aussielori

I have a friend travelling longhaul in business class.

she has a 10 mth old baby
she recently flew long haul( 23 hrs)in business class and she commented that the FA s did not help at all,

no pickup up baby to give passenger a bit of relief.\

I want to know
firstly
is it legal for them to pickup baby and take for a walk ??

and second should the passenger in any class expect a FA to take the baby for a bit of relief.
go for it
I would like to know both FA opinions and the average punters opinion.^

Loren Pechtel

Why in the world would anyone expect the FA to help?

mendel k

Got to agree, fa's have jobs to do, they aren't babysitters. Not sure why you'd expect the fa to help more than the pax in the seat next to you

MrHalliday

Agreed. Not something they should be expected to do.

j_the_p

1. Legality - I think if a parent gives consent, how would it not be legal? But IANAL

2. No parent should expect a someone to care for their child unless they are paying for childcare...and you are not paying for childcare by taking a flight.

I would never expect this from an FA when travelling with my child.

Science Goy

I don't know about legality, but could imagine it being a huge liability issue for the airline.

RussianTexan

Agreed with this. The FAs are probably instructed not to do anything with a passenger's infant. Who knows, they might pick them up and then BAM! Huge turbulence & the baby's flying in the air and hits the overhead luggage fontanel-on.....who's responsible then?

As for passengers with babies traveling alone, there is NO expectation of anyone else "helping them out". I imagine this point is moot most of the time because most mothers who truly care about their newborn infants are not going to even THINK of handing their precious bundles of joy(?) to some rando. It isn't an issue.

I guess OP's friend complained about how hard it was to be on a long-haul flight with that baby & that's how the conversation started. There is no expectation of help, though.

If I had a hot mom sitting next to me with a baby, yeah, maybe I might help her out. Seriously, though, odds are I would be rueing my choice of seat if I had ANY baby next to me, let alone a baby I was being asked to hold. Le sigh.

obscure2k

Moving thread to Travel With Children
Please follow there...
Thanks..
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

6rugrats

I'm sorry, but I had a laugh at this one. The FAs are not babysitters and no one should expect an FA to help them. It was your friend's choice to fly alone with the child. She could have brought someone with her to help, paid or a friend.

slawecki

a couple of years ago, i flew BA LHR-IAD. i think it was a baby adoption flight from russia. at least 10 babies were in Y(what's special about C? they get special treatment) is BA supposed to detail half a dozen extra FA's to take care of the babies?

by the by, the plane really stunk to high heaven.

why oh why do people think they are special when they have a kid?

vicarious_MR'er

When you go to a restaurant, do you expect the server to pick up your baby and take it for a walk while you eat your dinner? No.

When you go to the theater, do you expect the usher and door staff to walk your baby while you enjoy the performance? No.

My point here is that there is nothing different about air travel than these other experiences. The staff (in this case, the FAs) are there to ensure an enjoyable and safe experience for all passengers.

If your friend wanted an on-board nanny, she should have hired one.

I really don't understand people's ideas that somehow travel in an airplane should encompass all sorts of things that travel by train or bus doesn't. When all is said and done, it's the same thing. You can argue that this was business class and there should be better "service" and then twist the word "service" to imply that you should receive whatever benefits you want, but even the most luxury coaches on the Orient Express don't come with a built-in nanny, either, so the analogy stands.

I'm going to take it a step farther and hazard a guess that your friend didn't even buy her kid a ticket (other than the 10% infant fee, anyway), so I will repeat what I have said to many others: She chose to go the lap infant route, so she got her just deserts.

oldpenny16

I would never, ever expect that any FA would 'help' someone traveling with a young child.

That is not their job.

I have seen FA's hold a baby for a couple minutes while the mother went into the lavatory, but not always.

As an older, female passenger I have been asked by mothers with infants to keep an eye on their baby while the mother went to the lavatory, but not in recent years as parents are much more suspicious of strangers.

lost*in*cyberspace

I am incredulous that a passenger would expect an FA to help care for his or her baby.

Your friend should have purchased at least 2 seats in economy instead of one in business and taken along a helper.

Jaimito Cartero

Bringing water for formula or milk, sure. Babysitting for you? I don't think so.

I guess the OP has probably been spoiled, as there are some airlines, especially in Asia/Australia that indeed do help out a bit.

Kevin AA

Maybe she got the idea from that episode of I Love Lucy where they fly TATL with a "baby" made of cheese!