment with other people&amp;#x27;s children statistically sucks. We may win some victories here and there with tact, diplomacy, and&amp;#x2F;or luck, but that&amp;#x27;s the reality.&lt;p&gt;And I am especially sensitive to this, as when I fly to Europe and am stuck in this cacophony for six to eight hours, I usually have a presentation or essay I&amp;#x27;m working on and could really use a distraction-free environment.&lt;p&gt;So I&amp;#x27;m both irritated and feeling stressed that I can&amp;#x27;t work effectively. This is suboptimal personally and professionally. So what are my options?&lt;p&gt;I chose to fly economy. I could have gotten rich and bought my own plane, but no. I could have spent money flying first class (which filters a LOT of families out). But no. I chose to fly economy, where the price of my ticket was low PRECISELY because families are also flying economy, subsidizing my ticket.&lt;p&gt;If an airline offered an &amp;quot;Absolutely no kids allowed&amp;quot; flight for anything except a vacation charter, the seats would be more expensive. So instead, they offer first class, and &amp;quot;comfort economy,&amp;quot; and if I want a seat not subsidized by unruly toddlers and crying infants, that&amp;#x27;s what I purchase.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s harsh, but the universe is no more &amp;quot;fair&amp;quot; to me than it is to people who want affordable housing in San Francisco.</text></item><item><author>bitwize</author><text>Once as he leaves and once as he returns. I&amp;#x27;ll take it over being smushed. What drives me batshit is when there&amp;#x27;s a kid in the seat behind me who uses my seat back as a punching bag and just goes all out on it with hands and feet.</text></item><item><author>psim1</author><text>This works nicely until the guy in the window seat gets up to pee. He runs into, or tugs on, the seat back that is in his way as he tries to exit the row, annoying the occupant of that seat.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>762236</author><text>When you live in a balanced society that frequently exposes you to interactions with kids, you don&amp;#x27;t get annoyed by their chaos. I can&amp;#x27;t feel sorry for anyone that isolates himself&amp;#x2F;herself from this part of normal life and then gets annoyed.</text></comment>
<story><title>Airlines are finally fixing the middle seat</title><url>https://www.fastcompany.com/90377949/airlines-are-finally-fixing-the-middle-seat</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>braythwayt</author><text>I have always felt the same way. Flying with other people&amp;#x27;s children is infuriating. (So is dining with other people&amp;#x27;s children, or taking public transit with other people&amp;#x27;s children. Or a car-share pool with other people&amp;#x27;s children...)&lt;p&gt;Conclusion: Sharing an environment with other people&amp;#x27;s children statistically sucks. We may win some victories here and there with tact, diplomacy, and&amp;#x2F;or luck, but that&amp;#x27;s the reality.&lt;p&gt;And I am especially sensitive to this, as when I fly to Europe and am stuck in this cacophony for six to eight hours, I usually have a presentation or essay I&amp;#x27;m working on and could really use a distraction-free environment.&lt;p&gt;So I&amp;#x27;m both irritated and feeling stressed that I can&amp;#x27;t work effectively. This is suboptimal personally and professionally. So what are my options?&lt;p&gt;I chose to fly economy. I could have gotten rich and bought my own plane, but no. I could have spent money flying first class (which filters a LOT of families out). But no. I chose to fly economy, where the price of my ticket was low PRECISELY because families are also flying economy, subsidizing my ticket.&lt;p&gt;If an airline offered an &amp;quot;Absolutely no kids allowed&amp;quot; flight for anything except a vacation charter, the seats would be more expensive. So instead, they offer first class, and &amp;quot;comfort economy,&amp;quot; and if I want a seat not subsidized by unruly toddlers and crying infants, that&amp;#x27;s what I purchase.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s harsh, but the universe is no more &amp;quot;fair&amp;quot; to me than it is to people who want affordable housing in San Francisco.</text></item><item><author>bitwize</author><text>Once as he leaves and once as he returns. I&amp;#x27;ll take it over being smushed. What drives me batshit is when there&amp;#x27;s a kid in the seat behind me who uses my seat back as a punching bag and just goes all out on it with hands and feet.</text></item><item><author>psim1</author><text>This works nicely until the guy in the window seat gets up to pee. He runs into, or tugs on, the seat back that is in his way as he tries to exit the row, annoying the occupant of that seat.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>clairity</author><text>you&amp;#x27;ve got a choice in the matter. other people&amp;#x27;s children can be wonderful travel companions who distract you from the drudgery of your economy seat existence. or you can wallow in your own annoyance and inability to focus on something else. happiness and contentment come from changing perspectives, moreso than changing circumstances or other people.&lt;p&gt;i (try to) remind myself of this when i get annoyed with other people on both roads and walkways.</text></comment>