Flying with kids: Cabin chaos

Noisy and disruptive children can turn a normal flight into a living nightmare.

Earlier this month, a flight in Canada was cancelled after a young child refused to wear a seatbelt. The incident has opened a debate about how airlines should deal with these situations and how parents should control their children. In our conversations we bring together three parents to share their experiences.

“I don’t feel bad any more after hundreds of flights with my kids behaving like kids,” Charlotte in Vietnam tells us. “You can’t just control your child – it’s not a little puppet or a robot that you sit and ask to do what you want all the time, sometimes they feel off…we all have off days.”

We also bring together three flight attendants to share their experiences of dealing with disruptive passengers, while keeping everyone on board safe.

Presenters: James Reynolds and Luke Jones
BBC producers: Isabella Bull and Akwasi Sarpong
Boffin Media producer: Richard Hollingham
Editors: Arja Haikonen and Harriet Oliver

A Boffin Media production in partnership with the BBC World Service Outside Source team.

(Photo: Elena's child)