Children in economy with parents in first class

[Birdsbeesandtrees]

Seen a quote from Gordon Ramsey this morning saying he does this.

The quote is "He added that they don’t even allow their children sit with them in first class on family holidays because they “haven’t worked hard enough” to afford it yet.
“I turn left with Tana and they turn right and I say to the chief stewardess, ‘Make sure those little f–kers don’t come anywhere near us, I want to sleep on this plane.’

I worked my f–king ass off to sit that close to the pilot and you appreciate it more when you’ve grafted for it.”

I was really shocked. Is this normal ? I've never flown first class by the way so I honestly have no idea.

Do people do this ?

Surely this is a wind-up? By Gordon Ramsay, I mean.

I think he just knows how to keep the media interested.

Had a friend who had a restaurant which took part in the first series of Kitchen Nightmares.
They loved him, if your willing to work hard he'll really help you. It was also noticeable that most of his kitchen staff had been with him for decades...

There would be carnage if we weren't sitting with our 3 early teens. Aside from that I'd want to be near them in case of emergency and I find travelling a good bonding chance( got to grab any chance you get with 1 of mine). That said my kids have only been on a plane once and we'd have about as much chance of travelling first class as going to the moon. 4 hour ferry vomitcomet to France will be our mode of travel this summer.< sigh>

Do the kids actually want to be in first?

My parents used to go to a business dinner dance (remember those) my brother and I went tot he hotel and got room service - loved it. Much more fun than formal dinner.

I suspect he may have just said this mainly for the publicity. I agree with a PP that he seems to like winding the media up.

I can see understand his stance a bit though. The lifestyle rich kids have hardly prepares them for hard graft. I guess in a small way it gives them something to aspire to. He probably has a nanny to sit with them in order to squash the loud bickering.

I have seen it, and the opposite.

A)Very famous band. Everyone in the group sat in first class.
Main man, sit in (premium)economy with his family.

B)Parents in first, under 10s in economy with nanny.

You might be able to guess which celeb was nicer as a person.

I'd be more impressed about him giving his kids normal values if I thought he was sending them to the nearest state sink school. Didn't Paul McCartney send his kids to the local comp? That's far more admirable.

And TBH it's not teachng them much about how most people live as most of us couldn't even dream of putting our kids and selves in economy, or flying anywhere.

I worked for a major international airline for more than two decades.
This used to happen quite frequently, although much of the time the parents were hoping that we'd upgrade the kids for free to business or first class, rather than having Gordon Ramsay's attitude.
Another scenario would be the man would book himself in business or first, his wife in economy with the nanny and the kids.

People used to expect their WIFE to sit in economy with the kids while they were up front

Please tell me they had to work on the plane or something.

Paul McCartney did send his kids to the local comp and Stella has been quite vocal about hating it, being bullied and feeling ostracised. As a child of a parent who subjected me to their 'educational values' I have a lot of sympathy with her.

They also used to use the NHS but got fed up of the snotty looks and comments in the Drs surgery as they waited for an appointment (the McCartneys I mean).

I've not met him but have heard from 2 sources that he's well liked by 'staff' his own and waiters and airline staff. And they're teenagers, I doubt they mind sitting away from their parents.

SpringerS - my thoughts exactly

sounds like something Gerry McCann would say

When my kids were small and Dh was flying with us the airline once tried to upgrade just me to business due to overbooking in economy (and I stupidly declined so as not to leave DH alone with 3 kids under 7, as they were then).

I once had a very cheeky couple. Man was on business class on work trip. He took his wife with him, in economy.
The lady stayed all the time on the business class bar, which prevented fee paying business passenger to sit at the bar.
We asked her to return to her seat, he argued and refused. It was very unpleasant, because we, as a cabin crew, can't annoy passengers!

Well I laughed.

I know someone who does this. Since the kids have been old enough to look after themselves, they usually go economy. He was hard up once and thinks it's good for them to understand that turning left is not something they're automatically entitled to.
They are all v nice kids, not spoilt brats.
Having said that, Gordon Ramsay is IMO a horrible bloke anyway.

Its wrong that having no money teaches you the value of money - what it teaches you is that nothing is possible, which is a mindset that's dangerous.

People who make it from nothing wrongly look back and think it was having nothing that made them make money - but normally when you unpick their story they had more than they later acknowledge, and they also had fantastically lucky breaks that simply aren't available to everyone.

Stats show that being poor.. or even a period of your life where you become poor, is the best predictor of dying poor - not the other way around.

Its incredibly abusive, but also completely poor thinking to deiberately limit your family's opportunity - because it will teach you a culture of managing the productivity of a team extemely badly. When you have a team with potential and resources, you build up the team to be the most effective by sharing resources and opportunities out to maximise overall performance - Gordon won't understand this, because he played in Scottish football lol

I've made this a bit of a hobby. I've watched 'oh I was a little indian woman who made some curry in her little kitchen and now I supply ASDA' type stories, to find that 'little indian woman' was the wife of a surgeon, whose 'kitchen' was a massive conservatory, and whose 'family helping' were her sons coming back from expensive public schools, to stuff like the JK rowling 'poor single mum on benefits' (er daughter of two high paid professionals, university graduate, divorcee from wealthy portuguese man), etc etc etc

There was a very long thread recently where a MN was considering doing this, wasn't there? I wouldn't dream of it but I'm sure it's more common than I think

Isn't this what the parents in Home Alone did?

I know expats who do this - husband in business/first and wife back in economy with the children.
As a family we all sit in the same class, but if dh has work to do he will sit in a different row. My children are older and are capable of entertaining themselves, but ds is a nervous flyer so prefers to be next to me.

He probably can't afford for them all to fly Business/First doesn't he have numerous failed business ventures?

I don't know why people are surprised -- this happens quite frequently, ime. When I lived in the Middle East, a lot of parents flew first/business and the nanny and children flew economy. Whatever you think of it, I don't think it's wildly unusual as a practice. It's only an issue for me if the parents are expecting other passengers or flight attendants to look after younger children sitting alone.

Mil has done this on many occasions, Her DH and kids in econemy whilst she travels in first.

She is a selfish bitch in general.