PJSMITH0

Not limited to BA. I have been separated by several rows from my daughter (aged 10 at the time) by Monarch and AA. First occasion I had pre-booked seat and was one of the last to check in so I took it on the chin. Second occasion AA doubled booked and it was a take it or leave it situation.

cupsandsaucers

Whenever children are mentioned on FT the black tar of the UK's Victorian attitudes towards children all starts bubbling to the surface again and again.
Couple of facts:

Children are quite literally the future.
We were all children once.
Children are more important than you. Regardless of how important you think that plastic card in your wallet is.
Children will always come before you.
Other peoples children are more important to them than life itself.
That 2 year old standing there with the dummy in it's mouth is more important to BA than any GGL card holder.

So what you consider to be a "nuisance" or "privileged". Get over it. Kids are privileged. And if the presence of children antagonises you then I suggest you get some perspective.

V10

You're right of course, but given the concept of need, it's unlikely that a 12 year old would need to be extended the same support and your 98 year old nana may or may not, but you're both adults and can determine whether extra assistance is necessary or not.

Some people are not being discriminated against on the grounds of being childless, but - as would be accepted in any civilised society - it is accepted that their needs are not the same as young children and this is recognised appropriately. They may also be discriminated against on the grounds of not being able to afford seat selection or not being status holders, but strangely nobody seems to be complaining about that.

chrisboote

Erm, other way around, you mean
"Always fit your own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs" is the standard spiel on ALL safety briefings

xenole

I don't believe that CW on BA is exactly the best place for very young children. Not exactly the easiest setup to keep an eye on them or gain access to them if they have their own seats.
One of my last CW flights had someone move to let a couple and their child occupy the centre seats. Made it easier to keep an eye on the child and provided a bit of floor space for he/she to play if need be.

Anyway, the parent + child seating should be done at the time of booking rather than at some point down the line, and especially not when people are boarding and things become musical chairs.

I've been fairly lucky child wise.
Had one woman and her young son next to me in bulkhead seats on a flight to SFO and he was fine.
Another time, an Indian couple, with a young lap child, were in the window and middle seats and they wanted to be with an elderly family member who was in the cabin behind. Luckily the crew sorted something out and they moved back to join her and a man moved forward and we ended up with a free middle seat so a better deal for all of us.

From above, it does appear that whilst on a plane and the little darlings are running wild, that not all parents have the notion that the kids are important



I've no real issues moving if it helps out someone, but it does depends on their attitude. Demanding I move / intimidation won't get me to shift, but politeness will (assuming I'm not going to get screwed over seat wise and end up in the middle of a row of 4 for example).

Ancient Observer

The longer term answer seems to be that when budgeting to have children, always budget for holidays using J AND for seat fees.
I will inform my children.
Who have only ever travelled in Economy. Or worse.

Dave Noble

they are not literally the future - perhaps you wanted figuratively

I'm impressed that there can be such a debate over something where BA has stated it has a policy to ensure that there will be an adult situated adjacent to a child U12 regardless of whether a large donation for seat selection is made or not

Globaliser

Really? Where I can I find this? Does BA actually promise this? In public? Goodness me.

chrisboote

And, while a subject for another thread, this is the most obvious point
Cruz is killing BA with his penny-pinching and cent-gouging

Oxon Flyer

Folks, time for a plea to return this thread to the topic in hand, which is BAs "we will make sure each child under 12 is seated with an adult from your booking" statement.

Keyboard warriors wishing to exercise their wider opinions on "kids" are directed to FT's Travel with Children forum.

the mod team

chrisboote

Well, I'm not complaining, per se, but I have been asked to move to accommodate a parent travelling with two children wanting to have an entire row of three together
I grudgingly agreed to give up my coveted window seat with no seat in front (old 777 layout) only to find the person I was swapping with was in the middle, and their other parent occupying the window seat
I explained, quietly, to the FA that I was happy to swap to help them, but I really felt i should get the choice of seats I moved to
She agreed, asked the (father) to move into the middle seat, he refused
So she moved me to Club instead - happy happy me
Once comfortably ensconced it suddenly occurred to me that they had moved a child from the middle-next-to-father seat into a window-same-row-as-mother seat and asked me to move to accommodate this swap
So the child not ever need to have been moved!
And the obnoxious father not only didn't move out of his window seat, but also now had an empty middle next to him
Must be nice to be more important than anyone else

DrBernardo

And don't forget you have all the freedom in the world to take your holidays outside of school vacation periods, when places are much quieter, hotels and flights cost less than half as much and parents don't want time off work, and you have more redemption possibilities for one or two seats than families do for four or five. Swings and roundabouts...

And if it comes to meltdowns at the gate, I wager most people here could cite you more of those from people without children than with

secretplantofightinflation

Hear hear ^

simons1

Exactly. That is why it is really a non thread.

BA will make the necessary arrangements in line with the statement on their website. If someone else has to be moved then they will be shifted and in a worst case scenario their seat reservation fee will be refunded. There isn't anything else to debate really, it's called an 'operational need'.

xenole

When did the OP book the flight anyway? Months ago, the day before this thread?
Or a Bronze card holder who went to reserve seats at T-7?

In my opinion, being seat shifted perhaps months in advance wouldn't be that bad as it would still give a good range of options, but if someone comes along and books at say T-48, then I would probably be rather miffed especially if I've had a certain seat reserved for up to a year in advance.
At this late stage, you'll probably find most seats are taken and a few undesirable ones left such as middle against a toilet wall remain. Not going to great for someone if they go to check-in on Friday or at the airport on Saturday and find they've been shifted, without any warning from 26C with their family members back to 70e or something.....