Rick Hartwig has tapped into a deep-rooted anxiety among
parents who often cite the stress of flying with young children as the one of
the main reasons they don’t travel or don’t travel internationally. Long flights, jet lag, and flight
cancellations are bad enough. But our fellow passengers seem increasingly vocal
about their annoyance by the mere presence of a child on their flight (How dare
those babies fly to see Grandma!).
Add to this recent news headlines highlighting how airlines arereducing the family-friendliness of our skies by eliminating the courtesy of early
boarding for families, not guaranteeing families be seated together, and even going
so far as to restrict children from first class. It’s understandable why flying
with babies or toddlers—or any child, really—creates such anxiety.
