These airlines presumably have rules on how old a child has to be to fly unaccompanied, right? These stories always tempt me to book a flight with my very self confident and out going 6 year old niece and instruct her to annoy the shit out of everyone near her while I sit safely far away. I don't think airlines will be motivated to do anything about this while its considered the families problem - it needs to be seen as a problem for every other passenger.