I was on a flight from YVR-YYZ yesterday. A guy left his kid (about 3 - 5 yrs old) in economy and got an upgrade himself to sit in business class. I thought it was weird when he went to his seat from the rear of the aircraft(economy) and then I understand what's happening when I saw him run to the back after arrival to take his kid. I think that's very selfish and irresponsible especially for a child that small. Very unbelievable especially for a 4 hr flight. He did not went back once to check on him as he snooze through most of the flight.

Also another couple whose son was crying for an hour. This was a red eye flight so everyone was trying to get some sleep, they made no attempt to stop him. A lot of passenger gave them the "eye" when deplaning. I have no problem with child crying if the parents have try their best to stop it, after all, they are kids....

Regards,
Empress

Could one argue that this is similar to leaving a child in a stroller on a NYC street while the parent went shopping inside the store -- which ended in arrest for the parent?

I would be mad if I went on a trip and my parents upgraded and left me in steerage.

Could have been worse -

He could have sat in the back and left his kid alone up front. . .



Greg

The argument would be made that there is no way the child could be kidnapped on a plane (unless the kidnapper had a parachute).

Nevertheless, this is neglect and irreponsibility. I have a 4 year-old and 2-year old. I don't like leaving them unaccompanied in their own bedrooms, let alone an airplane!

If it were me, I would have said something.

If it were my wife, she would have caused internal injuries.


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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

That is irresponsible and selfish, yes, but I don't think it's quite the same as leaving the kid out on the street. As mentioned, kidnapping would have been highly unlikely. But other scenarios aren't quite so far fetched...

I guess the question I'm asking myself is "is the crime here that he left his child alone, or that he went to F?" I mean, when I was a kid (not quite that young) I remember our family going with my dad on a few of his business trips. The company'd buy his Connoisseur class (ah, I miss that name) ticket, but we weren't rich so the rest of us would follow in economy. Dad often came back and asked if I wanted to ride up front so he could be with Mom and my younger siblings. I of course took him up on it! I even got to ride in 3-class First a couple of times because of it! Yes, my parents "visited" me often on these 12 hour flights to make sure I was still there and alright. But the fact is, I was still "left alone..." and believe me, I didn't then and do not now think that I was neglected by any means!

So I think in the end my big problem with this guy is that he didn't check on his kid, and he put himself before his kid... not necessarily against any laws, but just indecent.

Oh, man, this makes me mad! Being a parent (or guardian) is an incredible responsibility, and to pull a stunt like this is either incredibly immature or outright neglectful. I'd have been tempted to tell the FA we had a lost child on our hands. Announce that and watch Last Class Dad come claim the little one. I'd love to hear THAT explanation ("Well, Jr. is too young to drink and his legs are pretty short so he couldn't really appreciate the perks of FC . . . ")

Jet:

But were you 3-4 at the time?

A 10 year old is one thing. A 4 year-old is an entirely different matter!


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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

My strategy here was simple. Two parents- one in FC on a rotating/alternate basis. Other in rear cabin with kid(s) unless multiple upgrades available.

But what about the airline? Why did they upgrade him if he was traveling with a small child? Isn't there a requirement about children below a certain age being unaccompanied?

sorry, no more ???s

The kid who was left in coach without visitation probably is an example of behavior that occurs on a daily basis in that family. I don't consider it neglect in this case, but it's not ideal behavior.
The situation where the kid is crying and the parents either think it's cute or do nothing to calm the child is neglect to the child and aggression against all others on the plane who are trying to sleep on the redeye. I consider this type of behavior as air rage by default. The kid has it and the parents promote it. The trouble with confronting the parents or weeking assistance from the FA is that they will scold you!

Someone suggested in a post several weeks ago that you say sternly, "What are you doing to torture that child!".

I have had this happed to me before on a KLM flight AMS-MEM. I was in business, two parents were in business, and thier kids in coach. The kids spent the whole flight running back and forth to their parents, running around the business class cabin, making noise, and generally ticking people off. Someone must have said somthing, as one of the FA's told the kids to go back to coach and never come back (the parents sure weren't doing anything). They listened, and we had a peaceful flight after that.

Those Dutch can be stern when they want to! They aren't worried about lawsuits! KLM also has trinkets for kids (in the early 90's they still had metal "junior pilot" and "junior stewardess" wings for boys and girls, respectively! Lufthansa had a fancy puppet that looked like a stuff animal and a higher-than-Matchbox quality Porsche toy car. Most airlines have cut back a lot, US carriers cutting back to almost nothing left)

KLM had kiddie packs with puzzles etc until this year it seems. They use to give tons of those little blue rubber planes. One on every segmnet! I've strepped barefoot on these many times. Ouch! My son has a nice dark blue junior jet cap he got from one of his "friends" at the lounge at Schiphol, AMS! Naturally he always says "Dunkavall!"