SEAFFLYER

Okay, I know I'm risking being called a cranky old man, but...

Is it just me or does there seem like there is a whole lot more kids in first these days? A recent flight found me in the midst of a family of six - mom & dad and 4 kids under about 7 or 8. I'm in 2D and the four kids are in 1D&F and 3D&F. Yikes!

I fly the vast majority of my trips on AS. For those of you who frequent the front on other airlines; is the a common situation on all carriers??

SFO777

Perhaps more a function of the route and holiday/break timing?

But 4 at once, ouch! And ma and pa were sitting together and letting the FAs babysit the toddlers? That's nice.

ANC

I havent ran into that many children in F yet, thank god!!! Ran into a few beligerant drunks in F that acted worse than kids though. I sure hope I dont start seeing them in F either. One of the reasons I fly in F sometimes is to get away from the whiny kids and the stupid parents who dont know how to raise them in the first place, cant really blame the kids because they only will do what the parents let them get away with

SEAFFLYER

Yep, mom & dad were in 3A&C, and seemed to be quite enjoying their "break".

Westcoaster

Definitely bad form on the part of the parents with kids that young.

A former colleague told me about a flight he and his family took on an AS MD80. He and his wife were on the 2 side in seats D and F while their 3 kids were in seats A, B and C of the same row. Their kids were making some noise and other passengers were looking at them. He said that he told the kids to quiet down, but the kids were so excited to be flying that they just wouldn't calm down. I asked him why he didn't move over to seat B in between 2 of the kids and let the remaining kid sit next to the wife. He looked at me as if I were crazy. It hadn't occurred to him.

I guess the parents on your flight either didn't think about breaking up the kids a bit or just didn't care.

Alaska F/A

I've too have seen an increase in the number of kids traveling in FC as well.

Some kids are extremely well behaved (and yes, better than some adults even)... but as we all know, kids oftentimes become kids and need a parent around. Most parents that I see are doing their job as parents and being attentive to their little ones...

I'm more than happy to watch a little one for a few minutes as the parent goes to the lav or tends to a younger sibling in the lav... but fulltime babysitter?

I'm not shy about having the parents move to (or remind them to) supervise their children, but fortunately I can usually get a positive response with just a look.

westcoastman

The parents and kids obtained F under the exact same system as everyone else. I am sure that those parents had to go to an extreme cost in order to get everyone into F. At first, it sounded like you were actually complaining that the kids are even in F in the first place? But it does sound like there is more to your complaint than just the parents not sitting with the children. I know my 5-year-old is typically very well behaved: eats, watches the Digi, plays quietly with the dinosaurs but maybe, just maybe, he might ask a single question in an elevated voice because his ears are plugged up, not realizing we can hear him perfectly fine. I am sure you are back there in 2D (happy that the Air Marshall didn't bump you) looking with evil those eyes, just waiting for the single moment that the kid acts like a kid.
I tell this story often: Back when I was a kid attending a big and fairly fancy church potluck one of the older ladies looked at me and my older brother and said to my mom that they should have set up table in the back room of the church so the kids could eat hot dogs. We were both very offended and I will never treat my child the same way with the assumption they don't appreciate things. But I would bet to you a child is no different than having a pet.

eponymous_coward

I've flown with my daughter in F- last year at this time to Disneyland, as a matter of fact. (The trick is to go to LGB instead of SNA, which is a great airport to fly out of and often is a cheaper flight, and you'll likely be able to take a travel companion in F as MVP Gold.)

She enjoyed getting to go into the cockpit for a few minutes as the plane was being boarded and the snack, and is well behaved (she's been flying and well behaved on airplanes since she was 3). I'd sort of resent her getting the evil eye because people think that F entitles adults to a child-free experience, regardless of whether or not my daughter was more trouble than any other passenger.

smilee

I think it may also be a sign of the times. With so many cut backs in coach, it is often a lot wiser to book them in F. It seems that the pilots put the seatbelt sign on WAY to much, having children in F, they will have a much better chance of being able to use the lavatory when they need to.

As well with the elimination of food and other reductions of service, they will also more likely get some service that they need - water, milk for bottles, spoons or other needed things to help feed babies etc etc.

I agree with the other posters, parents need to sit with their children and should have at least approached the passengers in row two to see if they could sit and mix with some of their kids in row 1 and then placed the appropriate parent next to the most needed child. Tough with four kids though.

AS Beefcake

Maybe since I'm a parent of 8 and 5 year old boys I'm much more tolerant of babies and small children on planes. It's darn difficult to travel with small children so I have a great amount of empathy for the parents. No excuses for ill behaved children but there is a difference between bad behavior and kids being kids. Maybe that's only a distinction a parent would make. Anyway I'm one of those people who go to the expense to fly F with my children. Long story short, I'm not going to fly in the back of the bus and neither are my kids. I have a feeling a lot of parents feel the same way.

COS_Flyer

Well-behaved kids seated in F away from their parents are fine with me. But the parent should arrange a re-seating at the first sign the kid is annoying other pax. My kids don't generally fly F or J, but even in coach we don't have the kids sit far from us. My daughter in particular wants a seat next to a parent.

SEAFFLYER

Sir, sir! Take it easy! You sure throwing a lot of disparaging comments my way for a little post.

I merely reported on an observation and asked others if their experiences were similar. I have grown kids of my own. They are not the same as your pet lizard.

Kids (one of God's most marvelous creations by the way) are not the problem - it is the sometimes unaware, uncaring, me-me-me parents that are.

westcoastman

OK...then sorry then.
The only reason I said that was from the title of the thread which did not say anything about unattentive parents but merely asked the question if there was "Too many Children in F"

SFO777

If you had read OP's post more closely, it was also clear that the parents likely fell into the unattentive category since they chose to sit by themselves far away from at least two of the little urchins, er darlings.

westcoastman

I doubt they choose it that way but more than likely others were not willing to move or they were not aware they could ask to switch seats. Booking that many people in F it would be nearly impossible to get everyone together and with 4 kids it is impossible for an adult to sit with each kid. I supposed they can't win since someone would complain if they were asked if the could switch so the kids could sit near the parents in 2D&F. Really the guy probably blew a bazzilion points to get everyone up there and nothing was really said about what the kids were doing other than just being in F and that there was a family of six sitting in row 1 & 3. I am not really beating up on anyone but it can be pretty hard coordinating things like that and the little Misses has such high expectations that you don't want anything to go wrong. She's already mad cause she is jealous of your "business" trips and she "never gets to go anywhere." So book some two and half hour domestic F flight with a snack basket with enough FF points to get a childless couple to Asia and back on CX in F. Wife is already upset cause you didn't take the right way to get to the airport then on the plane some empty nester next to you starts doing that evil eye thing because all six of you are not jammed up in the same row. Enough to make you cry. ^