Lesson learned. Posting this was a mistake.
 

Should not have posted. Sorry everyone. Will not happen again.

Sorry it didn't go your way... Don your nicest asbestos, though. You're going to need it. This last bit was a particularly emotionally egregious touch...

I would write a condensed version and send to DL customer service to let them know how you were disappointed with the treatment from the FAs in both the BE cabin and Y.

I've been to 61 countries and 49 states, and had tons of fabulous FAs! That said, every now n' then, there seems to be a decades long veteran FA who, somewhere along the way, has lost sight of basic, good, friendly customer service. I'm not sure how this happens! I don't want to quite go so far as to say that it's a culture issue between former airlines, but sometimes it may seem that way.

That said, what do you do with these 30/40 year employees who have, somehow, strayed from norms of basic humanity, to some kind of controlling personality or a borderline power trip? Retrain them? Maybe.

Drop DL a note, so they can check the employee's records for any past complaints, and let them decide how to fix it for the future, and possibly pacify you!

:)

It seems like all the problems (which I don't excuse) seem to step from the FAs belief you were going to hop back and forth from J to Y.

With all due respect, every so often someone posts up here that they got some poor treatment from FAs when traveling with their family and it almost always includes some part of switching cabins and a line that beings "it was clear that I was not ... but needed to speak to my kid"

You encountered FA's who, for the most part, were doing their job; just not accommodating to your requests and actions.

As a paying BE passenger, I already dislike children in BE and anyone (friends or family) who are in Y and come up to J to visit/talk/whatever. It is disturbing. If families can not be separated without checking on each other then they should purchase seats together.

One question - you mention it would have been nice for the 4 of you to be together the last 15-20 minutes...I hope you meant for your wife and other child to join you in EC? If not, there's no reason DL should accommodate/allow any non-paying (money/miles) Y passenger to sit in J. Why do people with kids think they deserve preferential treatment?

As for NRSA's they have travel privileges so the fact there were NRSAs in the cabin is inconsequential.

This. Hopefully this is a lesson learned. Traveling with kids that young, the OP should book seats together in the same cabin(J or Y). Most of the hardship was related to the decision to split the family, so this is not a DL issue..

That said, if the FA was rude and did not follow policy, that is a different story. Enforcing a rule of cabin separation is not rude, just enforcement.

Also, how are the PMNW notations relavent in this discussion. They do not add, but rather deter from the OP's arguement. It has been years. It's all DL now...

Obviously the original BE FA and the one Y FA need some help remembering that they are in the service industry and what that means. I think fawning over NRSAs while ignoring ticketed pax is very wrong, and you should bring it up to Delta. You should also bring up the maintenance issues inre broken IFE.

With that said, I have to agree with much of the above sentiment. Reading the story I got the impressions:
-You really expected them to put all of you in BE.
-Your children caused you an order of magnitude more trouble than the flight crew did.
-You seem to think it's OK and standard practice to book with small children split over two cabins, and expect to be accommodated because of it.
-You think a Y pax should be able to use the BE lav because she knows someone in BE? Or is it because you're DM?

It sounds more like the flight crew failed to make an unavoidably miserable flight more tolerable then they made it miserable themselves.

Have you stopped to consider how disruptive you must have been to the passengers around you?

As someone who has done lots of international flying with young kids, I can deeply empathize with the OP. Often, it goes very smoothly. Sometimes, however, the wheels fall off. While it's great when the FAs are willing to lend a hand, sometimes they won't. Sounds like you got a real grouch for a purser.

All that said, I agree with the previous posters. Splitting the family up was the wrong decision in retrospect. Yes, if everyone had slept, it would have been nice for your wife to enjoy the BE seat. Unfortunately, it put you in a poor position to handle difficult situations, which happened to arise. We always book the family together. Generally in J. But, if enough seats are not available or we elect not to pay for them on a given flight, we all fly together in Y. Yes, that often means the flight is slightly less comfortable. However, it guards against the downsides.

Very sorry for your experience, and hope your future flights are better. I would, however, strongly recommend booking the entire family in the same cabin in the future.

And thanks for taking time away from your own trying situation to assist a fellow passenger in need!

A long post, but I think it is hard to fully describe the level of frustration using a "tweet" mentality. I agree that composing a letter, albeit a bit condensed, and sending it to DL would be worth a shot. There are certain standards that FAs should adhere to, and there are certain tactful ways an FA can deal with a situation. In this situation, I see several fails.

Regarding DL and NW being one now, I think you'll find old habits die hard. I still have interesting interactions when I have TWA swag on my bags on a AA flight...how long has that been done and dusted?

As an aside to the OP - I'm guessing your a medical professional. Kudos to you for taking care of a fellow PAX in need, despite your generally unpleasant experience. Society has come to expect that, but I don't think many people understand that it is actually difficult to compartmentalize your personal life to do what you know is the right thing.

I'd say 50% of the issues were on the OP for splitting up family. With that said, it sounds as if the FAs could have been better in a number of ways.

In any case, it was nice he stepped up and rendered medical assistance when needed.

Another small defense for the FAs... their behavior may well have been learned from previous DYKWIAs who made BE a zoo for paying pax with a split family....

Unless you have a nanny to attend to the children, stick to one cabin. This easily could have been a thread titled "Y Interloper in J!" from the perspective of other passengers.

Well, your impressions do not accurately reflect the reality, but you are entitled to your opinion even if it is dead wrong. I don't want to engage in any protracted arguments with you simply because there is no logic to your conclusions; they are preconceived notions.

What I expected was a normal service for the two who were seated in BE and merely a civilized treatment by the FAs of everyone. Ignoring two out of three BE paying passengers in the otherwise empty cabin and demonstratively taking care of the non-revs considering them "premium customers" was poor service.

Did not expect anyone to move anywhere. I am vehemently opposed to on-board upgrades by FAs, and said so on this board too.

My children did not cause any serious trouble, but the FA's conduct was unacceptable regardless of whether they were sick or not.

The experience would not have been miserable at all had the FAs not made it as bad as it was.

And yes, I considered my fellow passengers. Always do. Neither I nor my family members have been "disruptive" in any way, neither in Y, nor in BE, especially since there were no fellow passengers in the BE altogether.

Enjoy peeing in the "exclusivity" of the BE lav! We all self-validate in different ways.

Which "other passengers"? You might have noticed that there were none in this particular case ...

Unfortunately, some of the FAs, for the most part, were not doing their job. They were attending to the needs of the NRSAs much more than to the needs of the paying pax, whom they just ignored.

I made no requests whatsoever, so there was nothing to accommodate.

No, not all people with kids think that they deserve preferential treatment. But I am well aware of the general sentiment on this board, so I am not surprised by your comments.