I think I've just had the worst flight I can remember. After much research I selected seat 11a upstairs on the a380 from London to Singapore. This seemed a good choice as from reading posts here and trip reports the forward upstairs cabin is frequent flyer territory and thus likely to be a good bet for a decent sleep.
Unfortunately tonight I shared the whole row with a family of 2 adults and 3 of the worst kids I've had the misfortune to meet. It was scream city from the moment I got on the flight, they shouted, misbehavd and tag teemed the horror for 12 hours.
I like kids, travelled in j with mine when they were the same age and have a pretty high tolerance toward parents who have no choice but to travel with their DNA legacies. We've all been there and have to give and take. Nevertheless this was beyond the pale. I will be asking qantas what on earth they were thinking when they decided to put toddlers in the front row of the 380 j cabin.
I talked with a number of other fellow passengers as we disembarked and they were equally incensed, and it was mentiond that the family concerned were qf staff. I don't know if this is true but I guess it wouldn't surprise me.
I don't know who it was they said the family were QF staff but don't automatically assume this to be the case just on hearsay. I find it incredible that if they were indeed staff, that crew didn't say anything to the parents. Did you speak to the CSM or senior FA working upstairs about it or were the parents spoken to by the crew at all?
I guess if I was ever in that situation (touch wood) I'd try to engage the kids in conversation (jedi mind trick) & ask them questions about their holiday. Often kids will give their parents merry hell but will behave or respond favourable for strangers. If that doesn't work you could perhaps talk to them sternly if their parents clearly don't give a rats.
It's interesting that until I reached WP I was never able to get a look in to the forward cabin of J in the 380 - hence the term 'Emerald city'. Accordingly, I'd make the comment (that I'm sure I will be corrected on by someone who works for QF) that I would have thought it unlikely that the offending family were QF staff travelling on staff leisure travel - my understanding was that staff only got two beneficiaries (though I suppose it's possible both parents were staff) and that finding availability for staff travel on the LHR route was next to impossible for even one high priority staff member, let alone five staff travellers travelling together; and in any case, there would be no hope of them sitting in Emerald city without a commercial ticket (and some sort of status).
Whilst it's not impossible, like you I also find it unlikely that staff would end up in 'Emerald City' as usually those seats are hard to come by as they've already been taken by top tier pax. Staff often end up at the rear of the J cabin eg on B747's the aft section of J on the main deck around row 24 to 26 or back rows of J on the A380. Unless some WP's were op-upd to F thereby vacating the seats for staff in rows 11-13.
I guess at the end of the day it would depend what was left over when they close the flight & upgrade any eligible staff. At some ports before checkin opens the supervisor may temporarily block J seats off at the rear of the J cabin so when the upgrades are done they keep the family group together. That's not always possible if the flight's chockers & staff only get on because of no shows.
A friend of mine who'e a S/H CSM went BNE/LAX with her family & got on at the last minute. Her hubby & 8yo son got middle seats in PE in separate rows, her 6yo daughter got J main deck & her mum was in an exit row upstairs. Not sure in the end where everyone ended up however it's not surprising why a lot of staff elect to buy tickets like everyone else as the ability to pre-allocate seats & know you will be seated together is a luxury.
Come Feb 2012, my wife and I will take our 10 month old son in J from SIN to BNE. I thought long and hard about whether I should do it in J and what the other pax would think should my boy cry in the night.
J certainly does simplify a bit of the process of traveling with a kid. We certainly won't be setting out to keep everyone awake on the flight but I just can't wait for the rolling eyes to start when we plonk ourselves down in J. There is nothing quite like that look someone gives you when you sit down on a plane, and their look implies that you should of kept walking behind the Y curtain.
I'm sure your baby would behave the same whether he way in J or whY so what's to say you wouldn't get 'looks' from pax in whY so make the decision that's right for you.
Make sure you board first then if or when other pax come onboard & give you 'that look' you can return serve & give them a look back that says 'you got a problem with that'. Seriously though, being an overnight flight you little one is probably going to want to sleep & the cabin lights will be dimmed so hopefully he will follow suit. If parents are uptight or stressed the kids pick up on that & react accordingly so it's important that you & SWMBO are chilled.
There was a baby on our MEL/LAX flight on the A380 I wasn't even aware of until we were disembarking. The other kids I saw in J were all well behaved. On our HNL/SYD flight we were sitting opposite a mum & dad & their 2 daughters who I'm guessing would have been about 6 & 4 & likewise they were well behaved the whole trip & when the older one wasn't engrossed in her IPAD she was either eating or sleeping.
