PATRLR

I prefer neither and see nothing amusing about a misbehaving adult.

I can't uderstand how you find someone who should know better to be amusing yet a child who maybe doesn't know better to not be amusing? To each his own, I guess.

Analise

A ticket is a ticket is a ticket. Whether in first or in coach, a child belongs at any seat for which his ticket is paid (or upgraded).

Nachtswerg

Benadryl has an opposite effect on my daughter... it makes her HYPER!

That said, she's used to flying long hauls from when her and her mother lived in Saipan. She's very well behaved, though in need of a little more attention than normal, but I feel that's to be expected when there isn't much else going on.

In some ways, I don't feel this is a discussion about flying with kids, but flying with ill-prepared parents. Unless there's a severe delay, it's all in the prep. While you can't anticipate everything, there's no excuse for the child that runs up and down the aisle, kicks the seat in front of them, or plays the drums using the tray table.

If there IS a big delay, then I pity the parents. There's nothing worse than having all of your carefully constructed distraction strategies tossed out the window by weather or mechanicals!

bordeauxboy

My experience prior to having children was that in general children (older than say about 2) were actually more tolerable in business class than economy class. Probably due to the room they would have to move around. Infants and really small children tend to either sleep the whole way, or scream the whole way.

As a parent now, I and/or my wife have traveled regularly in both economy and business with my son - 4 years old - on the IAH-HNL route to visit his grandparents and cousins. He travels wonderfully, which will be further tested in C when we take him to PVG on United. One thing that I can note is that we have found that UA FAs tend to be good with children in all classes of service (wish they were better with the rest of us) - but we have found that on CO the FAs tend to cop a real attitude towards children in the forward cabin.

MrsDrD

Yes, our son has flown numerous sectors in J/C class, and also in Y.

Total of 24 international and 12 domestic sectors between 4 months of age and now (2y 8m). Most international we do as J, most domestic in Y. The decision is always based on length of flight - if it's a short international hop of 3 to 4 hours we usually opt for Y, but anything longer J. The extra space etc. is helpful, of course, but truly, the decision is based on the fact that I don't enjoy flying in Y for 8 hours. And if I'm flying in J, obviously so must my son.

Agree wholeheartedly with PPs who have said that the in-flight experience for the child and therefore parent and rest of cabin is largely dependent on preparedness and general discipline. This is true regardless of cabin, and I don't believe that less emphasis should be placed on controlling a child in economy just becuase it's, well, economy! We are always very well prepared for every flight (well, we've had a lot of practice, we know what works!) and thus our son is content and well-behaved. Additionally, he has been brought up knowing that when in a plane he must remain in his seat, with his belt on. This has been a consistent expectation carefully reinforced, and thus even through the difficult toddling phase we have never had a child "running amok down aisles". There's never been any "incessant screaming", and we don't use drugs to induce drowsiness.

A few favourite books, small noiseless toys, interesting snacks and, now that he's a little older, his own DVD player with favourite children's programs. As a breast-fed baby, any tired whinging up until about 18 months of age was quickly nipped in the bud by offer of a feed, which *always* works! That's our arsenal of choice. Since about 18 months he's had his own small rollaboard, we pack it together - it's a way of including him in the process. We usually time our flights to be night or nap-time, so generally he is happy to snack, watch a little TV and curl up and go to sleep.

baglady

I agree with UA FAs being good with children, but I have had wonderful experiences with the CO FAs with my daughter up front. They have always treated us wonderfully. I can only think of one time I had a surly FA up front and that was because my daughter was having reflux (as an infant on the return portion) and was crying for about 45 minutes.

She made me more and more stressed because she was making such an issue out of it and I was doing all I could to calm my daughter down. I realize what an issue it is to have a crying child on the plane and I was doing everything possible to get the crying to stop. It was a nightmare flight and I did feel horrible for all the pax around me. I went to the galley area with my daughter to try and minimize the disturbance.

But back on topic, yes, being prepared including prepared for delays will help tremendously even though you'll have way too much stuff with you! But you will be so happy you do when you experience a several hour delay - especially if you are already on board.

VickiSoCal

I miss the days when breastfeeding was the magic band-aid, sleep-aid and general happy place tool!

ContinentalFan

I have never had a problem with children on a flight. They deserve to be up front as much as anyone else. If truth be told, I think if people took a critical look at the behavior of all passengers, there is not that much difference between children and adults. Children are just easier to spot!

USC2000

Not having children myself, I can't comment on the "how do you travel with kids in premium cabins" question, but I'll chime in on the other question.

I was on a flight from SFO-ICN yesterday, in the second row of the E+ cabin, right behind C. There was a couple with a 1-ish year old child sitting in C, near the front of the cabin. I watched them negotiate nicely with the person sitting in their row (middle section) to trade him the middle seat for one of their aisle seats. Child seemed quite happy/cheerful through takeoff. When we got up to cruising altitude, though, things changed. The child started crying quite loudly, and for over 50% of the flight, I think, based on the number of times I saw mom/dad up and wandering with her.

To their credit, the parents seemed to have come prepared with toys/food/drink/letting her crawl around in the floor space of their aisle, but it looked to me that one or both of the parents spent the majority of the 12 hour flight time up and wandering around, inevitably parking themselves in the aisle at the border between Y and C cabins. So now they were disturbing 2 cabins, even though they had come seemingly prepared for a long flight with baby.

Long story short - I think there's only so much parents can do, both from a prep point and a seating point. If I'm in the C cabin, sure, I want the environment to be what I'm paying/upgrading for, and which I would expect to have few (if any) disruptions from crying children sitting in the cabin. And if there are going to be young children in that cabin, I expect parents to be prepared and have entertainment/"other" solutions for them. But even in this instance, the parents had taken those measures, and the child ended up being unhappy. There's not much we, as fellow passengers, or they, as good parents, can do about it.

Let's face it - people sometimes DO have to travel with their children, and inevitably, many don't seem to care that the children will be affecting other passengers with their behavior. Aside from airlines refusing business, another paying passenger is going to wind up being disturbed. All they can ask for is that parents prepare themselves and their children for traveling with the kiddos.

<insert joking> Maybe we should propose a "traveling with children" certification program? </joking>

snic

To echo many previous comments, it's up to parents to bring enough distractions for kids, no matter the cabin. There are probably other resources for helping to think up stuff to bring along, but one I found very useful was Berkeley Parents Network (http://parents.berkeley.edu/advice/going/), which has loads of advice posted by other parents. It also has a lot of discussion about the Benadryl question.

Especially with toddlers, sometimes there is just nothing you can do to keep a child quiet. I had two experiences along these lines: a 19 month old who was an angel through the first 5 hours of a transcon flight, but screamed for much of the last half hour because she simply could not fall asleep. Absolutely nothing worked to comfort her. The other passengers looked daggers at us, but I was much more concerned that my daughter was so upset. Of course she fell asleep 5 minutes before the wheels hit the ground. What can you do? When she was older (2.5 years), we took her to Hawaii in F on UA (SFO-HNL). She was great, but as children that age do, she did nothing to hide her delight in her surroundings - lots of laughing and exclaiming. This bothered several passengers, but if simply asking her to be quiet doesn't work, and reminding her often, what more could we have done?

As for whether we should have flown in Y instead: the extra space in F or C is VERY nice for all the junk that kids come with, and for space for them to squirm around in. Of course we parents didn't get to enjoy the service as much (read: drink as much free booze). Our next family trip (daughter age 3) we'll take in Y and compare the experience to F.

ByrdluvsAWACO

It's funny how whenever this subject comes up there will inevitably be those who proclaim their offspring as "angels" when in flight.

Count me as one of those who are very intolerant of children in premium cabins. Hell, count me as intolerant of any bad behaviour period on a plane.

I cringe whenever I see children coming on the plane, hoping they won't sit near me.

Somehow parents never seem to notice when the child is kicking the back of my seat, disturbing others by looking over the headrest, or engaged in some behaviour that clearly goes against the intent of premium cabins.


It's quite simple really. If I paid $3000-10000 for a C/F ticket, I should not have to hear someone's kid crying through the whole flight.

Airlines advertise premium cabins with images of comfort and serenity. No where in that advertising do you hear crying/rampaging children.

Yeah, but I can't punch the kids. Even yelling ST*U would be highly frowned upon by the FA's and many pax. Unruly adults can even at times be restrained/bound by cabin crew and pax. I've never heard of a troublesome kid being tied up on a flight.

Maybe so, but parents with children should be made to sign an acknowledgement that if their spawn act up to the point where it detracts from the premium atmosphere of the cabin, they can be made to move to the Y cabin. They have a right to purchase premium tickets, but they have no right to disturb the experience of other pax.

I think this should be the policy of all airlines.

I thought we were discussing children in the infant to toddler range?

Analise

"Spawn"....you were once somebody's "spawn". I find it rather ridiculous that bad behavior from anybody should not be tolerated up front but is perfectly fine in coach. Glad to see that airlines are NOT indeed run like that. One of the nicer things about 1st class is that the pitch is great enough that you won't get kicked by the child behind you. That right there puts 1st class as my choice for parents and their children. ^

VickiSoCal

Children in the infant to toddler range can't kick the seat of the person in front of them. Last time we flew coach my four year old's feet didn't even reach the seat in front of her, they certainly wouldn't reach in businees or first.

erik123

Yoga or meditation could help with the intolerance?

snic

If you feel the airlines' advertising is misleading, feel free not to fly on them. There are plenty of private jets available for charter, where my "spawn" will stay away from you. But as soon as you step foot into a public conveyance, such as an airliner or a bus, you will find children, and you will have to tolerate them. You have my pledge as a parent that I'll do my best to keep my kid from bothering you no matter the conveyance or the class of service. In return, a little tolerance of the fact that sometimes there is nothing that can be done when a child is upset or tired would be welcome, but not required. You can get as furious as you like whenever you see a child step foot onto the plane; it's really your problem, not mine or my kid's.