Cedar Jet

Yet again I see over eager young families upgrading to a premium cabin and not really able to enjoy the benefits!?

recently on QF12 family of 4 two boys about 5 and 6. Parents and kids each in a seat parents taking turns toileting, feeding, sitting with sons, operating seats and IFE. Kids calling out for their parents at top of their voices when they wanted something. Neither of the parents got more than an hour in their seats....really the logic evades me. What a waste of points and a much harder flight than say sitting beside their sons in Business Class and able to assist them with ease. Total disruption to other pax and most weren't impressed. What presses people to make such decisions. I know it's their right but was it really more comfortable for them? Totally destroyed my night flight back to Sydney from LAX. I'd even go as far as suggesting it borders on selfishness..:confused

Dave Noble

How do you know that they didn't purchase 1st class tickets?

Regardless, it is surely up to them to decide what is worth it to them and not something to be decided for them by someone else.

People travel with children in all cabins and are entitled to do so

What benefits people enjoy from premium classes vary

On FT, there seems a lot of alcoholic binge drinkers that seem to think that drinking lots is important and the eating of caviar etc - personally, I normally have a couple of drinks of sparkling water or orange juice and a cup of tea - that is what I enjoy - different people will have different views on how they feel to have benefited

Cedar Jet

He was bragging to cabin crew how lucky he was to get 4 seats. Yep, it's up to him but it still makes little sense. I've flown endlessly over the last 30 years and have yet to see a loud drunk pax disrupting me or other pax. I have, however, seen many young families in premium cabins running a muck.

Dave Noble

I get the sense that you don't care whether it made sense to him - just complaining that he did

This may have been more pleasant for the person who was doing the upgrading than how it would have been in business class

Conversely - as far as people getting impacted - may have impacted less other people than if they had stayed in business class

FlyWithKaeMarie

I have to agree with you, OP. This may be because I am not a fan of children, but, I'm sorry I do not wish to pay 5-10k PLUS for premium travel just to listen to a kid screaming. We're in a confined space, and IMO if you cannot control your children or prepare them - then do not travel with them.

Last year I traveled Economy from SYD-DXB on Emirates and I chose a seat at the back - somehow, that seat got switched and I was moved up front with all the families... I was stuck now in my middle seat, beside a kid who kept touching me, and a baby who wouldn't stop crying and pooping... this is one thing, first class... that's another.

og

Its the luck of the draw. I've had crap flights in each cabin due to kids. What pisses me off most is the parents who make absolutely no effort to control their kids and turn a blind eye to them running wild, kicking seats, punching seat back screens, shouting to each other. It makes the cry babies seem quite measured when comparing them to the 5 to 10 yr old brats.

LondonElite

Popcorn is on its way...

timster

Indeed they are. And also their responsibility to control their spawn and not inflict them on others.

Mwenenzi

This can and does happen in any cabin. Being upgraded does make this happen. Some parents are less effective in training their off spring to have good manners in public.

og

....does NOT make this happen ??

m0hamed

If anyone disturbs me as a pax, whether adult or child, I have a word to the crew. Works on the ground in the lounge or on board. I would never interact with the pax, but when parents can't control their children not much can be done other than, perhaps, moving seats away from them.

lhrhappy

How does the "live and let live" argument keep appearing in these threads? The children's aural assault on the rest of the cabin is the very opposite of "live and let live".

And drinking is a strawman - most people wouldn't disagree that rowdy drunks also don't belong in first or business.

Dave Noble

because they have equal right to travel on the flights

It is not a strawman at all - binge drinking seems to be an ongoing thing - and one that in some fora seems to be one made out to be something positive

I don't think that drinking should be permitted or encouraged on flights , but it is allowed on most airlines and I have to accept it is when I go on an alrline that permits it

If someone feels really strongly that only those that they feel merit being permitted in the cabin should be there --- either book the entire cabin or book on a private jet or find an airline that limits the cabin to the type of passenger that they feel should be there

On Qantas - there is no restriction on children in 1st class

It doesn't matter that the OP thinks it is a waste of points --- it is down to the person who booked it to decide whether the points cost was worth it

Next time , perhaps use an airline that doesn't allow infants in 1st class if it is an issue

lhrhappy

Travel? Sure. Right to disturb others? Is that a right? If a middle-aged man howled at the other passengers, would he be allowed back on?

Presented without comment.

I never said this, and neither did OP. It's yet another strawman. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard or read someone complaining about well-behaved children.

It's the behavior, not the age. And the behavior is the fault of the parents. A crying baby? Not that big of a deal. You win some, you lose some. But a school-aged child screaming at the top of his lungs? There's no room in the F cabin for that.

Which of the 5 and 6 year old boys in OP's post is an infant?

Dave Noble

The poster is not simply arguing that there was a behaviour issue with a specific person - the post goes on about "Wasting points upgrading to First with infants" (title) and "What a waste of points and a much harder flight than say sitting beside their sons in Business Class"

Why someone wants to upgrade is up to them

It is not a "stawman" - the OP started by deciding that it is a waste of points for these people to upgrade because he states that it would have been "much harder flight than say sitting beside their sons in Business Class and able to assist them with ease"

If he is arguing that a family group shouild not be upgrading, it is quite valid to point out that others would object to other groups - me, I think that those that want to drink should stay out of the cabin

However - if wanting to be able to restrict who sits in the cabin to those that are not wasting money/points by doing so, the solution is to book enough seats to do so;

If there is an issue - raise it with the cabin crew at the time. The individual behaviour of 1 person or group is not what the rant is on about but extrapolating out to it being a waste of points and that they should have stayed in business class ( and assumedly annoyed a larger group of people )

I take it that it is ok then for the child to screm at top of lungs in business and economy then? just not in 1st?

ask the OP - he titled the thread as "Wasting points upgrading to First with infants. "