Wozza2404

I'm going to take a wild stab that the reason NO airline in the world has chosen to ban children from lounges is because children are incredibly commercially important to the airlines.

Not only at that current moment, but those kids are also the airline's future revenue stream.

lavajava

There is a Gatwick lounge angel that let 4 of us into the first lounge a few months back including a 5 year old.
When directed to the left, I must have looked shocked. She said the 5yo looks like a good boy and to enjoy.

That was nice.

Anyway... back to moaning about kids.

tjcxx

A simple solution is for BA to approach the disruptive family and say "We have upgraded you. Here are your new boarding passes. Look -- here's the new flight number beginning with FR. You will have to make your own way to Stansted."

DeeGee26.2

If I can just offer my twopenn'orth...

I travel a few times a year with my children. I want them to develop their own love for travel. I have brought both of them into a paid lounge on occasion.

I've found that because I'm spending all my time pointing things out to them, talking them through what is going on, letting them know what they can and can't do - setting boundaries, if you will - then my children sit quietly with me, and chat, or maybe watch/play something on Switch/phone with headphones in. They like being able to get up and help themselves to food and drinks, but even then, that's under my watchful eye.

Maybe that's because I usually fly Economy, but get Lounge access as a rare treat via Amex? I don't have any sense that I'm entitled to it, rather, I don't want to stand out as some sort of imposter in the rarefied environment of the lounges.

We've always done the same with restaurants and hotels. I don't see why we should have to drop our standards because of the kids, I want to show them what they can aspire to enjoying, but I'm not going to allow my kids to embarrass me in public.

I've found that the dragons talk to my kids when we arrive and can probably tell straight away which ones are going to be a handful.

What this is doing though, is getting my kids used to travel for when they're old enough to do it themselves. My son's 13 now, he'll quite happily look out for signage to help us get to where we want at an airport - that actually helps me because then I can concentrate my efforts on the proper stresses like paperwork and the smaller child.

PUCCI GALORE

In my 22 years at Flyertalk, relevance in any thread has always been honoured in the breach rather than the observance. This is a Forum not an examination paper where irrelevance or not adhering to the question penalises the candidate.

I speak for no one but myself but I talk about myself as it is a subject on which I am expert, for good or Ill. Equally certain is that I rely on no one to fight my battles, he just got there first.

Frankly I recall a play area in the Galleries at Gatwick Terminal North. I think that they are a great idea where kids can burn off some their energy. It was practically unused in all the times that I flew from there.

Since I really do not see that many children in premium lounges so really I think that transforming areas into playrooms is an unnecessary Solution to a very small problem.

bisonrav

It seems more about feet on seats than children really. Honestly, some people need to worry less about bacteria, buy hazmat suits, or get therapy. You're not going to pick up anything significantly bad because a toddler has put its feet where tens of thousands of people have had their a**e.

I echo the posters who say that it's very rare to be annoyed by a child, but extremely common to have someone facetiming or watching a movie without headphones.

gustavmahler

My word, are some people really this sensitive to being around others? People of all ages, from all walks of life can be annoying and travelling can be a stressful time. If I were so concerned that someone might annoy me at the airport I'd be mitigating things; use the B gates lounge, travel at less busy times, bring headphones, investigate other airlines. Sometimes airport and lounges are busy - sometimes a lot of people want to travel at the same time. I don't much like travelling on the tube at rush hour and all that comes with it, but if I have to travel then I suck it up. Suggesting BA has a one strike and you're out policy, or worse ban a particular group of passengers just seems totally bonkers to me.

StingWest

Agreed!

itsmeitisss

If you're wowoed by that there is another post upthread that suggests no one have children at all. That sounds like a sensible idea. (not)

itsmeitisss

This is not at all a rare event.

Ziz

My now 4 year old has traveled at least twice a year since he was born (quite literally…his first flight was at 3 week old!). He’s been in Y and J and visited multiple lounges. It takes work (packed activities) but he’s never been disruptive. If kids were banned from the loung I wouldn’t bother to travel BA anymore.

Gagravarr

Just last week, in the Qantas First lounge in LAX, I returned from the bar with a drink to find someone near my seat having a video call without headphones. The horror!

I then quickly hunted through my bag, found my spare iphone headphones, and handed them to my wife. The call with her niece in hospital then continued much quieter

Apparently I'd somehow packed her normal headphones in her checked luggage when chucking the few remaining bits into bags before our 5am departure from the hotel...

Some times people really are oblivious. And sometimes they've just lost their headphones but still really need to take the call

nilsfr69

if you MUST take a call, get your a... up and walk outside the lounge, into a hallway, a toilet whatever/wherever and yell at some empty wall!