[AFlyingDutchman]

As someone rightly said, kids are kids, but they are their parent’s responsibility, and the crew, in my opiniuon, should have continually asked the parent to do something rather than ignore their child, and allow him/her to continue to disturb others. Asking only once, and nothing being done is ridiculous. Crew are there for the safety and comfort of all passengers, and if someone’s child is disturbing others, the crew should insist the parent does all he or she can to control their child. Perhaps the kid was so restless and annoyiong because his/her own parent wasn’t paying any attention to him/her. I would not have been so patient as the OP and would have likewise asked the parent to please control their kid. The comment regqarding a baby was not the point, as I have not seen anyone here commnet about a crying baby as we all know this is a challenge with ear pressure, or a number oif other causes, and usually out of the control of the parent, but a bored toddler running around disturbing others is for sure within a parent’s control, and to suggest one of us is being arrogant to expect a parent to do his/her job, is absurd.

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Catalina, Bullfrog, IanFromHKG, fatbear

[SimonS1]

Frustrating but in every walk of life there is a minority who spoil things for the majority and in the circumstances what are the crew supposed to do?

I don’t agree with the ‘no under 12s in business’ approach though. My kids travelled business since they were 3, and the vast majority of parents know how to handle things and I could highlight just as many occasions where flights have been disrupted by some stuffed-shirt business type.

Fortunately airlines can see the commercial implications so it is unlikely to happen on mainstream carriers.

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cwoodward, Ekond222

[Sflyer86]

@skyhigh Had to post only my second Forum post based on your comment.

I’m a single, full-time parent (male, not that it matters) and regularly (4 or 5 times a year) fly Club/ Business on both short and long haul with my 5 year old son and have done since he was just a few months old. Never has he behaved in this way, disturbing passengers, and neither have I ever left him to his own devices whilst having headphones on or asleep.

I think we have to recognise here that it is parent behaviour that is the problem. Banning under 12’s from premium cabins is such a short-sighted response. I, and my son, are fortunate that we can afford to travel the way we do and that we have the choice, but money doesn’t equal responsibilities and manners, and I have brought him up in such a way as to start learning this at a young age and I myself don’t shirk my responsibilities. I’d love nothing more than to sleep for the duration of a night flight on the fully flat bed I’ve paid for (!), but not at the expense of making sure he’s safe, fed, watered, entertained, calm and doing what he should. Therefore, why on Earth should my choice of cabin be restricted to economy?

If anything, crew should be empowered to take greater action against parents on board without fear of reprimand. Beside obnoxious parents on board premium cabins, there are certainly more obnoxious adults I’ve met overall around me in there! Please don’t put the blame/ ban on little children. I’d welcome anyone to fly with us 2 and see how much of a (tiring!) joy it can be developing a love of aviation with an infant 🙂

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RomP, No Name, mkcol74, Bullfrog, IanFromHKG, K1ngston, Swissdiver, Londonian, TimFitzgeraldTC, Inquisitive, Flyboy18, fatbear, capetonianm, AFlyingDutchman, MartynSinclair, SimonS1, w8ster, Ekond222

[canucklad]

[quote quote=944778]but a bored toddler running around disturbing others is for sure within a parent’s control, and to suggest one of us is being arrogant to expect a parent to do his/her job, is absurd.[/quote]

Exactly, toddlers can be a challenge. Especially if they have learnt a negative behavioural strategy to manipulate ( weak parenting) their guardians . In my experience, this is when they move from lovable rogues to being spoilt brats. However I would never challenge anyone on their parenting skills, simply because it’s such an emotive subject and likely to result in a defensive denial of the situation.

I’ve on occasion tactically and tactfully showed concern for the child’s safety, embarrassing the negligent parent into action. Sadly that only works if the parents feel shame. Unfortunately in today’s sense of entitlement world that’s becoming harder to do !

Maybe, more airlines should adopt Westjets approach , and apologies for boring those who’ve seen the clip before

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Bullfrog, fatbear, AFlyingDutchman

[MartynSinclair]

[quote quote=944719]crew should be empowered to take greater action against parents on board without fear of reprimand.[/quote]

..and not only on the subject of this thread..!

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Sflyer86, DerekVH, AFlyingDutchman

[AlanOrton1]

There is a possibility the cabin crew could have done more, if it had been brought to their attention earlier in the flight. This is no defence of BA or any other airline’s cabin crew, just a view that if it had been raised earlier on, the cabin crew may have spoken with the parents and the matter may possibly have been dealt with. (I think the OP says he mentioned it at breakfast, so potentially around an hour or so before the end of the flight).

I tend to think along the lines that I cannot possibly know what has made a child upset / noisy / disruptive. It could be the parent is not wilfully ignoring the issue and the child could have an illness, medical or mental health condition that simply means they struggle to behave in a way many think they should. Just jumping on the bandwagon that it must be a negligent parent may not always be the correct judgement call!

On the BA welcome for Gold members…..Mmmm, trying and failing to remember an occasion where I’ve received one from a LGW crew.

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No Name, TimFitzgeraldTC

[nevereconomy]

This is particularly bad on flights to/from markets where folks in premium classes may have servants at home to look after the kids – Hong Kong for example where I have had not just the parent and young kids in F, but also very frequent visits from the amah who presumably was back in steerage. Same experience to some Africa markets. Not much that can be done really – I too feel that paying that kind of money should entitle one to some peace, but unfortunately it does not always play out that way. I take the extra glass of wine, headphones on and loud music approach. Would also add that I have been more often annoyed by adults behaving badly than children – hence my hatred of the onboard bar idea. It really is just one of the hazards of travel and I think most of us enjoy our travel way too much to lose a lot of sleep over it.

[esselle]

I agree this should have been brought to the attention of the crew earlier; waiting until breakfast is clearly too late.

I also think the crew have a responsibility to find a way of dealing with this type of disturbance; one or two people ruining the peace and quiet of others is just not acceptable.

However, to do so the crew would need to have been trained, and feel authorised to. I have no idea if this would apply to mixed fleet crew members in the way it would to more experienced staff.

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No Name, AFlyingDutchman

[canucklad]

[quote quote=944847]However, to do so the crew would need to have been trained, and feel authorised to. I have no idea if this would apply to mixed fleet crew members in the way it would to more experienced staff.[/quote]

Going on the presumption that a high percentage of Mixed fleet crew do not have children, would suggest that they are naturally more reluctant to challenge parents.

In my experience the riposte “Do you have kids of your own ?” is the normal defensive reaction to justify bad behaviour and the continuation of that behaviour when the answer is NO.

Oh and I’ve travelled with unruly kids, it’s not easy but with a plan and a well thought out naughty step policy strops,including adults : ) can be minimised

[Sanran]

In my opinion the problem is not really a noisy child in itself, but parents of a noisy child doing nothing.
I had an almost similar experience on a SQ Suite: I could hear the child (not even one year old I guess) crying, but also the parents doing their best to try to calm him/her. after a bit more than half an hour silence came back. The next morning the mother went to every single passenger in the same sector and apologized personally.
In this way you just feel sorry for the parents who probably had a worse night than yours, and not angry or frustrated at all.

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Catalina, TupeloKid, IanFromHKG, AFlyingDutchman

[christopheL]

Very British topic !
Everything is about paying…

[LuganoPirate]

We travelled in F with our boys from when they were babies, on overnight flights. If the nanny was with us then they would sit with her in Y, but we made sure they were well fed and they usually just slept, but never cried or disturbed the rest of the cabin as they got older. As they got older they knew they had to behave, not run around, shout, or kick the back of the seats. Kids do know how to behave provided the parents educate them properly. Unfortunately in this day and age so many parents think it will hurt their children’s development if they are disciplined and told how to behave. What a sad world we live in!

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Catalina, AFlyingDutchman, Locod190, Jacob, Johnnyg, canucklad, Switzerlanding, MartynSinclair, fatbear

[canucklad]

[quote quote=944866]Everything is about paying…[/quote]

Not everything ChristopheL.
Actually for me, it’s the child’s welfare.

I know we’re talking about noisy kids here, but I’ve also been on flights were kids are allowed to run amok through the cabin.
Playing tig at 35,000 feet is plane stupid.

I sit with my seatbelt loosely on, for a very good reason.
Rugrats running about the cabin are at risk, not just to themselves but others.
And parents abdicating responsibility is just not on. Maybe they’re oblivious to the hidden dangers of flight, never the less its irresponsible behaviour.

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AFlyingDutchman, fatbear

[G000]

First-time poster, but long time reader…

I actually with @esselle here, the crew do have a responsibility to deal with disturbances on board.

Last week, I was in PE on BA from Tel Aviv and the gentleman one row in front reclined his seat (I was not behind him but to the left of him). The man behind him not only furiously kicked his seat but ended up physically hitting him over the head – this was one of the most disturbing examples I’d ever seen of plane rage and all happened in about fifteen seconds.

The BA crew were very passive and just moved the man behind and didn’t even address the physical assault. I was in shock! Yes, they remedied the immediate situation (moved seats) but I could tell the crew member had no clue on how to deal with this and it felt very much like they didn’t care. Slightly off topic, I know, but I feel like the crew are dealing with many responsibilities that cabin disturbances are often thought of as pretty minor flare-ups. Quite awful really.

[Switzerlanding]

Not all children are a problem you know… My boy is 2.5, has 52 flights completed with nearly 200 hours in the air. To discuss in this forum or even mention that he should be banned from a premium cabin or a lounge is just short sighted and rather rude. He’s flown (from GVA) to LIH, DXB, SIN, HKG, DOH and SYD all in premium cabins with zero issue, we even have other PAX telling us what a good lad he is. Some people are very short sighted and should open their eyes a little more to the world and others around them. BTW both my wife and I both have BA gold cards for the past 10 years so we also do travel a lot without the little one. You know you can always buy Bose headphones or charter a private jet if you’re that sensitive. Rant over.

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No Name, Jacob, Sflyer86, MS

[Author]

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