I don't agree with that. When I purchase an airline ticket, my arrangement is with the airline, not with their other passengers. They owe me nothing. It is not

I don't agree with that. When I purchase an airline ticket, my arrangement is with the airline, not with their other passengers. They owe me nothing. It is not a public space. I can no more shush their children (or such-by-proxy) than I can call up another customer of my internet provider and ask them to use less bandwidth so that I get more. I can ask the flight attendant to speak to the parents about the kid kicking the seat, but if the flight attendant declines to fix my problem, my ire is best directed at the airline declining to provide me with a comfortable environment. They could institute a no-children rule, or a "your children must behave or you will be banned from flying our airline" rule, just as Hacker News chooses what kind of behaviour to moderate and what to allow. But the airlines openly tolerate this behaviour for their own reasons, and I choose to do business with them. I strongly suspect that although they are tactful about it, what they would like to say if I complain is, "If you will just give me your credit card, Sir, I will upgrade your ticket to first class. Come this way, I will pour you a flute of champagne." We celebrate naked capitalism at the expense of customers here. It turns out, airlines do as well.