Sunshine.co.uk polled 1,762 parents from around the UK with children aged five and under – and found that a quarter of the parents taking part, 23%, said that they felt ‘too scared’ to do so; with the majority of these having had a bad experience previously and claiming it had put them off travelling on a plane with their children again.

When asked why they felt ‘too scared’ to fly with their children, the most common fears were as follows: criticism from other passengers, the stress of trying to entertain kids, flying scaring the child/children, criticism from airline staff and concerns about facilities.

When the parents taking part were asked if they’d ever become annoyed by other children on a flight, 56% admitted that they had; whereas 41% said that they simply sympathised with other parents and hadn’t been irritated by anything like this.

Happily, 78% of the parents polled said they would be in support of ‘family sections’ being introduced on airlines which would keep them apart from other passengers. Now that’s something we can all agree on…

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