Children in Upper / First Class
Discussion
What are our thoughts on this?
Our first little bundle of joy has just come into the world and we have a family holiday this time next year to Atlanta, so baby will just be 1.
I have just realised I have enough Virgin Miles to upgrade us to Upper Class, depending on availability on that particular route.
On the one hand the non-selfish side of me thinks if If I was paying however many £k for upper class I wouldn't want to have a (potentially) screaming child ruining my flight, but the selfish side of me thinks feck everyone else, We have the same entitlement to that class as everyone else.
Thoughts?
Our first little bundle of joy has just come into the world and we have a family holiday this time next year to Atlanta, so baby will just be 1.
I have just realised I have enough Virgin Miles to upgrade us to Upper Class, depending on availability on that particular route.
On the one hand the non-selfish side of me thinks if If I was paying however many £k for upper class I wouldn't want to have a (potentially) screaming child ruining my flight, but the selfish side of me thinks feck everyone else, We have the same entitlement to that class as everyone else.
Thoughts?
In my opinion, if you've paid for it then you're entitled to do it.
The issue of your children making too much noise and affecting those around you applies equally in every cabin. It may sway my decision whether to travel or not, but definitely not which cabin to travel in.
If your fellow travellers don't like it then they always have the option to hire their own jet
The issue of your children making too much noise and affecting those around you applies equally in every cabin. It may sway my decision whether to travel or not, but definitely not which cabin to travel in.
If your fellow travellers don't like it then they always have the option to hire their own jet
One of the reasons I pay to get out of economy on a flight is in an effort to escape kids. I know there's a chance that it won't work and there will be babies and children but I've always thought that it's less likely.
I've been pissed off in the past when my theory hasn't worked but I do appreciate that's me being selfish!
I've been pissed off in the past when my theory hasn't worked but I do appreciate that's me being selfish!
Only time I have ever traveled up the front was when I got upgraded to 1st on a Saudi flight to Jeddah.
Totally ruined as all the other seats were taken by a Sheikh, his servants and loads of his kids, who spent the entire flight running around and playing with all the seat buttons
Oh! and no booze and the adults all made a mess in the toilets by washing their feet in the tiny hand basins.
In hindsight, I now see why I got upgraded
Totally ruined as all the other seats were taken by a Sheikh, his servants and loads of his kids, who spent the entire flight running around and playing with all the seat buttons
Oh! and no booze and the adults all made a mess in the toilets by washing their feet in the tiny hand basins.
In hindsight, I now see why I got upgraded
markiii said:
taking a 1 year old on a plane is stupid and selfish, forget what class your in
Why? I have taken my son on flights since he was less than one year old. The alternative is that he wouldn't have seen half of his family.I was also taken on flights around the world when I was a similar age (0-5). The alternative in that case would have been that my parents couldn't have moved abroad to live (or if they had taken a passenger ship, we'd have been unable to visit the UK and family).
markiii said:
taking a 1 year old on a plane is stupid and selfish, forget what class your in
Whilst somewhat extreme I do believe this comment has some basis.Compression and decompression (when climbing and descending) even on modern airliners can cause considerable discomfort in the ears. As adults we know how to combat this through different breathing techniques. I fly 100+ times a year and have witnessed many times babies screaming in pain especially during descent. We know what is happening but cannot communicate how to combat it.
I love aircraft, I love flying. My first ever flight was a Pan Am Boeing 707 from London to Copenhagen - I suffered excrutiating pain during descent - I was 13, heaven knows how it feels for a 1 year-old - I would not knowingly risk my offspring experiencing the same without being able to communicate how to combat it.
most of the up/down problems didn't exist for us, Dummy/Bottle carefully time - generally asleep within 5 mins of engines starting due to the white noise.
Only 1 issue was when we had the bassinet, which couldn't actually be used in turbulence, you guessed it we had to wake her up to put in a belt on lap during the overnight leg home, and she didn't go back to sleep.
Only 1 issue was when we had the bassinet, which couldn't actually be used in turbulence, you guessed it we had to wake her up to put in a belt on lap during the overnight leg home, and she didn't go back to sleep.
I've been flying long haul with all 3 of my kids since they were 9 months old or so - bottles at the right time (or boiled sweets when older) helped tremendously with the pressure issue, and we never really had problems. When resident in Asia and going between Singapore/London/San Fran we were fortunate to travel Business and that was always fine, but we were very conscientious about other passengers and their comfort.
We never had any issues with other travelers bar one journey Singapore~London that my wife had to make without me - but with the kids at 1.5yrs and 3yrs old. A lady fellow Business Class passenger kicked up a stink before take off when she realised that she was sat close to my wife and kids - apparently she was adamant it was unacceptable for kids to be in Business Class. She demanded a move to First due to the 'inconvenience'. SIA are brilliant with kids, especially in Business (lots of free Lego for daddy to play with) and they refused to move her up upwards - but did offer her a seat in economy which of course she refused.
The flight took off, the boys had something to eat, watched a cartoon or two, had their milk, and then slept pretty much all the way back to the UK (we used to tune their sleep patterns ahead of the flights to ensure they were ready to sleep). After landing, the lovely stewardess asked, somewhat more loudly than was strictly necessary, for the lady to apologise to my wife, which she did, albeit grudgingly.
In a nutshell, you pay for it, you have as much right to be in Business class as anyone else - and a little bit of planning ahead of the trip can make it a far more enjoyable journey for yourselves and your fellow passengers than it otherwise could be.
One upside is that my kids are now very comfortable flying - and at 16 and 18, the two oldest are now fine travelling alone, even on long haul.
We never had any issues with other travelers bar one journey Singapore~London that my wife had to make without me - but with the kids at 1.5yrs and 3yrs old. A lady fellow Business Class passenger kicked up a stink before take off when she realised that she was sat close to my wife and kids - apparently she was adamant it was unacceptable for kids to be in Business Class. She demanded a move to First due to the 'inconvenience'. SIA are brilliant with kids, especially in Business (lots of free Lego for daddy to play with) and they refused to move her up upwards - but did offer her a seat in economy which of course she refused.
The flight took off, the boys had something to eat, watched a cartoon or two, had their milk, and then slept pretty much all the way back to the UK (we used to tune their sleep patterns ahead of the flights to ensure they were ready to sleep). After landing, the lovely stewardess asked, somewhat more loudly than was strictly necessary, for the lady to apologise to my wife, which she did, albeit grudgingly.
In a nutshell, you pay for it, you have as much right to be in Business class as anyone else - and a little bit of planning ahead of the trip can make it a far more enjoyable journey for yourselves and your fellow passengers than it otherwise could be.
One upside is that my kids are now very comfortable flying - and at 16 and 18, the two oldest are now fine travelling alone, even on long haul.
tleefox said:
I have just realised I have enough Virgin Miles to upgrade us to Upper Class, depending on availability on that particular route.
I know Virgin have some restrictions in Upper on 747's - IIRC there's no cots - but anyway they're going to use A330's for Atlanta. Also they'll be sharing the route with Delta. I guess you'd need to check for the specific flight you were looking at. My impression is that miles upgrades are hard to come by on Virgin anyway.
It's not always better to upgrade - we just flew back from Orlando with our 3yr old granddaughter in PE. The fact that the armrest didn't go up was a right pain - we'd have been better in extra legroom seats in economy. In Upper, the seats aren't next to each other, so that might be an issue (or an advantage) with a small child.
tleefox said:
Thoughts?
I did it a few years ago with trepidation.It was actually better than economy for it.
My thought process was that people who had paid so much for a ticket would be twice as annoyed.
In actual fact, on a total of 6 flights to and from Australia almost every other passenger was of an age that they had either had children, or in many cases were grandparents. So not only did people not mind but they were all ultra sympathetic, friendly and helpful. The only person who got slightly annoyed was one of the Hostesses (who was a super-camp bloke) but fortunately a couple of the other passengers told him to shut up
At the age of 1, I wouldn't do it. For me it's too stressful, they are walking but aren't completely controllable. Certainly that was the case with mine anyway.
I took my daughter BA business from Sydney to London at 3 months old and she was as good as gold and slept most of it. As people have said, compression issues controlled by bottle feeding.
Fast forward to age 1 till 2 I would not have done it and we have stuck to economy short haul. Trying to control them in a confined space over an extended period with lots of other people fills me with dread.
Mine are now 5 and 3 and we are now talking about doing long haul business again as they are more sensible and listen now, that said, I think they should fly economy so they see what normal is, but that's a different thread.
I took my daughter BA business from Sydney to London at 3 months old and she was as good as gold and slept most of it. As people have said, compression issues controlled by bottle feeding.
Fast forward to age 1 till 2 I would not have done it and we have stuck to economy short haul. Trying to control them in a confined space over an extended period with lots of other people fills me with dread.
Mine are now 5 and 3 and we are now talking about doing long haul business again as they are more sensible and listen now, that said, I think they should fly economy so they see what normal is, but that's a different thread.
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