Infants In Premium Cabins

[NoName]

What are people's thoughts on infants travelling in J or F? Does anyone have any experiences as either the parent taking the infant or as another passenger on a flight where an infant was travelling in one of these cabins?

 

[BAM1748]

Should be more of it.

m

 

[simongr]

Nine month old babygr in J to lhr - better behaved and quieter than the family behind us.

In his superman suit he was also much cuter.

 

[jamesatfish]

Have been on both sides of the fence - more than happy to see infants / children / anyone else in the premium cabins.

My daughter took her first RTW trip in First at 6 months, and has flown J and F internationally a few times since then. Haven't had any problems from her, other pax or FAs on any of the flights - everyone has been very nice and we've been lucky that our daughter is very happy to spend a few hours playing quietly in her seat, will eat dinner and then happily go to sleep for the majority of the flight.

I've also come across a few families with young children in F when I'm flying solo for business. I try to make a point of saying g'day to the family pre-flight if the opportunity arises and chatting about being in the same situation with my daughter - I think they appreciate knowing that other passengers aren't upset about having a youngster on board (at least I appreciated the same sort of comments the first time we flew as a family).

 

[Fifa]

I flew TG F BKK-SYD in January.
The European couple in 1A & 1K had a 5 or 6 month old baby that cried on and off throughout the night. And did he have a set of lungs! They didn't even take him for a walk but passed him back and forth all night and the full F cabin suffered.
I overheard them proudly tell another passenger that the baby had slept all the way from Europe to BKK :shock:. Bad management IMHO.

It certainly wasn't a great ending to the USDM F trip my adult daughter and I had enjoyed.

 

[simongr]

That's a shame - I wonder if baby was unwell.

I actually think it is hard on the mum if breast feeding as that is the easiest way to settle - but then mum is left holding the baby for a lot of the flight (boygr is enormous so at nine months was already way to big for the bassinet). I did my best holding him/changing and doing what I could.

Due to the cute factor the crew also were happy to have a cuddle whilst I went to the loo - guys and gals. It was these flights on QF that brought me back to QFi.

The crew on BA were a disgraceful embarrassment to BA and the reason I haven't flown BA since.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

The crew on BA were a disgraceful embarrassment to BA and the reason I haven't flown BA since.

So, BA cabin crew were as expected then?

 

[simongr]

Worse than expected. I had to take my meal tray back to the galley for them...

Compared also to the F crew that looked after mrssimongr when she was ill they should all have been sent back to FA school or gone into a non-customer service role.

 

[Jack_OC]

I've also been on both sides of the fence, although more often on the solo-traveller-away-on-business side. It seems to be almost a rarity for me to travel on business and not see young kids in the J cabin these days!

I had one pretty awful experience where I was seated across the aisle from a couple with a very young baby, who cried for almost the whole flight from SYD to SFO. And I had to go to work immediately after landing, which was at 9am on a Monday, the same Monday that had started for me in Melbourne almost 24 hours earlier!! The only other really bad experience I had in J was actually caused by babies seated at the front of the Y cabin, which was helpfully about a metre away from my seat at the back of the J cabin! Other than that, it has generally been fine.

On the personal front, I went with EY from MEL to DUB last year in J with a 2 year old and a baby. Both were good as gold throughout.

 

[daturtle]

Haven't spent much time in the premium cabins but I remember sitting with the unwashed masses after being thoroughly 'farewelled' the night before with two babies going in concert the whole flight. Glorious.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Worse than expected. I had to take my meal tray back to the galley for them...

Compared also to the F crew that looked after mrssimongr when she was ill they should all have been sent back to FA school or gone into a non-customer service role.

I was ill on a BA flight a few years ago with a crazy case of gastroenteritis and the crew were not very helpful.
I've also had to press the call button to get trays removed on BA in F.
This is all very standard BA service in my books

I don't doubt that part of the QF/BA breakup is due to customers complaining about inconsistency in service levels.

 

[lovestotravel]

Infants shouldn't be allowed in J or F

 

[Inver]

Infants shouldn't be allowed in J or F

If you had to take an infant on an upcoming international flight how would you feel about your 'policy'?

 

[lovestotravel]

If you had to take an infant on an upcoming international flight how would you feel about your 'policy'?

I'd respect the other people and slum it in Y+ or Y

 

[jamesatfish]

Infants shouldn't be allowed in J or F

Always a polarising topic when it comes up.

My take is that if you pay for a seat in F, you're entitled to sit there. This applies no matter how you paid (cash, points, op-up etc) or who you are (infant, toddler, teenager, adult, pensioner).

Yes, a crying baby or poorly behaved child can be annoying on an aircraft. So too can snorers, those with bad body odour, loud talkers, DYKWIA types, etc etc. I tend to find that with a nice set of noise cancelling headphones, some work to do (or a movie to watch) and a few glasses of red under my belt it doesn't tend to matter who the other 13 pax are.

 

[smit0847]

This argument is done almost as much as 'fat people should pay extra'.

Yes everyones entitled to be there, regardless of age.

Yes you hope they won't be on your flight.

I've had a chorus of screaming infants keep me up all night SIN-MEL and I've also had the most adorable little French boy fall asleep by leaning his head on my shoulder not making a sound SIN-CDG.

 

[mikejr]

Let me first say that I do not have any children, so you might know/think where this is going...

Business Class in my mind is just for that, people generally traveling on business that want to work, relax and rest before/after a business trip, usually arriving and going straight to work so quality of flight is important hence paying the premium. (my flights now are mostly in J or sometimes Y+, not too much F unfortunately)

Generally I do not have a problem with the children - it is usually the parents! When you see a young infant running up and down the aisle, screaming and causing disruption, the parents are self absorbed and ignoring the situation, which no doubt occurs every day in their own homes and they see no issue with it. With one J flight from BNE-TSV the couple in row 3 had 3 children, 1 screaming and 2 that were running up the aisle and climbing over the seats, the FA retreated to the galley and the parents did nothing, until I suggested that they might want to control their children, the second request 10 minutes later was not as polite with mention of utilising the overhead lockers...

Then there was the issue in J of a screaming baby on BA (there seems to be a common theme here) that disrupted the whole J cabin from take off in SIN to about 30 minutes before landing in LHR - not sure what the mother was doing or whether the baby was ill - but it did not go down well with the rest of the cabin.

But older children are sometimes the worst with a couple of barely teenagers in J heading home (I imagine) while flying to LA, giggling, screaming, kicking seats in front, getting up every 5 minutes and generally annoying everyone else but their parents that were seated 4 rows in front - typical

Yes I agree that if you have paid the fare then you are entitled to your seat, however I do not believe you or your infant is entitled to disturb or disrupt your neighbour or the rest of the cabin (and yes that goes for other adults without children as well)

Just my 2 cents...

 

[Archphoto]

It's not going to matter where the kid is seated if it is unwell and feeling miserable - F, J or Y. Sure if you pay to be seated in a premium cabin, you do expect it to be better than Y, but you are paying for the little extras, which unfortunately, does not include the right to dictate who can or cannot be seated in the same cabin as you.

Some kids are little monsters, and often the parents don't give a toss that they are kicking the seat in front, running amok etc, and others are well behaved younger travellers who are polite and no trouble at all.

Yes it most definitely is a right royal PITA when some tyke starts howling at the top of its lungs, but I've also been stuck with some utter boorish adults who should know better.

Regardless of the cabin, if you can afford to pay for the privilege, there really is nothing that can be done - (after all, if we insist on "Child-Free" zones, may I also request "Snorer-free", "BO Free", "Drunkard Free" and "Outright Tosser-Free" zones as well? )

Parents should be responsible when travelling with their children - the rest of the plane (including the cabin crew) are not there to entertain your offspring. They are yours by choice - don't palm them off onto everyone else, just because you need some sleep - because guess what, so does everyone else on the flight.

Babies cry - it's what they do and 9/10 they will drift off, but incessant seat kickers whose parents can't be bothered to reprimand them, are requested politely request to keep their kids under control. And if that doesn't work - I call an FA to request they deal with the inconsiderate oafs, which usually gets the message across.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

yup I don't want babies/infants in premium cabins either. Drive me nuts. yes I am selfish.

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

What are people's thoughts on infants travelling in J or F? Does anyone have any experiences as either the parent taking the infant or as another passenger on a flight where an infant was travelling in one of these cabins?

went from Melbourne to Gold Coast in February with our daughter, s-i-l and grand-daughter ( 3 months old). Travelleed perfectly. Even if she had cried which is what we had expected that unfortunately is life. travelled in J, nothing says kids have to be up the back.