No Snakes On This Plane

I like Heath Shuler. I liked him before he was elected as the Democratic Representative for North Carolina's 11th Congressional District. Why? Because he was arguably the Washington Redskins' biggest draft bust in the last 30 years coming out of Tennessee as a quarterback in the 1994 NFL Draft. Anyone who leaves the Redskins with pie on their faces is OK in my book!

When I heard yesterday evening about Representative Shuler's bill (co-sponsored with fellow Tarheel Representative Walter Jones (R-3rd District)) called The Family Friendly Flights Act, I was disappointed in Representative Shuler. It was as if he'd just thrown a touchdown pass against the Cowboys.

The Family Friendly Flights Act calls for airlines to create sections of airplanes without any above-seat or isle-viewable screens for in-flight movies so that children aren't subjected to wall-to-wall video screens showing movies with violence, nudity or other objectionable qualities.

I understand why people flying with children would not want their children seeing a movie like King Kong. At the same time, our domestic air travel system is in seriously poor shape. Delays are up for travelers, profits are down for the carriers, options are narrowing for travelers and the whole system totters along so overbooked and bootstrapped that a storm delay at a major hub can delay your flight that was never headed in that direction in the first place.

In other words, there are a whole raft of fundamental issues that air carriers and Congress need to be spending their time on rather than taking planes out of service to create screen-free areas.

I think, though, there is a good compromise to be had on this legislation. If we could get a clarification on this bill that all passengers traveling with children, especially small children, would all be required (on a best-effort basis) to be seated in a particular area of the plane that is family friendly as Representatives Shuler and Jones envision it, I think there's room to make a deal. As a frequent flyer who can handle delays, over-bookings, nasty airport food, flying standby and being seated next to excessively chatty people, the one thing I can't gracefully handle is screaming or ill-behaved children. If such a clarification were to be added to this bill, I'd be inclined to view it in a more favorable light, as I believe a lot of frequent flyers would.

Such a compromise would hold out the promise of improving the quality of air travel for everyone, not just families traveling with children, and that's something that would be worth the hassle for all parties involved.