Is It Ok to Drug Kids Who Fly? And The Best Inflight Champagnes

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About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Speaking of drugs. Best kept secret. Children’s Benadryl. I use it for insomnia/good night sleep.. Works very well. Sleep like a baby. Try it.

  2. I always used to give my kids purple Benadryl liquid on long flights. they are 30 and 26 show no ill effects

  3. For adults, I use Unisom 12.5 mg (or generic doxylamine succinate), split half a 25 mg pill, along with a half a glass of wine or 1/2 alcoholic beverage is equivalent to a shot of Nyquil. That, and a biz class seat, and I can get a good 6-7 hours sleep easily.

  4. If they need it or they’re not feeling well, yes. For your own comfort? No. It’s public transportation. If you can’t tolerate a crying kid then fly private or take the drugs yourself.

  5. @Michael Hope you get a screaming child next time (if you ever are) in first class. Nothing like paying out a large amount of money for a trip of a life time and have some child screaming the entire flight when you are trying to sleep. Unless this would harm the child in some way I don’t see anything wrong with it. If the child is screaming bloody murder the whole time its safe to assume they themselves would rather sleep through the ordeal than be awake.

  6. @Bill, I have been fortunate enough not to get screaming kids in first class, but if I do, I do. I have gotten plenty in coach. I’m not sure why you would wish that on anyone. It’s not a pleasant situation, but that’s life. It’s how I choose to react to it that makes me an adult and not an over-entitled selfish jerk. Paying for “the trip of a lifetime” doesn’t make me better than anyone else on the plane. Kids are kids and they cry for many reasons and they and their families have as much right to fly as anyone else. I don’t see what the type of cabin has anything to do with anything. Being able to afford first class doesn’t give anyone any more rights to demand that a kid is quiet or else the parents should punch their lights out for several hours. That’s what noise cancelling headphones are for.

  7. @Michael thanks for being a voice of reason. The us/them of flying is getting outrageous–as is the selfishness of general society. Kids are humans and they get to interact with other humans–including using public transportation. If someone is taking a “trip of a lifetime” and worried about a fellow passenger, perhaps he or she should fly private. Drugging a kid for personal comfort or fear of social stigma is abhorrent and it’s disappointing to read how generally accepted it seems to be.

  8. And @Bill, I hope YOU get a screaming child next time since you seem to have such a problem with them. Would love to see you tell the kid’s parents “would you mind giving a sedative to your kid? I’m on the trip of a lifetime here…” #FirstWorldProblems

  9. Every time some variation on this question is asked, commenters split into two camps.

    1. yes – do anything possible to keep kids quiet. Reserved seats at the back of the plane for kids, etc..

    2. No, kids are people too and screaming is what everyone else has to put up with because people who are not them decided to breed.

    I’d be happiest if airlines would have certain flights reserved for “no young children” near the front of the plane. I know parents have to fly and some people can’t get babysitters for a week or two. But the rest of us should be able to choose quieter flights. And lap infants should be flat-out banned. They’re just projectiles in case of emergency.

  10. Gotta love the people who excuse all forms of bad behavior on “public transportation”. Last time I checked, it is still rude and impolite to act poorly in public, whatever the form.

    And the “go fly private” retort is garbage. If you don’t like me throwing trash into your yard then you should just buy a mansion and hire security guards. So deal with it. Same logic, just as faulty.

    Drugging kids is fine. Shut them up. This is a public space and your rude and unruly parasite shouldn’t ruin the experience for everyone else. As for first class. Children should be banned and not allowed. You want to bring your animal on a plane, fine, but put it in coach. Zero tolerance.

  11. Actually, jerk, when you change your name and email address while posting from the same IP you’ve used before the system places your comment into a moderation queue for me to manually approve — which I did, in under an hour.

    You on the other hand waited all of 10 minutes to insult me, but revealed a lot more about yourself in the process. Enjoy your weekend thinking big thoughts.

  12. @LenPig you’re absolutely right. I’ll have a chat with my 2-year old tomorrow and you can write a letter to your congressman. Even with all those rude and unruly parasite 1-year olds flying, seems to me that A) no, you can’t force their parents to medicate them, and B) no, they’re not banned from first class. You’re thinking of roller-coasters. So, yeah, looks like we’re back to the same two options: Fly private, or noise cancelling headphones. Seems like as much as some people hate crying babies you’ll just have to “deal with it” on the next flight. And a house yard is private property. A plane is a big public bus with wings. False equivalency.

  13. Michael, very well said.
    Lenpig needs to quit being such a self absorbed child. He was probably one of those screamers on the plane (maybe he still is).

  14. Those planes need runways and airports, paid for by taxpayers. Try earphones connected to that smartphone, or ask the airline for earplugs.
    And those planes make noise that we can hear on the ground. So don’t sound off too much.

  15. SomeDutchGuy says:
    August 4, 2017 at 11:07 am
    frank – What dosage?

    ….the bottle comes with a cap. Cap full. On the road 16 days a month and fly all times of the day and night. Began to wake up consistently in the middle of the night. Tried Melatonin and Valerian Root. They put me to sleep but didnt keep me asleep. Children’s Benadryl, a hour before you want to sleep. Works well. (For children on flights too, I bet)

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