Should 1st class babies and children stay in 1st class?

I've seen this on other flights though, but usually where the parents are seated in 1st/Bus and the nanny and the children seated in economy. The brass neck of buying children and presumably nanny seats in 1st and then sending them to economy to play is next level.

The nannies won’t discipline the kids. Think super indulged children.

It's nothing to do with ill treatment it's to do with basic standards, safety and decent behaviour towards others.

Believe me my child would get very short shrift if he was running about an aeroplane, endangering himself and other passengers (because if there was an emergency then a herd of wild children would make things harder) AND / OR stamping on a complete strangers foot.

Frankly I'd have been tempted to frog march the stamping child up the stairs and confront his parents. If it had been anything but an aeroplane I'd have been chucking him off never mind telling him off!!

Is there really a society in which assaulting people is considered an acceptable way to behave? Really?

This.

We stayed at Lapita over a weekend and were shocked to see the nannies having breakfast with the kids. Then the tantrums by 10 years olds - I want a golf buggy you can’t expect us to walk!

I tutored a family with two boys. They had a nanny each, 2 housekeepers and a driver. They also had a lot of wasta.

I asked my husband which airline this was and he said Emirates straight away.

'...juggling babies and toddlers...'?

I'm not sure I believe this, you need quite a lot of head room for such an opeation (see photo) and I don't think there would be sufficient on an aeroplane - even in First Class.

If that's the case why weren't the nannies being spoken to I wonder?

Ah great, the parents wanted some peace in first class so they sent the Nannies off with the kids to annoy the plebs? What entitled arseholes.

We take our toddler to the other side of the world to see grandparents at least annually. I won’t fly Emirates as I find their staff to be totally ineffective and the other passengers can be awful. They tried to use me as a free baby sitter for 2 unaccompanied children when I had a babe in arms and I ended up having a bit of a row with them as I wanted to sit on the aisle, and have my husband between me and the two young teenage boys.

Singapore Airlines on the other hand is brilliant and by far our preferred airline on this route.

I'd have told the children off, held their hands and taken them back upstairs, asked them to point out their mummy/daddy and insisted they parent their child properly. If they came down again I'd have asked crew to sort or gone and argued with the parents. Wankers.

Emirates crew will never do that to Arabs. They know better than that.

Absolutely

Frankly the crew should have spoken to the parents of those children and warned them that if they did not control their children they would be blacklisted from ever flying with their airline again. Their behaviour was no more acceptable than drunk adults kicking off. Have had flights with the odd screaming child/kicker of the back of my seats, but nothing like this.

You should complain to the airline, as they need polcies in place to empower their staff to deal with this kind of thing.

I have flow. With my toddler upper deck and then taken him down for walking laps but have never let him run amok without me closely behind! Bad parents, it’s not really ok on a plane or anywhere else to let your children run wild

I think I would have stuck my feet out more and told those kids to get lost and out of where I was sitting

They should have been asked to step outside for a few minutes to calm down.

Are you suggesting that parenting your children and ensuring they do not act like little shits disturbing everyone and trashing the place is treating children badly????

Anyone who has spent any time on the gulf states knows that’s it 100% cultural.

Because it is

Many people who fly Emirates are connecting passengers, so I don’t know why people say it’s cultural. There are many bad parents here aswell

As a society children are treated very badly in the UK I was shocked at the difference.

Also knew it would be emirates.

have had many similar experiences. Parents want the DC to sit with the them when the going is good but as soon as things get tough the children are sent to their “nanny’s” who never sit up front.

i had a particularly shit flight where a BF mum was in first with her baby and the nanny would have to being the baby to feed and was then sent back to economy. Mum would feed baby but had no interest on settling baby so would literally roll over, put head under pillow whilst baby screamed.

"stop stamping on my foot or this big man (pointed at DH) will get cross" but the little brat laughed. TBH I have no idea if he understood English

Shouldn't need to understand English as shouldn't have been doing it anyway!

What culture lets kids do this?

We were on an internal flight , think Penang to KL where the parents sent three of their very small children to sit on a row on their own behind us whilst they occupied a row towards the front, mum dad and an older child. Dad was asked to come and sit with two of the children by the cabin crew who explained he could just not leave them on their own, the third sat where he had been sat with wife and older child. He was a) very annoyed and b) clueless as to what he should do with these children he had been lumbered with, I may have kept sneaking a look at him through the gap in the seats and he never once acknowledged them.

Agree with the nanny thing though, but to be fair to the parents, why have a dog and bark yourself, they are paying some (usually South East asian) woman to look after them so they don't have to. In Munich last week with a family of mum dad and two young teenage daughters and a toddler - they caught my eye as the mum had a Birkin and the 2 girls had a Chanel bag each. Toddler wasn't at the table with them, she was sat with the nanny on a separate table. It always looks a very uncomfortable situation - totally get having a nanny whilst you work but on holiday? Best one I saw was in Singapore where each child had a nanny.

Ooh, glad I read this thread - I'll no longer be going Etihad to Sri Lanka... BA less convenient timings, but think it might be worth it!