cariad73

...that this is one mum who has determined never to fly First again with a baby/toddler.

The last three times have all been tortuous in some unique way, and the LASt time in particular put me over the edge. Red eye flight back from Boston where my lovely toddler did not sleep a wink, made some very loud exclamations about 2 hours prior to landing at which point Lord and Lady so and so huffily complained to the cabin crew about the audacity of allowing children in first class (and threatened to write a letter to the CEO who was golfing buddy, natch) which then made me cry and freak out from the sheer stress of the whole situation, which made other passengers and cabin crew repeatedly check on me to see if I was ok, etc...etc...etc...

Nightmare.

I told my husband that was it.

On the plus side, now that I have foresworn first with the child, I will be blissfully relaxed in CW and feel positively enthusiastic about blowing off any huffy passengers who are threatened by the presence of the under 5 crowd.

Anyway, that's my public service announcement for the day. Rich child-fearers - rejoice.

Fruitcake

I am on your side here but not sure you'll experience any less huffiness in CW. After all, the folks there usually have to work!

Good luck. ^

GodAtum

I'm sorry to hear you had such a bad time with your child. TBH these type of people would complain about anything: eating too loudly, snoring, going to the toilet too often, walking past their seat too much etc ...

BizFlyin

Exactly. People have complained to the cabin crew loudly and within earshot of us when we board with kids. That's in CW btw. Fly the cabin you want to fly, and do your best with your kids. Don't stress over morons, they exist in WT also. I suspect the air tickets for people in WT are a bigger impact on their finances than the people in first anyway.

PanGalactic

Sounds like a horrible experience, sorry you had to go through it, although it sounds like the cabin crew were nice to you about it.

I've heard rumours that on certain other airlines people with noisy children are kicked out into Y.

On that note, at the DXB lounge earlier this month, I nipped out to do a quick bit of shopping while my wife stayed with Little Miss in the lounge watching cartoons on the Ipad.

Next thing I know, I get a call on my mobile, and can hear Little Miss screaming in the background "I WANT MY DADDY" and my wife telling me they had just been asked to leave the lounge.

When I got back I found them sitting outside the lounge and my wife almost in tears.

Basically what happened was that Little miss started crying and my wife started collecting our stuff getting ready to leave the lounge anyway but the dragon there came up to her and said "Erm, bit of a disturbance, people are complaining, sorry but I have to ask you to leave". Not "Hi, I can see you are getting ready to leave, sorry about that, do you need a hand with anything?"

Swanhunter is right, that lounge IS the pits!

Incidentally, she fell asleep as we were boarding the 2:00am flight and didn't make a sound all night, I had to wake her up for breakfast.

TheHak

You've been bullied, you should complain.

I've also quit flying first with the kids. There is more often than not such perceivable pressure when you bring them in that you are more stressed anyway, then the kids feel it and they are more agitated anyway so they tend to be worse than average imho.

But as others said it can be the same in club. Some people seem to forget it's just a flying bus.

Some carriers choose to restrict childs in first. It seems to me BA discourages it. For instance there is no child entertainment on the IPADs (old first and LCY flight).

cariad73

THIS in so many ways.

Yes I was bullied, but not by BA and as the cabin crew were helpful and nice, as were other passengers, I guess I don't see the point of complaining to BA. I dunno...

I was pretty mortified...and exhausted...and stressed...etc...

I definitely agree that the added pressure to make sure the child is quiet and good in First just makes it all a bit too much. I never feel the same way when we fly CW and in fact my best flight ever with my child was just her and I in CW LHR->JFK.

Anyway she turns 2 in September and I think buying a toddler a seat in F is a step too far, so CW it is for now.

redsox1918

I was in First a few months back due to a very very full flight and words failed me. Mother decided to put the bed flat and then do a nappy change. Before you ask no baby mat was used or anything. Strait down onto the seat and a quick change.
Could only assume new money!!

maximizer

We flew with 2 kids (4.5 and 1.5) in CW last summer, and people seemed to be friendly enough, although a) the kids behaved fairly well, and b) much more importantly, I'm generally oblivious to this sort of thing.

In truth, people complain about kids anywhere. Many think there is no reason for young children to fly unless someone is dying or you are permanently moving or whatever.

A woman complained at a farmers market that our stroller was blocking her way and that children should just stay home or some such nonsense. Who cares? Ignore.

Tell them to feel free to step outside if they don't like

mumblemumble

There was an unsettled baby in F on the Tues overnighter to JNB. No-one said anything or even gave a second look. My only thought was to feel empathy for the little mite who I guess was not feeling well.

Depending on the cabin I think you would get a broad range of tolerance.

PotNoodle

I don't know why people always discriminate babies and young children. They are not aware that they are disturbing people and can't help it.

I'd rather be sat near a kid rather than some drunken middle aged fool who is talking too loud. The difference between the two being that the drunked person should watch what they drink and are old enough to know better, whilst kidies are not.

I understand disturbances are annoying but it's clear you were trying to deal with the situation while it appears there were some passangers with an attitude complex where they think they own the plane.

Tobias-UK

That is totally out of order.

LTN Phobia

I can put up with things that people cannot help, e.g. babies crying, people snoring, going to the loo, and even people being flatulent, i.e. biological functions, but why shouldn't people complain about others eating too loudly? That's not biological function, that's a behavioural issue - simple bad manners (in the UK, Australia etc at least - and I expect that the British manners apply on BA aircraft since it's BA registered).

I believe people have a legitimate reason to complain about loud eaters because people have control over how they eat and if they are so rude as to eat loudly enough make other people complain (which must be pretty loud), then the loud eaters are the ones that should alter their behaviour. There is no need for everyone else to tolerate other people's bad behaviour and be called mean, whingers etc.

BizFlyin

Doesn't really bother me when I see people do this. If you know how to change a diaper, nothing objectionable touches anything you would.

cariad73

My general experience is that it's "old money" who could care less what people around them think...but regardless that is seriously out of order and very unsanitary.