Children in Upper Class. Your thoughts ?

[whiteswan]

I read on another thread somebody asking a poster if their children would sit and behave for take off and landing on their own as in upper class you sometimes are not seated next to each other.

My personal thoughts on this are that if a Parent has paid the (much much more) expensive price for first class then if they want to take their children then they should be able to do so without other passengers looking down their nose at them (not that I am saying that's what the poster was doing in the other thread) ;-)

I have personally witnessed and heard phrases such as "hope they are not near me" - from uc passengers whilst boarding when observing a family with children.

I personally am too tight to pay for UC and I'm more than happy if little johnny wants to wail all the way there - they are children locked up in a tin can for 9 or 10 hours - I kind of expect them to get restless at points... now as for kicking the back of myseat !

[Guest]

We live in a democracy, not state control. Kids have as much rights as adults.

Most UC passengers will have noise-cancelling headphones or be provided with them - so no problem there. Kids also can't reach to kick the seatbacks in UC or similar.

IMHO and experience the kids (nor adults) are better or better behaved in UC than anywhere else. Wailing kids in First obviously don't happen

[Cabbie]

One of the big issues raised with UC is not about passengers opinions but about safety issues. Due to the cabin layout it's sometimes hard for the child to see his/her parents and vice versa. On several occasions I have seen stressed infants who have either got out of their seats during take off/landing or who have had a total meltdown. This has nothing to do with other snobbish passengers looking down at children it's simply rules set down by the CAA which both the airline and passengers have to adhere to.


-Steve

[Clare]

It's the drunk adults that are more of an issue.

The main issue with children on UC flights are the fact it's difficult for parents to be how can I put it, tactile. ie if the seatbelt sign is on, take off, landing, turbulance, etc, whereas on BA a parent is sat directly next to their child and can easily comfort them if the child is upset/frightened, with UC it's not so easy or straightforward.

Tbh whether a child is in UC, PE or economy, seeing a child on the floor or running around scares me, turbulance can hit suddenly and without warning, and an unrestrained child suffering an injury isn't something I wish to see.

[bigal993]

We flew back UC from Orlando, there was a lovely family in there with an 18 month old boy, I joke not he screamed for the whole 7.5 hours, i actually had to stop a confrontation between an older irate fella and the childs dad, the crew were resting as we were half way across the atlantic, the one flight attendant, ran and got the cabin manager,

I had 6 of my family with me, my daughter was talking to the Mum of the child, they paid £180 for the child to be in UC, she was mortified that her boy had runied the whole flight for all UC passengers, they were a decent family,
My humble opinion, if Virgin are to allow children in there, then all passengers children as well should pay the same fare, to allow anyone in there for £180 isnt right,
Al

[Cabbie]

Originally Posted by bigal993

My humble opinion, if Virgin are to allow children in there, then all passengers children as well should pay the same fare, to allow anyone in there for £180 isnt right,
Al

See more...

I'm guessing that the child didn't have their own seat though?

-Steve

[fredflintstone]

Originally Posted by bigal993

We flew back UC from Orlando, there was a lovely family in there with an 18 month old boy, I joke not he screamed for the whole 7.5 hours, i actually had to stop a confrontation between an older irate fella and the childs dad, the crew were resting as we were half way across the atlantic, the one flight attendant, ran and got the cabin manager,

I had 6 of my family with me, my daughter was talking to the Mum of the child, they paid £180 for the child to be in UC, she was mortified that her boy had runied the whole flight for all UC passengers, they were a decent family,
My humble opinion, if Virgin are to allow children in there, then all passengers children as well should pay the same fare, to allow anyone in there for £180 isnt right,
Al

See more...

And you have to look at the positives, due to the seat density of UC with a max of 14, it impacted a max of 12 passengers. If they had been in economy , due to the 3-4-3 configuration it would have probably impacted over 70 passengers. Always a silver lining

[fredflintstone]

I do think Virgin should make it clearer that the UC cabin is not the best for young children, because of the visibility of seats and the need for children over 2 to have their own seat.
BA is much more child friendly with their seating configuration and if I had small children and were going business class I would chose them over Virgin. But often, people do not realize the seating issue with UC.

[Guest]

We'll be flying next week in UC with a 3 and 6 year old. We've paid full price for their tickets and they have every right to be there.

I have been explaining about the importance of listening to the air stewards and that they have to stay in their seats. They're both excited about watching the movies, so hopefully we will be able to keep them amused for most of the flight.

We have booked rows 6 and 7 so we can be as close as possible to the kids, I'll sit in the front with the youngest so I'll be able to talk to him during takeoff and landing.

[ilovedisney25]

We are hoping to go UC next may with a 5 and 8 year old. Personally I see no problem with it. You pay full price for their seats so why not. However I do think that I wouldn't (and haven't) do it with much younger kids for that fear that they would get out of their seats ect so I think it should really be for over 3s but it all depends on the child and responsible parents. As for the noise, kids make noise it's not a big deal