Measure seeks G-rated areas on planes

RALEIGH, N.C. — Prompted by some parents' complaints about sex and violence in in-flight movies, two congressmen introduced legislation Tuesday calling for airlines to create kid-friendly zones on planes.

"The airlines have chosen to put our children in a situation that I don't feel comfortable with," said Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C.

He and Republican Rep. Walter Jones, also of North Carolina, call their proposal the Family Friendly Flights Act.

The bill calls for the creation of sections on commercial flights where there would not be any publicly viewable movie screens. It would still allow airlines to show the movies they choose on big screens in other sections or on seat-back screens.

"How do you tell a 4-, 5-, 6-, 7-, 8-year-old, 'Don't look at the screen,' when it's basically all over the cabin?" Shuler said.

Hollywood edits movies for in-flight showings and deletes some sex and violence, said Elinor Kinnier, a spokeswoman for the World Airline Entertainment Association, a trade group that includes airlines.

"[Airlines] go to great lengths to look at the typical passenger. It's in their best interest to make sure they're not offending a lot of people," she said.

Airlines also are switching to video screens in seat backs, which would eliminate children viewing inappropriate movies, she said, although many planes still have overhead video screens.

One parent who complained to Shuler was Katie Kelley, who said she was on a plane last February when an R-rated movie with "a lot of nudity" was shown. She said she was traveling without her children, ages 4 and 7, but was nonetheless bothered.

She said she was not satisfied with the airline's response to her complaint, even though she was told the movie should have not been shown as it was.

"My point was that children can't make that decision if they're on an airplane and the scenes are before them," she said.

It's up to the airlines to determine which movies to show, said David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, a trade group.

Jesse Kalisher, 45, a photographer from Chapel Hill, N.C., also has lobbied airlines to regulate movie content.

Kalisher said he got involved after "King Kong" was shown on a flight, though his own two youngsters were sleeping at the time.

"Parents were trying to protect their children from seeing images that were really gruesome," he said. "The whole thing is completely inappropriate for kids."

The bill now goes to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.