Oh, what a carry on

“I FEEL about airplanes the way I feel about diets. They are wonderful things for other people to go on,” Jean Kerr, an American dramatist, once quipped. Flying has become safer, faster and cheaper, but it seems ever more stressful. Having successfully fought for increased competition, to cut airfares, The Economist has now shifted its attention to relieving the stress. One frequent cause is the noise that children, especially bored ones, inflict on other travellers. A year ago, we proposed that all planes should have child-free zones, just like no-smoking zones: children (and parents) should be confined to the back of the plane. As yet, sadly, no airline seems to agree that children should be screened and not heard.