Travelling with children

[Nizar]

Damnnnnnn. What happens in the scenario if an adult and two kids have two F tickets and one J. What decision is the airline likely to make upon boarding ?
I'm struggling to find them four seats on the way back. But can get two F and one J seat on one flight and one F seat on another. Hmmmmmm. Can I potentially book my niece alone on F (she's actually 11 not 10) and advise EY very early on and they can provide a supervisor etc ? How does it work exactly ? Thoughts ?

I always thought that unaccompanied minors aren't necessarily a problem for any airline its just that they have to allocate one staff member to supervise them so of course this needs to be organised in advance. My young cousin many years ago used to fly long haul as an unaccompanied minor as his dad was always away for work but I don't understand the specifics. But do you usually have to pay extra if your child is flying as an unaccompanied minor ? What is the go exactly ?

 

[Nizar]

I'm struggling to find them four seats on the way back. But can get two F and one J seat on one flight and one F seat on another.

Would it be easier to go one adult and two children together ? Is that allowed ?
Makes more sense than for my 11 year old neice to travel alone lol

 

[ukh]

Not sure about other airlines but Qantas indicated to me that when my wife and I fly First, they will only let my 10 year old fly in another cabin if she is accompanied by an older sibling. Thankfully we also have an 18 year old...
I personally would not be comfortable leaving a child/ children in another cabin, sitting next to strangers until they were 12 or 13.

 

[Quickstatus]

Kind of like when Airlines put unaccompanied minors next to women and not men. Why do women get stuck quasi babysitting other people's children.

because airlines and FA assume all men to be pedophiles and cannot be trusted. Many stories of kids who were sitting next to non relative men and the men were told by FA to swop on the plane with a woman or the kid moved next to a woman making the man look like a pedophile...

Cant have it both ways

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I personally would not be comfortable leaving a child/ children in another cabin, sitting next to strangers until they were 12 or 13.

I guess that depends how well behaved your children are?

If they are badly behaved, or are unable to perform basic functions for themselves like getting to the bathroom, or feeding themselves, I agree - I would feel uncomfortable with them sitting next to a stranger who might feel responsible.

 

[UP4014]

I guess that depends how well behaved your children are?

If they are badly behaved, or are unable to perform basic functions for themselves like getting to the bathroom, or feeding themselves, I agree - I would feel uncomfortable with them sitting next to a stranger who might feel responsible.

or worse, a stranger who is irresponsible for their actions.

 

[Nizar]

Hard to disagree with the last sentence lol

Should children be banned from business class on planes?

 

[Jack_OC]

Hard to disagree with the last sentence lol

Should children be banned from business class on planes?

Oh you're really opening a can of worms now

I have to say I've been on both sides of the fence on this one - I've travelled with my young kids in long haul business class a few times, and many times I've been travelling on my own in business class and been in close proximity to kids. The fact is, any airline that bans kids from business class will lose me as a customer when I'm travelling long haul for leisure, and I imagine the same is true of quite a few others (judging by the number of kids I see in business class). So the question is, if an airline adopts such a policy, would they gain more customers than they lose? My guess is no, hence no major full service airline has introduced such a policy.

 

[Mark3000]

Oh you're really opening a can of worms now

I have to say I've been on both sides of the fence on this one - I've travelled with my young kids in long haul business class a few times, and many times I've been travelling on my own in business class and been in close proximity to kids. The fact is, any airline that bans kids from business class will lose me as a customer when I'm travelling long haul for leisure, and I imagine the same is true of quite a few others (judging by the number of kids I see in business class). So the question is, if an airline adopts such a policy, would they gain more customers than they lose? My guess is no, hence no major full service airline has introduced such a policy.

Very well put Jack, I'm with you.
I get the impression that most families travelling in J would be unlikely to get that many tickets as rewards tickets and need to pay full price. I'm hoping to find 4 J points tickets for next winter, but it seems like it is very difficult and we will have to pay for 1 or 2 of them.
I can understand banning kids from First, but not J

 

[Denali]

Crying babies dont bother me much because usually they are crying for a reason (even if there seems no reason, they are unhappy) and most parents do not enjoy them crying either.

Ive not experienced out of control older kids on a plane yet, oh wait. Once there was a girl about 4 having a meltdown and I pulled a yellow balloon out of my bag and she stopped in a second and played with that thing for hours. The FA gave me a pat on the shoulder and extra mango icecream that day.

 

[harvyk]

and most parents do not enjoy them crying either.

Not half wrong there. The other night when my youngest decided to have a bit of a meltdown it was hardly a fun experience, my wife and I spent a good hour looking for ways to calm her down, and I could just feel the virtual knife been stabbed into me multiple times by the pax sitting in the seat in front.

The truth with flying with kids are they are kids. You can't escape that fact, logic and reason (and the excitement of traveling on a plane) often go out the window after the first hour, and unlike adults who understand that getting from A to B takes time, kids do not understand that. As parents we simply do what we can to get through the flight.

For every other pax stares wishing they would put a soundproof kids area on an aircraft, there is a parent who is equally wishing there was a sound proof area on the aircraft.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Very well put Jack, I'm with you.
I get the impression that most families travelling in J would be unlikely to get that many tickets as rewards tickets and need to pay full price. I'm hoping to find 4 J points tickets for next winter, but it seems like it is very difficult and we will have to pay for 1 or 2 of them.
I can understand banning kids from First, but not J

I'm with others... there is no reason to ban children from any cabin. Everyone understands if a child cries... but the frustrating part is when a parent seems oblivious to it and appears to do nothing to control the situation.

I was on a qantas domestic flight last year with a family and the 7-10 year old (somewhere in there) was telling the cabin about daddy's tail when he is in the bathroom. (her words, not mine)

the mother just laughed. I spat out my drink. It was up to another passenger (a business woman) to tell the girl that perhaps her language was not appropriate for an airplane.

That sort of behaviour is inappropriate in any cabin and shouldn't be inflicted on economy pax any more than premium.

As for split cabins... why would a family want to split up on a flight anyway?

 

[Denali]

I also recall a late night flight to Vanuatu and I was at the rear with a group of older kids for some reason, I spent an hour or so explaining decompression (with bottle and water) and scuba diving to the kids.

This is why I shouldnt make eye contact with kids in confined spaces.

 

[FF Baby boomer]

My husband and I endured a 14 hour Emirates flight fromDubai to Sydney with a mother sitting adjacent with 3 tiny children and travellingalone.
The children looked to be under 3, and 2 of them under age 2,seated in 3 seats between 4 of them. The two youngest children screamed andsquealed for much of the flight, the rest of the time throwing objects, runningup and down the aisles and also laying in the darkened aisle where people hadto step over them to visit the toilets. This mother made no attempt to controlher children and neither did the airhostesses. There were frequent episodes ofturbulence and the airhostesses insisted passengers belt up but ignored 2 ofthe children who were on the floor in the aisle (1 asleep) of the darkened cabin.The danger and risk of this is obvious!
Whilst I sympathise with parents of small children who haveto fly I could not believe that an airline would allow a solo passenger with 3tiny children to undertake a 14 hour flight on her own. what are various airlines rules about this ?

 

[angelwingsflys]

I wonder would it be better to get a "babysitter" for the kids , paying for a sitter's flight, would be a way of helping someone to take extra flights and maybe affording a holiday after the babysitting flight, I would do that to get a free flight myself. Maybe that would be a service that parents would be prepared to pay for, and then the kids are supervised while parents were enjoying their seats . I would love to do something like that ,if it gave me a cheaper holiday .

 

[RAM]

Ok then to reduce complications I will book it one adult/one child in F and one adult/one child in J.
If say I book A1 and C1 in F return and A2 and C2 in J return surely it will not cause a hassle if we choose to swap on the way back so each parent/child gets to try F ? Or will this also be a headache lol

Should work OK but only after take off (some have regulations that in case of crash all people must be in boarding pass seat allocated).

There is a general IATA policy that children under 12 MUST have a responsible adult with them or else UM.

More interesting - we had 3, under 12 at one stage, and good old Qantas inexplicably (only Silver status perhaps) changed our pre-allocated seats (window 3, and row in front window 2) to separate us up. They split two of our children and had them 6 rows away and on the other side of the aisle (seating went from 2, 3 to 2,1,.....2) for flight to LHR.

BIG TROUBLE - stand up argument with chief steward as on check before taxiing one of our kids came to us saying that they were in trouble. Man sitting next to them (asked to be a 'responsible' adult) said no. I said fine swap him for me. No he would not move and hostie then steward said we should not have booked them separately.

Pulled out copy of confirmation from Q showing us in confirmed 2, 3 config and said we didn't but Q did at the check-in counter (despite us being there just under the 3 hours mark prior). Yes queried at the time the split (actually thinking excellent move Q) as my wife was unimpressed.

Finally resolved with the two adults seated next to me volunteering to swap with our kids. Move all their hand luggage etc.

So long story short do not try sitting them without one of you and should be able to swap once taken off.

 

[harvyk]

More interesting - we had 3, under 12 at one stage, and good old Qantas inexplicably (only Silver status perhaps) changed our pre-allocated seats (window 3, and row in front window 2) to separate us up. They split two of our children and had them 6 rows away and on the other side of the aisle (seating went from 2, 3 to 2,1,.....2) for flight to LHR.

Normally QF are very good with ensuring that families with small children sit together and in appropriate seats, with family bookings even outclassing WP's in terms of seat selection.

 

[kirstyoz]

because airlines and FA assume all men to be pedophiles and cannot be trusted. Many stories of kids who were sitting next to non relative men and the men were told by FA to swop on the plane with a woman or the kid moved next to a woman making the man look like a pedophile...

Cant have it both ways

I can understand why it would offend blokes, but in fairness its reasonable risk management to have UM's sit with women and not men. I work with sex offenders and they can be highly opportunistic, they're very good at manipulating kids AND adults, and they are mostly men. The very (very very) few women offenders tend to offend against family members and not strangers. Also there's a whole lot more sex offenders around than ever come into contact with the justice system, so it's something everyone should be aware of when considering sending their kids as UM's (or unaccompanied in any other setting). If you look at the number of child sex offenders, the number of UM's travelling every year, and the gendered risks, I'd make the same decision.

 

[mannej]

Let's not get into the risk management rubbish again. There are reasons why I believe the policies to be discriminatory. If I were asked to move due to this policy, I'd be kicking up a stink.

 

[rhjames]

I don't think the average 7 and 10 year old will be anyone's problem. Especially if they are used to flying.

So, you don't think a 7yo will kick the seat in front? Wouldn't spill food or drink. Ever seen a 7yo and 10yo have a fight or shouting match in the back seat of a car? I've had one vomit in a plane. 14 hours is a long time unsupervised.