Door5L

After several experiences recently of both overcrowding at T5 lounges and watching passenger behaviours, I think BA really has to start further restricting entry - and while unpopular, that surely has to include a designated lounge area or zone for families with young children.

Recent experiences include children using lounge chairs as trampolines with their shoes on (and the parents more interested in doom scrolling on their phones), sofas used as foot rests or changing areas and a family whose children managed to leave a floor area covered in food for other guests to look at - the lounge assistant dealing with the aftermath mentioned that this sort of behaviour was getting worse.

Surely BA could come up with some creative ideas to accommodate families as I suspect the lounge must be quite sterile and boring to your average child -and the free alcohol on display must be a tempting delight for teenagers. Travel can be tiring and I do feel sorry for people travelling with young children but how can BA make the lounge experience better for all?

msm2000uk

Every few months there is a discussion regarding children and their behaviour.

Now I can't comment on ALL of them, but I will repeat myself here - Adults are far worse behaved than children; and what's worse, is that an adult is (for the most part) in control of their own actions.

If you're worried about overcrowding, fortunately numbers will go down now that extensions have stopped and the reduced TP levels have been removed. One can only hope the CCR returns to normal levels too, and the original TP level re-introduced.

However for those of us who didn't need the extensions, who didn't need the TP reductions, and who join you in agreeing the lounges are overcrowded, children are not the issue.

M

SxMan

Goodness – I hadn’t even realised there wasn’t a children’s area at Heathrow and this explains ever so much about the state of the lounges during school holidays.

If the Club lounge at Gatwick can manage to have a play zone, surely one can be inserted somewhere at Heathrow – perhaps this would’ve been a better use of the old business area rather than those rather peculiar sleeping pods?

Radiation Station

There’s a kids area in the LHR T5B lounge. The problem is usually bad parenting though, which I don’t think BA can easily fix!

Ziz

There’s kids areas in T5B and Galleries North. Not sure about South.

Bohinjska Bistrica

Unless BA is capable of eliminating bad parenting with its lounge design, I don't see how a kids area is going to help.

BillyBleach

T5 GF has a kids areas (room). Located in the food area. Toys, Playstation, etc.

LGW GC has the same and quite a spacious one if I recall.

Also there is a larger soft play area in the main T5 terminal (near Gate A2).

YacozA

Really what is needed is empowering the lounge management to point out unacceptable behaviour by children and their adult minders. Also applies to adults who behave like children.

Prospero

GC South also has a KidsZone

tuonopepper

To be fair that's a parenting issue, however something to keep the kids busy would help - the play area up by domestic A gates may still be there and I'm sure there is a cupboard like structure in the Gold lounge that's a bit naff.

That said I'd say I have more issues with those in the lounge that feel it's perfectly fine to make calls, watch movies, face time etc all on London speaker.....you spend enough money to be able to access a lounge but can't afford headphones, just ignorance really.

Confus

They do have children’s areas. The problem is that many parents who bring their kids into a lounge don’t have any intention or desire to keep them under control or make them behave in any way appropriate to a social setting. More play areas won’t help, because the existing ones aren’t used anyway by their target audience.

stampcollector

GC South does have one (or it definitely used to, can’t check as I’m slumming it downstairs in the Aspire Lounge, courtesy of PP) but they door things on it always seem to be open whenever I’ve been near it

ratypus

I'm afraid it's bad planning and/or bad manners on the part of those travelling with young children which is to blame for your predicament, not bad infrastructure. The same goes for the old trope of "kids shouldn't travel in business class" - they can, it's absolutely fine; but like most things with small children, it requires a bit of planning and for parents to do some proper parenting.

I'm not going to explain what/how we do it (other than to say it's necessary, but tiring!) but our young kids are quite often through the T5 lounges (GC or GF) and/or flying Club World, and we've never really had any incident I would have thought bothered anyone else. It's a constant and thankless task, but it's possible.

Lumping all the families together in their own "zone" for the badly behaved kids to run feral is only going to make it harder for the parents of the well behaved ones to do their job...

I do think, however, that the T5 Lounges could do with more quiet zones - not "nap" or "work" type zones necessarily, just general seating areas which would be like quiet coaches on trains i.e. no loud kids, no phone calls, no large group conversations - still find it surprising this hasn't been done. In my experience, it's the badly behaved adults are the worst...

Ghoulish

That's the standard line from parents but it's not true.

I'll go further, and point out that even pets and service animals are often under far better control than children, especially in an age where parents feel entitled to inflict their children's behavior on others as if their kids were some unalloyed good we must all accommodate.

Screaming out of control, messy, unhygienic adults are an anomaly, while it's the norm for many children. .

I've been to plenty of "adult only" gatherings that were clearly better off without the presence of children and the behaviors they often, though not always of course, exhibit.

In my opinion, if a bar is present, children should not be.

Without question I and most child-free adults would prefer an adults only lounge to one packed with children and their often oblivious parents.

The airlines should consult with Disney or the architects of indoor playgrounds and offer some colorfully themed and soundproofed space where children and their parents can enjoy the atmosphere of unlimited chicken fingers and the smell of spilled milk away from us judgmental adults who prefer a more dignified experience.

msm2000uk

I'm not answering the issue posed by the OP as a parent. I'm answering it as a frequent flyer.

In circa 140 flights last year, adults snoring/shouting loudly/listening to content on speakerphone/ambling drunk disturbed me far more than anyone with children.

Now sure, as a human I would be more inclined to take pity on a family with a screaming child than a drunk adult, but that's just me personally.

In terms of the comment regarding pets being better behaved than children, I don't have any sort of suitable comment but I'll let someone else jump on that.

As for the desire to travel in a more dignified manner, perhaps try flying privately.

M