drvannostren

I would've liked to see the pilot bench this FA and tell her to hit the crew rest for the rest of the flight.

But beyond that it seems like just 1 person having a serious power trip when she was having a bad day as is.

greg99

Can I suggest that, like peace in the Mideast, the existence of God, and Tastes Great/Less Filling, the question of whether children belong in premium cabins has zero possibility of being answered in this thread and is best discussed elsewhere?

COSPILOT

jp12687

walkerci

Being based in Orlando, I am exposed to out of control children and their parents that simply refuse to take any corrective action, on nearly every flight.

I have seen many parents put on headphones and completely ignore their children's tantrums.

I have seen many Flight Attendants ignore the above.

Ultimately parents must control their children when they are in confined, public places.

Being a Father and Grandfather that has traveled with my own from infancy, it is easy to manage your children (most of the time) with a little bit of preparation.
Bring drinks, food, toys/games, etc. Talk to your children. When that doesn't work, Over The Counter Motion Sickness medicines will help them sleep.

That said, the FAA is failing the flying public by allowing "lap" children. This is a major safety issue.
When severe turbulence is encountered or their is an "emergency" landing, lap children become projectiles, can become severely injured or die, and can injure other passengers.

Finally, does a passenger in Business or First Class who has potentially paid upwards of $10,000 for their seat in order to enjoy a comfortable, peaceful, and quiet flight have the right to be free from screaming and kicking lap children who are essentially flying for free? Absolutely.

gmt4

Means nothing. I had a flight where the pilot came and apologized that we wouldn't have any new catering and the FAs would have to make due with what was left from the inbound. Some pilots are more interactive than others.

jsloan

Like most airlines, UA charges 10% of the adult fare for a lap child on an international ticket.

Even if they didn't, the parent also "potentially paid upwards of $10,000 for their seat," and they have the same right to use that seat as everyone else.

If UA felt that they would make more money by banning children from business class, they'd do so. (Personally, I'd rather keep the kids and get rid of the alcohol). However, until and unless they do that, the answer to your rhetorical question is "no;" no such right exists. If you can't stand being around a child, fly private.

Ari

Lack of Mideast peace is perhaps the fault of god putting less filling, great tasting babies in first class.

Answered in one sentence!

chavala

I wish this was a law!

entropy

I'm impressed that you traveled on your own since infancy. Presumably you were walking well enough to get thru security and board the flight at less than a year old?!

unless you're flying private, you're in a public place; F,C or Y. You have to be aware, and prepared that there may be screaming babies, screaming/drunk/idiotic adults, flatulent adults (see the thread, audacious and unmitigated), adults in J who may be talking/laughing the whole night, FA's who might be talking/laughing loudly the whole flight, any of which can "spoil" an overnight flight.

As for the lap child bit, I think that particular safety concern is overblown a bit but certainly many toddles > 1 year old (not 2) would be much better in their own seat. I don't think my daughter, at 16 months is going to be happy (nor would we) sitting, lying, squirming around on my lap for a transcon. So I got her her own seat. I'm sure for some people, they can't economically, but I think everyone will be a lot happier.

spin88

+1. I have been wondering for a long time when UA would wake up to social media, and realize they were getting killed. This is EXACTLY how you need to address social media. Someone saw this, called operations, they called the pilot, and the pilot went to find out what was happening, and then UA tried to fix the issue. This is EXACTLY what companies need to do in this era. Whomever handled this from UA's end should get a promotion.

Either you don't fly much or don't know kids, or have forgotten what it is like. Kids are on a spectrum. I had two, one's first flight was SFO-PHX-FLG (and back) including a small plane at age 3 mo, not a peep, second was SFO-BOS (and back), not a peep at age 6 mo, third SFO-LHR in J on VS at age 11 months, and the kid crawled around on the floor with the FA's cooing about him, I took him down to have a drink at the bar (this was the old 747 with the bar on it) then he lay down in his own lie flat (it was midweek and they had extra seats upstairs) and slept for 10 hours... Ditto on the way back. Kid has never cried on a plane.

My second OTOH, was a mixed bag. When she was a year old we took her SFO-HKG-BKK on CX in J. SFO-HKG she was ok, but when she got on the flight HKG-BKK we got upstairs and something set her off, she cried all the way to BKK, four straight hours before giving up and sleeping. The FAs moved all of the J folks who wanted downstairs, totally embarrasing, but what are you going to do?

IMHE 95% of parents are trying their best, and having been there, I try to be helpful. As we were desending the other day, kid was crying and she looked arround worried, I said "don't worry, it is just his ears, get him to swallow something if you have bottle with water or milk" She tied it, and it fixed the problem.

We were all once kids, it is just part of life.

narvik

Yeah, because who would want to be amongst happy, cheerful people?
I prefer those to grumpy, cranky ones myself.
Just saying.
(I have noise cancelling earphones and earplugs, should the decibel level be too high)

KDS777

Give the FA a medal.

Children under 3 have NO PLACE on board any aircraft, let alone J.

Shame on the parent.

Aussienarelle

It amazes me that so many parents traveling with children on planes are so clueless. Like you my first (and only) flew as a babe in arms at 4 months. I asked the pediatrician before I flew and she advised that as well as feeding him through take off and landing to help his ears (since the ear canal is so small) to give him baby Tylenol 20 mins before take-off and 20 mins before landing to help with the ear pain. I am not a big proponent of drugs but the baby Tylenol saved his ears on many, many occasions until he was about three and was able to chew gum. I too have watched children who are obviously in terrible pain with their ears. The parents apologize to me for their child crying but I have extreme sympathy for the kids (albeit I do not like the noise), and inform them what the pediatrician told me 20 years ago - they are amazed they have never heard of that preventative solution.

(The other tidbit of advice was to ensure a blanket was over the bassinet so the baby was breathing filtered air as at four months their immunity is quite low and trying to deal with the recirculated air with all the germs is a lot for them - obviously the bassinet was not totally covered as they still need to breathe and I did not want him to suffocate but he did not get sick after his flight(s) while he still fitted in the bassinet.)

There are number of people who I may prefer were not on my flight, but if I am flying on a commercial aircraft, i.e. not private/corporate jet/NetJet, and United sold the pax a ticket then I do not have any right to complain about who they are. If you believe you should not be on a flight with infants/children, then you need to find an alternative that meets your requirements. I would prefer not to be on flights with animals in the cabin since generally the animal dander brings on allergies for me but while the airline allows them I can only ask to be moved to ensure I am not near them - fortunately many of my flights are to destinations with strict quarantine rules.

rickg523

Two totally different things.
Apologizing to all the pax for a service failure and apologizing to an individual passenger for the obnoxious behavior of a particular one of the staff.