Kids in J on Qantas

[JohnM]

There is no need to apologise for being there. The funny thing is that just like adults, kids enjoy actually traveling in J much more than Y and will behave better there. Other pax are more relaxed and happy, Cabin crew are (generally) more relaxed, and there are few if any other children in various states of behavior and distress to set yours off.

I've often been in the J or F cabin where kids have been present and this is generally my experience as well.

 

[Flying mermaid]

A point well said. Its like thinking you are smart introducing your children to oysters and other expensive foods - you pay for it for a long time.

Yup - we are still paying and the youngest is now 23..... On the whole they pay for themselves and book Y but all too often I feel guilty and say I will pay and somehow my conscience doesn't seem to allow me to book anything other than J....

Our funniest experience is when the youngest was about 10 and we had booked J from Shanghai to Copenhagen with SAS. When we showed our boarding passes we were directed to turn right - the FA obviously assumed because we were a family we had to be traveling in Y and only looked at the letters. Miss FM managed to work out long before I did that something had gone wrong and announced to the cabin at large that we were in the wrong place. .

To the OP - we travelled extensively with our children from when DR FM was 9 months old - We did a round the world in F with all 3 aged, 5, 3 and 18 months. Don't listen to any rubbish about kids don't belong in premium classes, but do be prepared to entertain them. While books and movies are great (what a wonderful thing technology is - when we did our trips with kids, we still had very restricted movies available - in BA in F they had extra movies on tapes, but only 1 kids movie in the library - can't remember what it was but our kids almost wore the tape out!), but nothing beats a parent spending time with them when they get bored. The beauty of premium classes is you can actually tuck them into bed and let them sleep....

 

[Flying mermaid]

The offset is that there's always the hope that they will end up being wealthier than the parents and be able to take over to keep the aging parents in an even better manner .

Dr FM has promised me that if we run out of money she will continue to fund our premium travel - now I just have to make sure we don't do that before she finishes her specialist training

 

[scheps]

Are you in the nose of a 747? I really like the extra space in the nose when i do the transpacific flight. I totally agree with kids get used to travel when young (i dont mean the cabin). our 25 month old gets in the seat and buckles herself in then gazes out the window

 

[Denali]

Yup - we are still paying and the youngest is now 23..... On the whole they pay for themselves and book Y but all too often I feel guilty and say I will pay and somehow my conscience doesn't seem to allow me to book anything other than J........

I was talking to a co-worker for purchased 5 of the $88 Bali/Christmas fares the other day. He was saying one of his kids was complaining about it being DeathStar (well... I really cant blame the kid, but they were $88 fares).

Co worker told him to shut up or its back to the back of the car for a road trip to Wagga Wagga to see nanna and pop.

I have no qualms about putting my now adult nephews/niece in Y. I'll even send hubby back there with a drink for them

 

[Quickstatus]

I was talking to a co-worker for purchased 5 of the $88 Bali/Christmas fares the other day. He was saying one of his kids was complaining about it being DeathStar (well... I really cant blame the kid, but they were $88 fares).

Co worker told him to shut up or its back to the back of the car for a road trip to Wagga Wagga to see nanna and pop.

I have no qualms about putting my now adult nephews/niece in Y. I'll even send hubby back there with a drink for them

Kids are not dumb, they know when something is cheap and they know when something is expensive but they dont yet understand Value. Having said that adults have problems with that concept too...

 

[Canny man]

I wince at the irony of a family flying somewhere with kids on holiday to 'spend quality time together' then doing everything they can to ignore them on the flight...

 

[Quickstatus]

I wince at the irony of a family flying somewhere with kids on holiday to 'spend quality time together' then doing everything they can to ignore them on the flight...

Well that qualifies as quality time not quantity time.

 

[thommo50]

I don't have a problem with kids on flights. I used to be a kid myself once. I also understand that when they cry they are more or less unblocking their ears, tired or even a bit overwhelmed being contained in a small area, it must be a strange and unpleasant sensation for them. Just about every flight I'm on there are children on it and I have never had a problem. I carry ear plugs with me, so when a baby starts to cry I just stick the plugs in my ears, crack a joke about it while doing it, and it also seems to put the parents at ease as well knowing that I'm not stressed over their little ones.

 

[Quickstatus]

This is not a good look though

 

[love_the_life]

Is she doing what it looks like she is doing? Well I suppose it beats changing nappies on a table in the lounge. It's a ripper of a photo.

 

[love_the_life]

I knew of a family who used to take the kids back to Italy each year, but in Y not J. There were 13 children!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Is she doing what it looks like she is doing? Well I suppose it beats changing nappies on a table in the lounge. It's a ripper of a photo.

Never sit in judgement on a desperate mother.....

 

[van]

I vaguely remember traveling first class (there was no business class then) from SYD to AMS many times through my youth. No IFE but lots of colouring in and reading. The many stops (3 or 4) helped break up the journey.

 

[clazman]

What is required is mutual respect from both the parents and other passengers and a good IFE system and sleeping cough syrup .

 

[love_the_life]

Never sit in judgement on a desperate mother.....

Would not presume to make judgement - seems to me to be rather inventive, better than a lot of other places it could be.

 

[Welsh-Kiwi]

I flew with my 5 yr old daughter SYD-DFW-BNE. 2 very long flights of approx 15hrs each. Flying J helped as she slept for 9hrs on each flight. She insisted on the ear plugs and eye mask as "Daddy, this jumbo jet is too noisy". The crew were great with her as well.

 

[GCC]

Was very happy this morning when my points upgrade Y+ to J came through for our whole family of 4, traveling on QF1 this Thursday!

The only problem was the seating. My 2YO had a window seat in 12A!, while my 4 year old was back in row 17, I was in 11 and Mrs G in 22.

Called this morning and although not the most helpful CSA in the world on the WP line, we were assigned 16EF and 17EF. I was really hoping for a window seat or 2 so we can get the kids to bed, (eg ABEF), but the cabin looks pretty full so I guess we are doing well to be in the same general area.

16 E/F are bulkhead & behind the galley - not sure if it is an OK J seat or not? Seat Guru doesn't identify it as bad or "be aware".

 

[Pushka]

I think when you get in upgrade then any J seat is good, even with points. For four people you were very lucky.

Maybe the two people might swap?

 

[amaroo]

Was very happy this morning when my points upgrade Y+ to J came through for our whole family of 4, traveling on QF1 this Thursday!

The only problem was the seating. My 2YO had a window seat in 12A!, while my 4 year old was back in row 17, I was in 11 and Mrs G in 22.

Called this morning and although not the most helpful CSA in the world on the WP line, we were assigned 16EF and 17EF. I was really hoping for a window seat or 2 so we can get the kids to bed, (eg ABEF), but the cabin looks pretty full so I guess we are doing well to be in the same general area.

16 E/F are bulkhead & behind the galley - not sure if it is an OK J seat or not? Seat Guru doesn't identify it as bad or "be aware".

Same thing happened to us - same flight and number of travellers. QFF sorted it out and were given the same sort of seats, pairs in the middle - we were very happy with the outcome.

The four of us have also won the upgrade lottery on QF 11 into F .... they're all singles in that cabin so it doesn't matter where you sit. Same trip we got an OpUp with AA Montreal-Miami it's a relatively short flight so we didn't bother disturbing the peace and accepted the seats as given .... we were very happy to get the OpUp