I flew from Auckland to Christchurch with my then 5 month old daughter. She was fine for the majority of the flight, but as the plance began its decent, she began to scream & didn't stop until the plane had almost landed. I would hope that the other passengers were sympathtic to her plight, as I would to other parents in the same situation. However, my sympathy ends with parents who allow their children to be noisy & run around annoying other people, without making any effort to calm them. My daughter is now 22 months & no angel, but she know's when she has to use her "inside voice". In these situations, I believe there is a difference between children being genuinely upset & just being noisy little buggers.

Little kids ears hurt on take off and landing so I just feel sorry for them. Feeding them while descending can help restore pressure. However, long haul continuous screaming can be a pain to everyone else. Parents normally have as many toys/treats/distractions as they can with them. Older kids sucking a lollipop can help with the ear pressure too.

I don't blame Mr Chavaul for his comment nor do I blame the child as sometimes kids are unhappy/sore or sick. Its public transport...you have to put up with the public

Pre-kids, I travelled a lot and have to say that most parents try their best to minimise disruption. Few parents would choose to be confined in a tiny space with their tired, often hyped-kids for hours on end so are trying to just survive.

I can still vividly recall our 2 yo daughter having a melt-down at Sydney airport as we queued to go through Immigration - she was just exhausted, hot and wanted to go home. For the only time I can remember she just screamed and screamed. Thankfully the immigration guys saw what was happening and our efforts to calm our daughter down, so took us through another channel. But to our amazement, several people commented loudly "oh we should just scream and then we'll get better service!" I would gladly have swapped places.

I think Mr Chauvel's downfall is that he's an MP. If he wasn't a "public figure" this would never have been in the news!

Plus both parents apparently didn't hear them - the mother who was actually sitting with the kids didn't hear anything. (her kids' screams probably drowned out all other noises, haha).

Even if Mr Chauvel was the only one who commented on the noisy kids I bet lots of the other passengers would have been thinking it!

My partner and I really, really don't like kids. for this reason we will never have any.

One thing I hate is kids that screm and cry, especially on planes. oh, and the smell when they crap their pants.

We regularly fly (long haul and domestic) and it's infuriating and actually painful when babies crap their daks and start wailing. The cabin pressure on the 737's that are used for domestic flights messes with my ears anyway and that's painful enough, but when a child starts hollering it really is a form of turture and I sometimes feel physically sick because because of the combined noise and excruciating pain.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Why can't air lines put up a wall at the back of the plane, just for the last two or three rows, where parents can let their idiotic offspring wail and crap themselves as much as they like? maybe that was some people would be put off traveling with kids or, even better, be put off having children entirely.

I'm also fairly certain that there should be some kind of exam that one has to take in order to be allowed to have kids and not just the practical.

Babies on planes cry because their ears hurt and thats the only way they can express that they are hurting. For those I feel sorry for and just plug in my head phones turn up the volume. Kids who kick seats, I do not talk to the parents I ask the child not to do it directly. It usually works and parents usually take the hint and make sure it does not happen again. Lucky for me I have not truely badly behaved children on a plane but there is no point sitting there getting angry. Best to say something to the parents and try make everyones flight better.

How do I cope? easy...ear plugs. They even work on buses.

This was only a 1 hour flight right ?? Geeesshhh the guys needs to get over himself. I could understand it if it were a long haul flight but honestly !!

After many flights over the years, I have invested in a comfortable pair of ear plugs that take the edge of screaming kids and the general drone of the aircraft.

The ones that I can't stand is the kid who constantly kicks the back of your seat with the parents that do not do anything about it. But this the parents that are at fault, not the kids. Fortunately these are far and few between with the majority of parents trying their best to control was is often a difficult situation.

I think Charles Chauvel just voiced what most people think and was unfortunate to get pulled up by a politically motivated parent. Storm in a teacup me thinks.

i have to agree on the seat kicking, that gets really tedious after 2 hours flying.. other than that most flights i have been on the kids have been taken care of by great parents. I have seen the parents rocking babies while walking down the aisles and feeding them as we land. One time flying to Auckland i had picked a window seat (it was still a novelty to fly at that stage) and i got on the plane and a 2 year old was in my seat, i was asked if i could sit in the aisle seat which was fine because i knew it would mean more to the kid but then the rest of the family sat in the seats opposite and i had the parents leaning over me with food and drink and to talk the whole flight! I was rather annoyed at that.