Does anyone have any advice or suggestions on how to AVOID sitting next to a screaming baby in Business Class? Just flew on the new A380 from LHR-SIN. Sat upstairs in Business Class in the middle section row 22. A family with children and a screaming baby sat in front of me in row 21. As its impossible to use miles on the A380 spending top dollar on a Business Class ticket to hear a baby screaming for 12 hours has become my nightmare.

Is there a way to try to avoid sitting next to a screaming baby or basically are we all rolling the dice each time we fly?

No matter the class, air travel is PUBLIC transport - warts and all. So it's not just babies; snoring pax, drunk pax, pax reading and moving around when most others are sleeping, cabin crew talking and walking around disturbing other pax. And they are all fare paying (whether by miles or dollars - it still costs). Toss in the fact that the air is much drier, taste is affected, there are risks of DVT. It's just a fact of life....that aviation has its downsides.

You can try and minimise the the chances of disturbance by seeking seats away from the bulkhead where baby cots can be attached, but the best solution to escape your neighbors are good earplugs/headphone, good eye-shade, and an acceptance that flying is public transport. Any better level of 'guarantee' involves a dedicated charter for yourself, or simply not flying - neither feasible for 99.99% of travelers.

Cheers, TK

Disclaimer - TK has kids (currently teens)

LOL Thanks

Just very annoyed that I spent the most money in my life on a plane ticket to hear screaming babies.

At least the A380 was great! Nice and quiet :-)

Oh well I can only prey the return flight is better.

Let's move on, for god's sake, so once I did share this smoke, although as I said at the time, I didn't inhale, then I drank too much, was restless for a short while, then fell asleep and snored. Is there any need for people to continually write about it?. regards bkkrop

I just flown 1st class on SQ1 from SFO to HKG, the baby was not just crying over at the 1st class lounge, he was also cried out thru out the 14 hours flight, & his dad was changing diaper over the lounger & the within the 1st class cabin as well but not in the toilet.

I respect those moms & dads do sometimes a bit hard for them to control their kids, but can't they do their diaper changing over the toilet instead of the public...?

I knew in the states, for mom breast feeding over in the public is not a big deal, but in Asia, nobody is doing that in the public, they either breast feed at the toilet or at home.

in all honesty, the best way to avoid this is to buy a private jet

Disgusting !

Another good point about the actual crisis (which just begun) is that hopefully the number of "nouveau riche" high flyers with young children who tend to be particularly unpleasant will return to the back of the plane - I know I am nostalgic - but that's the way it used to be: Premium cabins for elderly people and higher ranking business people. I traveled the world in Y in my younger days, worked hard and did not die. These spoiled generation of children will cause us some more problems one day .

Disclaimer: I am prepared for your angry reactions and do not care. Recently I noticed a decrease of the above kind of people in premium cabins already.^

I forgot to mentioned those smelly...!!!was over the 1st class lounge & the 747-400 nose cabin. Since the dad was one of the 1st class passenger, no one wants to walk up & say anything to him. But at least I saw a couple of times that other passengers spoke to the lounge reception / In-flight Supervisor that ask him to do the diaper change over the toilet instead of expose out to the public. I'm sure if the dad was doing that over in the Economy Class, the cabin crew would do something about it, but since the whole family was traveling in 1st class, it might be the In-flight Supervisor try not to push very hard to them since it may be some VIPs that they do want to upset them to avoid the future complain / future revenue.....!

The polite solution is to carry a new pacifier sealed in the original packaging and give it to the mum.

If that doesn't work, wait until cabin crew ask you what you'd like to drink. Answer, loudly enough for the mum to hear, "I'd like a glass of fresh warm blood [pause] taken from a screaming baby."

Changing the diaper in the cabin and in the lounge is absolutely disgusting. Diaper-changing is a private matter that should be conducted privately. Doing it in public, nevermind in the confines of an airplane cabin--regardless of the class--is highly impolite and inconsiderate. I'm certain I would have spoken to a crew member and, if he'd done it more than once, then to proud papa who should have taken his baby's dirty bottom to the toilet.

If the argument runs that children have every much as right to be on airplanes as grown-ups, since they pay the fares the airlines charge, then the children will be held to the same standard--and their guardians will be expected to enforce those standards accordingly. If some passenger decided to defecate in the aisle because it was more convenient than in the loo, you'd probably have a riot followed in short order by a diversion, then one pax freezing his bottom off on a cold landing strip in Kamchatka. I fail to see why the father in this situation (though not the innocent infant, who doesn't know any better) shouldn't suffer the same fate.

Take it to the lav, or leave the baby at home!

Changing diapers should be done in Toilet...if the First Class Cabin Dad needs help, he should seek the help of the FAs particularly in case of aircraft rolling. Flying with crying babies not fun but it is an occasional "hazards" of flying that we have to put up with. I just put on the ear phone and turned on some music.

As the discussion is no longer SQ specific, moving the thread over to Travel Buzz.


Kiwi Flyer
SQ moderator

With all due respect to Kiwi Flyer, I am closing this thread. There are many many threads in TravelBuzz which address this issue. No need for another.
Thanks for your understanding.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator