People seem to have very strong opinions on where people should and should not sit, and especially so when it regards children (and more specifically, OTHER people’s children). I’ve seen some people advocating for “child-free” flights (never gonna happen), and some parents seem to let their kids do whatever they want without making any attempt to actually parent. Personally, I think a reasonable middle ground is that parents should do their best to make sure that kids do not bother other passengers and that for everyone else, it’s part of the social contract that we deal with occasional discomfort.
I remember a post a while ago that I read over at Miles from Blighty asking if it was “Time to ban children under 2 from premium cabins, or are children just children?”
The author of the post recounts a recent flight of his
I have recently completed an 8 hour flight, during which two children (under 2) sat two rows behind me in Business Class screamed or cried loudly for 7 hours of it. This is no exaggeration for the sake of effect, (or a good headline), but represents an accurate report of the experience. Ear plugs and Bose headsets had no impact to the screaming. The parents seemed unable or perhaps incapable of stopping them. No amount of ‘shushing’ had an effect in reducing the volume nor frequency of the noise.
Obviously this is a rather heated topic, with lots of strong opinions on both sides. It’s almost like the kids crying on airplanes debate! 🙂
(SEE: Why parents of children flying should NOT give “goodie bags” to fellow passengers)
My own experience with kids in business class
I’ve flown a few business class flights myself, and I do not remember any kids that have been any type of disruption. On most of my business class flights, there haven’t been that many kids at all. We have taken our kids on a few business class flights, but not when they were very young. By the time you’re a tween or teen, I feel like you should be more than capable of dealing with flying and not bothering other people.
(SEE ALSO: 11 things from an 11 year old’s first business class flight)
We are aware of our kids and how they affect others (of course! we have a lot of them!). I’ve even gone so far as to try and specifically pick seats that will minimize others’ disturbances. Still, it hasn’t stopped other passengers from telling me that I am “the type of person that shouldn’t have children”
Personally I felt like the original article offered points on both sides. Yes, it totally sucks when you’ve paid a lot (in cash or miles) and you’re in business class, and you are wanting to get some rest, and someone is loudly disturbing you (whether it’s a child crying, being loud or anything else). On the other hand, there are plenty of adults that act inappropriately on planes or otherwise. After our Aer Lingus business class flight was canceled, we were rebooked in economy, and there were 2 adults (one a flight attendant) who (loudly) chatted THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE OVERNIGHT FLIGHT only a row away from me, making it pretty much impossible for me to sleep. Maybe we should ban flight attendants 🙂
(SEE: 4 tips to survive a red eye flight in economy)
Similarly, on our flight to Puerto Rico a few years ago, there was a group of 4 men who were drinking profusely and generally making fools of themselves.
Ultimately, it’s all down to the parents
Some parents are better than others, but even “good” parents sometimes run into a situation where their kids are crying and / or in other means inconsolable. My 4 year old might be better behaved than your 14 year old. (That’s a hypothetical – actually my 4 year old would be the one kid of mine that I’d worry about :-D). Unfortunately all of this is just part of taking “public transportation”.
On a related note, one of the commenters on the original article said
If the child was unwell, they shouldn’t have been on the plane – and that’s the fault of the parents. I’d never take a toddler on a plane if I knew that the change in pressure would exacerbate their illness and cause them pain.
which I TOTALLY disagree with. Sometimes, you just gotta go, even if your kid is sick. You’re not going to cancel a long awaited trip to Grandma’s, or even moving cross-country due to a illness. When that happens, sometimes you just have to suck it up, and it’s bad, and you have to make the best of it.
The Bottom Line
I think it’s unlikely that we’ll see any airlines banning children from premium cabins or from planes at all any time soon. Until then, just know that I and most parents are doing our best to make sure our children don’t inconvenience you. And for those parents who aren’t, well… nothing you say is going to have an effect on them anyways, so you might as well just chill out about it! 🙂
So what do you think? Should Business and First Class have an age limit? Or should it be wide open to everyone?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Simple answer — NO!
The only limit, should be paying for the flight.
Otherwise I’m voting for excluding overly friendly middle-aged salesmen.
If I am paying for the seats, buzz off everyone.
The seat was acquired fairly, whether by cash, points/miles, or even upgrades. It’s a fact of life that short of private charters the customer cannot mandate who gets those seats that were fairly acquired on a commercial carrier.
It sucks to have a screaming child next to you for hours at a time with no escape possible. I’ve had that happen. But you have to acknowledge that risk when you arrange your own ticket. If you are dead-set on not risking it, find a way to privately charter your travel. It’s the *only* way to guarantee you won’t have to deal with it.
Answer: No, no, and no. And make the rule to ban children under 12, twelve, years of age from J and F class! To endure a horrific long flight with the screaming, yelling, twittering, coughing, wheezing, sneezing, smell of soiled diapers, hollering, screeching, crying, whining, fidgeting, pounding on seat backs, jumping, irritable children is something that very, very few people pay big money to experience. Parents are a big part to blame for this problem, unable, lazy, unwilling, lack of interest, selfish, incompetent, immature to raise, educate, guide their children to behave. Just look at some of the parents out there! Adults? No, but more like moronic idiots who haven’t got a clue of what it is to be an adult. Par for the course these days.
Yep, and you are one of those moronic adults. If it really bothers you that much, you can fly private planes. Anyone paying, be it with cash or Miles has just as much right to be in that cabin as you. How do you know that you don’t bother others? I think you smell like dog poop.
That was intelligent…
Sorry Susan, were you never one of those children? Have some tolerance, find some humanity, lose the selfishness.
Why do you care?
You ditched your kids to go on a trip. Which is really odd given the name of your blog.
Wow, are you a parent? It is not a crime to take a vacation with your spouse without your children. It leads to a much happier and healthier family dynamic.
You make some really good points. I do think that there should be some minimum age. Last September, my wife and I were on a 14 hour Korean flight in business with a woman and her 3 children, including a (approximately) 2 year old that cried. A lot. The FA’s tried to help, but at that age, it’s pretty much what most kids do. I tried to brush it off, but it was really no fun, and the mother just seemed indifferent. I just think that if you’re less than sure that your child will be well behaved, they should not be in a premium cabin. No rancor at all, just my opinion.
Hardly ever found a problem with children in Business/First. More often I have to deal with adults that drink too much and say things that are regrettable, or hyperactive/chatty . Do not hear much about “banning” active alcoholics or mashers from any class on airlines .
The thing that often worries me about kids in premium cabins on long haul flights is the fact that the seats are often separated for privacy, so the child will not be able to interact with the parent and vice-versa. If mom/dad is in one seat and a small child is in another, the parent cannot always see or hear the child.
This society is populated more of people whose mentality is “me first me now”. We all pay, in any currency, for our space in public, such as airline or restaurant, with expectation of safety, sanitation and peace. I did not travel or dine out when my child was younger than four. Why don’t parents take them travel on the road without subjecting others to their kids’ tantrum? We all lack courtesy and consideration of those around us and we must need laws to behave accordingly, though laws are violated at all times. Children are reflection of their parents and everything starts at home, not school or in society. Parents who pamper their kids at early life do not expose their kids to the real world. Especially those who are proud that their kids use the experience of premium cabins to share with their classmates truly do not understand how it makes other kids and the teacher in class genuinely feel.
Have taken my infant in domestic F many times no problem. Recently took him on a RTF in J and had some issues but always took him to galley or bathroom when he cried. Was able to have him sleep most flight so no issues. On one leg on AA’s transcon first recently from LAX to JFK a man behind me made some grumblings about having a baby in first and the purser made it known that she appreciated having a child as a fresh face as did a few movie stars on the flight who overheard. Shortly after, my son fell asleep (it was a 6 am flight from LAX) and didn’t wake up till about 30 minutes before landing. If my son could not handle it, I would not take it because I value everyone else’s experience, but I also find that it helps to have more space and friendlier FA’s in First/Business.
Totally depends on the kid I think. Some travel well and others don’t. Can’t issue a broad ban. There are many offensive adults who travel – no way to ban them.
Right – I think that’s the problem with a ban. There are plenty of kids that are fine and adults that are idiots
How many clicks does this topic get? We already discussed it not too long ago
Didn’t Malaysia Airlines ban children in F and the entire upper deck of its A380?
Get over yourself. Paying extra for premium cabin doesnt make you different than those in coach cabin. If the risk of having crying babies next to you bother you that much, book a charter flight. Its like on a bus complaining about babies. You know what they will say? Get a car.
I started flying with my kids when the youngest was 8mo old and we went to Hawaii (two 6-8hr flights). After both we had several people tell us what a great flyer she was. Since then we’ve never looked back and have flow with all 4 girls. There have been a few occasions (back when there were only 3) that we flew in first. We got a few “looks,” but after take off all the others realized that kids can be great on a plane. In fact, the only issue we ever had was a bathroom emergency during landing where we circled really long and taxied forever. The flight attendant realized what was going on and let my daughter relieve herself before we got to the gate.
What we have always done was try to assess whether or not the kids would be able to handle the flight. For example, our youngest got rambunctious when she became a toddler, so we haven’t flown in a few years. The next step was to prep them for the flights. If they were old enough to understand we’d go through everything from security, boarding and how to act on the plane (they look for the seat belt sign before even thinking of going to the bathroom). If they were too young to reason with the prep was on us to have snacks, toys and other supplies to distract them. The best thing to happen for traveling with kids are all the devices they can use (especially now that you don’t have to put them away). We download some of their favorite shows, movies and games to play. The only challenge here is getting them to use headphones (part of the pre flight prep).
I won’t say I’ve never had an issue (dangling legs hitting the seat in front), but I’ve had orders of magnitude more compliments than complaints. In the end as parents it is up to us to do our best to prep our kids for a flight. However, for the travelers realize that most parents want the flight to go as smoothly as you and there not to be any issues. Today my 8, 10 and 12 year olds are as good as any 100K frequent flier and my 3 year old is getting there.
I have mixed feelings on a ban, but if I supported one it would only be for children under 4. My reasoning is that they are much, much more likely to cry inconsolably and make everyone (decent parents included) miserable.
But, for those jerks blaming the parents for bad parenting, you should know that small children have very small ears. Speaking as an adult with freakishly small eustation tubes, I can tell you that, depending on rate of decent, pressurization, and other variables, I frequently feel as though ice picks are being stabbed in both my ears. I don’t scream, but you will see tears stream down my face as I dig my fingernails into my thighs. I have NOTHING but sympathy for those screaming children, but I would also never impose them on F or biz class passengers.
(For parents who haven’t tried them, Earplanes DO help.)
Of course they can fly there. I always fly first and never gave it a thought.
It’s a heated topic. I don’t think it’s a question of age, but of appropriate behavior in a shared, public place, whether that is a restaurant, theater or plane. Just because somebody bought a ticket to the opera doesn’t give them the right to yell and scream during the performance – because it impacts the ability to enjoy the performance for other, paying guests. Adults are responsible for their behavior and parents for their kids. If your kid is ill and might start crying during the opera, you probably shouldn’t take them or go outside if they can’t stop crying.
The same general idea should apply to flying – and that’s not an age question either. I have traveled in Business Class were a little baby slept quietly through the flight in the seat next to me – much quieter than the drunk guys behind me!
And I have had spoiled (teenage age) brats yelling and screaming throughout the flights and the parents didn’t have a care in the world…
So, a ban doesn’t make much sense to me – civilized behavior is not necessarily a question of age. At the same time, parents should think if that trip is really so important to justify putting a sick child on a plane, resulting the kid to be scared and in pain, screaming their head of, while making the flight miserable for everybody around. Can the trip wait? Can the grandparents visit instead?
Lastly, on class of service: if I’m eating at McDonalds, I don’t appreciate bad behavior, but are more likely to overlook it than at an expensive, romantic dinner at a Michellin-starred restaurant! Same with flights: on a discount economy ticket, my expectations of the in-flight experience are much lower than on a first-class ticket at 10x the price. A flatbed seat and sleep are the key benefits of a premium cabin ticket and not getting any sleep because of a poorly behaved adult or I’ll, screaming child takes that benefit away. In some cases, that can’t be helped, in some cases it’s a lack of consideration for the balance of personal desires vs the rights/desires of people around you…
I don’t think a ban will help, common sense and consideration for others might…
Yup – totally agree, and totally agree that such a ban is essentially unenforceable, which is why we’re all just going to continue to have to deal with it!
I just traveled with a 15 month old to Peru in business class as an infant in lap. I’m not going to lie, I was a little worried. I didn’t want to be that parent with a crying baby. I had taken her on shorter trips and she had done great, but 8 hours is a long time if there is an issue. I did get a few looks when I got on the plane, although most people were wonderful. She had a great time. The flight attendants doted on her and she had room to stand and spent the time playing at my feet quietly or sleeping. In the meantime, there was a kid the same age sitting in the first row of economy screaming and squirming the whole time on his mother’s lap because he had no where to go. Screams don’t stay in economy class and comfortable kids scream less.
How about no discounts for children in First Class? That should keep the number reasonable. Also I agree with the person who said the individualizing of the space makes it difficult to supervise the child or for the child to feel secure that the parent is nearby.
A ban would be unfair for all the reasons stated above. I’ve come across more noisy adults than noisy kids, but you have to know how your kids will behave. Luckily, our kids love to travel and light up whenever they see a plane, unless it’s the one headed for home. However, knowing this and how to control them, I do get very annoyed with parents who don’t attempt to correct their children’s behavior.
We traveled in first and business three times when our kids were lap babies and never had a complaint. My son was 15-months old for our first class flight from the West Coast to Beijing, behaved beautifully, and had a great time. He behaved even better as a three-year old in business class to Europe and loved having his own space. Dad took the seat behind him and I took one across the aisle to check in on him when he needed me, which was only during meals and to change the movie after it finished. He was a pro by age four when we flew to France in business with our 20-month old twins. The twins alternated sleeping schedules, so Dad took the sleeping baby while I quietly entertained the other. I was the only one who didn’t sleep on that flight. The only downside to having traveled in premium is that my now 6-year old wonders why we’re flying in coach. He understood once I told him six premium seats are hard to come by both in availability and miles.
It would be really nice if airlines provided some small creche for parents in all classes for when children were in distress from flying
I don’t want small children in Business & in First Class. I flew with Cathay Pacific First Class, total of 6 seats. There were 3 other passengers occupying 2 other seats. Their baby screamed non-stop for the entire duration of that long 16 hour flight. It screamed when it was unhappy and when it was happy. They could not make it sleep. Nothing helped. It was a nightmare.