Business class babies

[Melburnian1]

AFF has discussed this previously a while back, but a new story is on the News Ltd website about a mother allegedly being told off on a UA SYD - SFO flight for the length of time her baby was crying.

Given these seats are sold at fares far in excess of economy (or even premium economy when offered) fares, I'd like to see airlines routinely banning children under say 10 or 12 from business class.

Even if USA airlines are hardly the leaders in treating passengers well, I can understand the annoyance of the flight attendant and indeed other J passengers around this woman (whose baby was eight months old - her husband was also travelling).

Airlines are not common carriers so if they choose they can restrict access to a particular cabin by age.

 

[mannej]

Why don’t we ban drunken slobs, those with bad BO and the loud, rude DYKWIA type whilst we are at it.

You are going to get the disruptive types amongst any age group, hence why I don’t see the blanket ban as a good idea

 

[Denali]

I propose they ban Instagram pax that wear teeny tiny cut off jeans and cough tubes carrying bags of Hungry Jacks (recent Abu Dhabi flight) but I guess if they have paid for their seats, Im going to have to STFU and mind my own business.

Im team Babies have a right to fly in any cabin when their parents choose and other pax can employ headphones, earbuds, eye masks and happy thoughts.

Babies cry, its what they do. They dont do it for fun.

 

[Pushka]

But who amongst us hasn’t breathed a sigh of relief when there are no young infants in the J cabin when we board? Banning is not the answer but on the other hand a crying baby esp where the parents don’t try to soothe it aren’t pleasant. However a loud snoring passenger four rows back on a recent flight wasn’t pleasant either. BO - seats are far enough apart not to be a problem and I just don’t bother with what people are wearing.

 

[Melburnian1]

Some upmarket hotels and resorts ban children under a certain age.

The same principle ought apply to airline premium cabins. Unfortunately most airline-supplied headphones won't block out noise from a crying bub, and sorry, but because carryon is limited, I don't like to buy and carry my own headphones.

 

[Pushka]

Some upmarket hotels and resorts ban children under a certain age.

The same principle ought apply to airline premium cabins. Unfortunately most airline-supplied headphones won't block out noise from a crying bub, and sorry, but because carryon is limited, I don't like to buy and carry my own headphones.

Viking Ocean and River cruises actively promote their No Children policy on their ships. Also no pokies and photographers either. We are a little bit excited by that.

 

[TomVexille]

I cannot agree. Being a parent shouldn't consign parents to 12+ years of Y travel just because you think you might be inconvenienced for a few minutes. Especially if they do have the means to pay for premium travel, which as you rightly pointed out costs more.

 

[RooFlyer]

There is a case for infant free premium cabins, but it would be tough to get it to work commercially. Need a route where there are multiple daily services and you'd maybe have one of them a day restricted and go from there.

As we've discussed on AFF before, the issue isn't the infants, but selfish parents who allow the crying, screaming etc to go on longer than it ought to ( that is, make no effort at all to soothe the child). Not sure about others, but I've suffered some long periods of this type of thing.

A sunken slob being disruptive can and will be dealt with by the FAs. Only a parent can tend to an upset child and if they choose not to, then it's very bad news.

I'm sure some folk would like to see, for instance, female only cabins or booze free cabins.

 

[amaroo]

Fly baby fly .... we’re flying with a couple of our babies right now Although 6+ foot babies probably aren’t the problem

 

[Pushka]

I cannot agree. Being a parent shouldn't consign parents to 12+ years of Y travel just because you think you might be inconvenienced for a few minutes. Especially if they do have the means to pay for premium travel, which as you rightly pointed out costs more.

And I agree with that too. We could never afford or knew the ropes (maybe they didn’t exist 30 years ago) to fly J with our kids when they were young but our eldest had ear issues and it was bad enough trying to keep him somewhat quiet in Y and we felt bad for those around us. And we were wrecked after a then, 32 hour flight to UK. I’d feel worse for other pax but feel better myself if we had flown in J.

Having seen the way some parents desert their child care responsibilities when on holidays in resorts, restaurants, ships, planes and club rooms is a worrying trend now that people can seemingly afford to travel more. I would have a lot of sympathy for parents actively trying to console a crying infant but still be a little upset if that crying went on for a long time during the quiet times of the flight.

 

[davidj]

It's about time airlines actually provided a short speal on how to manage babies flying. I'm gobsmacked that this still doesn't happen, and would result in lower noise in the cabin.

Many are first time flyers and have no idea the pain children go through going up and down, causing grief for those around in the cabin.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Agree on the suggested baby ban for premium cabins. Ruins the whole trip.

 

[mannej]

Not wanting to use your own headphones because they take up too much space in your carry on, surely that is said in jest?

 

[Pushka]

Not wanting to use your own headphones because they take up too much space in your carry on, surely that is said in jest?

Actually I’m the same. My carry on is full with other ‘stuff’.

 

[drron]

Always going to be a polarising discussion.That said I do like a quiet cabin and in my experience it is more likely to be disturbed by a crying baby than a drunk, a DYKWIA talking loudly or a snorer .The first 2 seem to use the lounge for those disrupting activities and tend to drift off in the air but may become Type 3.
In the Flounge HND at present.A Chinese gentleman has spent the last 2 hours coughing loudly,loudly clearing his throat then spitting out the results.Unfortunately the Beijing flight has been delayed due to bad weather there.Glad I'm not on that flight.

 

[RooFlyer]

Not wanting to use your own headphones because they take up too much space in your carry on, surely that is said in jest?

Depends what else you want to take with you. One of those Bose jobs in its case is quite a large object in carry on! I use the ear bud type these days just because the other type was too bulky with all the other stuff I take on board. Sure, I could have forced it, but no need.

 

[coriander]

Coming back in J on QF12 a couple of years ago, we had a child (?3yo) and mother in seats in front of us. The child screamed and cried and yelled and kicked the bulkhead as well as jumping up out of her seat and throwing herself in the aisle for 8 of the 13 hour flight. Being a night flight, this made for an unpleasant and exhausting journey The FAs were brilliant, trying everything to calm the child down without any success.

I noticed that the mother was replaced by the father for 3 hour stretches at a time.

When the FA queried what both parents were doing, the mother said (quite loudly, intentionally or otherwise) "she's always like this when we fly. That's why we book one seat back in PE so that we can take turns getting some rest on this long flight whilst the other looks after our daughter!"

Yeah right, what about the rest of Emerald City?

 

[Duffa]

Coming back in J on QF12 a couple of years ago, we had a child (?3yo) and mother in seats in front of us. The child screamed and cried and yelled and kicked the bulkhead as well as jumping up out of her seat and throwing herself in the aisle for 8 of the 13 hour flight. Being a night flight, this made for an unpleasant and exhausting journey The FAs were brilliant, trying everything to calm the child down without any success.

I noticed that the mother was replaced by the father for 3 hour stretches at a time.

When the FA queried what both parents were doing, the mother said (quite loudly, intentionally or otherwise) "she's always like this when we fly. That's why we book one seat back in PE so that we can take turns getting some rest on this long flight whilst the other looks after our daughter!"

Yeah right, what about the rest of Emerald City?

Dumbasses! Why didn't they sit in Y+ with the toddler and get a flat bed in J. Would have saved a J child fare too!

 

[Pushka]

Not in J but booked my son an extra room seat on Emirates for long haul to UK from Adelaide. Paid quite a bit more for each sector to do so. On boarding a parent with a child asked him if he would move as he would need to visit the bathroom and be up and down with the child. Thankfully my son did not budge and explained he had paid extra and booked a long time ago. Father huffed off but managed to get someone else to give up their aisle seat. So the child spent most of the time in the aisle, and even slept in the aisle which concerned my son as people just wouldnt be expecting someone there in the darkened cabin. And the crew did nothing about it.

 

[Deleted member]

Why don’t we ban drunken slobs, those with bad BO and the loud, rude DYKWIA type whilst we are at it.

You are going to get the disruptive types amongst any age group, hence why I don’t see the blanket ban as a good idea

I agree with the drunks comment, but then I think that ship has already sailed, however this thread isn't about boorish drunks or even the nice folk on AFF who dislike them.
it is about the value of a Business class seat (whether it be long or short haul) being eroded by the cries of a baby. i agree that babies cry, and thats pretty much an end to it. however I also agree that maybe, just maybe when someone pays for a "premium" product, they should be entitled to a premium experience.
well that's my 2 cents worth anyway