Flying PE with young children, opinions please

[skinnybaby]

Hi,

We have a 1 year old (been on 4 short haul flights already) and are planning a Florida trip for September this year, so she will be coming up to 2.

We were looking at flying PE with Virgin. Having never flown PE before we are unsure what to expect with regards to taking a small child.

Who has done it? What was your experience? Will we be hated throughout the flight by child free travellers who have paid extra for PE?

Do many families fly PE? If you are a child free traveller, would you be annoyed by a possibly unsettled child nearby?

We dont want to feel like we shouldn't be there

[megaflyer]

You will be fine - if others have issues then the issues are with them not you. I flew First class as a baby onwards and have taken and flown my niece and nephew in First and Business again from babies upwards to teens and now young adults. Once when flying from Miami in Upper some pax made tutting noises when we boarded - the FSM promptly ensured we had better treatment than the grumpy passengers including sitting on flight deck (the kids not us adults)

Your money, your choice . Just relax and enjoy it - you will all be fine

[munmun]

Originally Posted by skinnybaby

Hi,

We have a 1 year old (been on 4 short haul flights already) and are planning a Florida trip for September this year, so she will be coming up to 2.

We were looking at flying PE with Virgin. Having never flown PE before we are unsure what to expect with regards to taking a small child.

Who has done it? What was your experience? Will we be hated throughout the flight by child free travellers who have paid extra for PE?

Do many families fly PE? If you are a child free traveller, would you be annoyed by a possibly unsettled child nearby?

We dont want to feel like we shouldn't be there

See more...

It's your money you can fly in whatever class you choose. This year we will be flying to the Maldives in Club with our grandchildren and later in the year we will be flying to Florida in Club with another set of grandchildren.

I have never been annoyed or upset by children in PE or buisness class, I have frequently been upset by obnoxious entitled adults.

Do as you please.

[loldis]

I expect children in all cabins, especially on a flight to Florida. I'm not paying extra to escape them. Adults are more of an issue IME.

Don't worry about it.

[Princess Alison]

I agree with others - just book what you want to book! Any age can travel in any class and that's all there is to it really!

Enjoy your planning!

[tolton]

Completely echo the above sentiments. If you’ve paid for a seat then take your family and enjoy the trip.

I’ve travelled in every cabin with my DS since he was 18 months old. His first flight was in Club and I was super worried about getting side eyes and judgements from folk. Couldn’t have been further from the truth, passengers and crew have always been lovely and friendly. Maybe it’s because we’re typically flying to Orlando and everyone’s in a good Disney mood!

Children are really well catered for in Premium, loads to distract them on the IFE, although for our first flight we took an iPad and DS watched the same Winnie the Pooh movie for the full flight. Kept him relatively quiet.

We’re travelling as a family in Premium in 5 weeks and will be a group of 10 (5x adults & 5x children). If anyone has an issue with it then that’s their issue.

As for travelling as a solo flyer and seeing children in Premium / Club. I’ve done this with work travel many times and I’d rather see a dozen families with children than some of the grumpy solo travellers I’ve experienced! Go enjoy yourself.

[Eiliko]

Totally agree with everyone, go for it!

We flew Virgin PE with our then 1 year old 5 years ago and it was amazing. Just to have the extra room alone is great. We had no issues at all with other passengers and, to be honest, as others have said, on a flight to Florida children are expected regardless of flight class.

[jonsgirl80]

We did it and it was amazing.

I have to be honest and say it was slightly spoiled by the people in front of us who started sighing and tutting the second we sat down. They wanted to get drunk and sleep and they didn't want any kids in the cabin.

They were awful - slamming themselves back in their seats and glaring at us through the gap every time one of the kids spoke. I was getting upset until the woman showed her true colours when she looked at my son (disabled) and said "well that's the best advert for contraception I have ever seen"

My point is these were not normal people, they were rude to everyone not just us and it's unlikely you will meet any such on your flight. I will say the flight crew were excellent and and soon put them in their place and it wouldn't put me off going Pe again. Sometimes the kids are way better behaved than the adults so don't worry about anyone else.

You have as much right to be there as anyone.

[JAF]

Originally Posted by jonsgirl80

We did it and it was amazing.

I have to be honest and say it was slightly spoiled by the people in front of us who started sighing and tutting the second we sat down. They wanted to get drunk and sleep and they didn't want any kids in the cabin.

They were awful - slamming themselves back in their seats and glaring at us through the gap every time one of the kids spoke. I was getting upset until the woman showed her true colours when she looked at my son (disabled) and said "well that's the best advert for contraception I have ever seen"

My point is these were not normal people, they were rude to everyone not just us and it's unlikely you will meet any such on your flight. I will say the flight crew were excellent and and soon put them in their place and it wouldn't put me off going Pe again. Sometimes the kids are way better behaved than the adults so don't worry about anyone else.

You have as much right to be there as anyone.

See more...

Me thinks the woman was probably a better advert for contraception than your son. We have never been on a flight not even down to New Zealand and had badly behaved children but cannot say the same for adults. Yes the youngsters can get bored but are normally easily entertained and boredom forgotten.

[Lisa_Lollipop]

We flew PE when our little boy was 23 months and it was absolutely fine! We paid for him to have his own seat which made a huge difference (there is no way we could have had him on our lap the whole flight). Everyone around us were very welcoming and interactive with him… I think someone would be very naive not to expect young children in any of the cabins on a flight to/from Orlando!