Kids in economy, Adults in Business ! Is this allowed !

[RubyViolet]

Friend is taking her Grandchildren to the USA to holiday with their Dad. Dad lives full time on West Coast, it’s a long flight.
Granny and daughter/ Auntie have bought Business Class returns for themselves but Dad has paid for the 12 and 14 year old to sit in Economy.
Is this even allowed ? I know BA have ruled that no under 14’s can fly unaccompanied now. I don’t know who they are flying with but l can’t help feeling that this is unfair on the other passengers who will have 2 very lively unaccompanied kids amongst them for 14 hours.

Liverbird will your child be on their own in economy or have another sibling/relative/friend with them? I can't imagine doing this but I was wondering whether it is because we have an only child

I have flown in Business class many times with adults whose teenagers are in economy. Teenagers just plug in watch movies or play games. It is not as if they need supervising. Obviously if there was problem their parents are on the plane!

I flew in economy last year and there was a boy of about 8 years old sat next to me, his parents were in business. I was a bit at first and would be the first to complain if he had made a fuss or needed attention (not his fault I hasten to add)however he was as good as gold, not a peep out of him for the whole flight. His Father popped back a few times and checked on him and it was not a problem at all. I love children but would not supervise someone else's child if they had chosen to fly separately from them.

I did smile when we exited the plane, his father was complaining to him that there was a screaming toddler next to him the entire flight! The Irony!

Well we only have one child at the moment, but we are hoping for one more.
Travelling in business is one of the things I do miss from my pre-child life.
In my opinion, a child is too young to appreciate it and also will probably not need the extra space.
We would check in with them regularly.

Lots of people I know did this when their kids were teens. Not sure what the OP expects 12/14yo to do, go running around disturbing other passengers? That would be 2/4yo not teenagers.

Why waste money on lithe young people who are more than happy to sit in cramped conditions for many hours as long as they are plastered to a device. Spend the extra on the oldies with increased risk factors for DVT etc.

laughing my arse off at the assumption that 12 and 14 are going to be small and not going to need the extra leg room

It’s not that simple. Some of mine would have been a LOT taller than me as teenagers. But they are pretty foldable at that age and even in 20’s. They can spring up, spring back pretty easily.

Even if a lot shorter, increased age often means you are not as foldable and suffer aches, pains, cramps and tend to have increased risk factors for DVT. Young people also seem to be able to sleep sitting up or curled up in no space. So it’s more a matter of practicality rather than respect for your kids. I travelled all over the world in my youth, all scrunched up in the cheap seats, meh, who cared. Now I’d be writhing in pain and discomfort, have to get a bunch of people to hoist me out of the seat, wouldn’t be able to move when I did get up, not a wink of sleep etc.

Business class on a transatlantic flight London to LA is around £2750, economy is definitely cheaper. The suggestion that granny and auntie pay for the kids to get upgraded is ridiculous, it's a huge amount of money to spend and their dad is paying.

The kids are not travelling with their parents, so they are not being shitty in any way towards them. Granny and auntie maybe worked hard enough and would enjoy travelling business, it's not just "pay the few thousands pounds difference" otherwise you are a horrible person.

A 12y old and a 14y old are capable of putting the mask on their own faces and probably will spend the 12h flights watching movies and until they have landed. And going on holidays to the US is a reasonable priviledge at that age.

It's hardly a big deal, the kids are probably just excited to be going on holiday and won't care.

Well on the back of this thread I’ve asked dcs (16 &19) if they want to be upgraded to business class. (First time they are travelling economy btw as we always go business together). They were aghast as they don’t want to sit with us. So that’s me told again. I used the emergency argument. Still no . I have to accept they’d rather not be with me

Check with the airline, but I just did this trip with BA with a 13 and 16 year old and did exactly this

For those of you saying it's a dick move, presumably it's because you can't afford business class, so it wouldn't be an option

We've done it several times. We use Avios and book 2 Club seats for DH & I then put our older teens in Economy.
I've also sat in E with the DC whilst DH was up the front when his work paid.
They accept we go in the lounge and give the cash for breakfast.
We've also upgraded to a seafront suite and booked them standard rooms.

I really don't feel guilty, they're getting a luxury long haul holiday.

For those of you saying it's a dick move, presumably it's because you can't afford business class, so it wouldn't be an option

Miaow

No. We could afford it but I wouldn’t do it.

Are you kidding?? I would have LOVED this when I was a kid... flying with a sibling, no adults around but in the front of plane if there's an issue. What an adventure. Hello??!!!

Bigger issue for me... is several mbrs of a families flying on the same plane. I know crashes are rare but 4 members out would totally devastate a family on a nuclear scale. I wouldn't do it.

Laurie exactly.

BritIn I assume you did it because you couldn't afford to pay business class for the teens too

I gobsmacked at the amount of people on this thread who not only can regularly afford BC for their entire family but liken economy to squalor & neglect.

It’s weird because when you see threads saying “it’s a struggle to live well on 70k etc or the recent “should I take a 50k paycut” the OPs generally get ripped to shreds.

fancy also they may have large amounts of money but they obviously don't care too much about the environment

True dat!

Why the need to split up? The family should be travelling together.

There's no such thing as "should" in this.

@BritInUS1 what a bitchy remark.

they obviously don't care too much about the environment

Business class is no less environmentally friendly than economy.

I guess some families can’t afford to pay the nanny business class either

Soup my comment relates to PP saying they regularly do this when flying long haul. So the words regularly and long haul give the impression to me that they don’t care about the environment

PMSL at posters complaining about the supposed "bitchy" remark by Brit. So many bitchy comments from those on the other side of the argument!

my comment relates to PP saying they regularly do this when flying long haul. So the words regularly and long haul give the impression to me that they don’t care about the environment

And my comment relates to the fact that the class of ticket is irrelevant.

Crap family who would seat themselves in business and their DC’s in economy. You all travel in business or all in economy. Obviously their DC’s are less entitled to a better class of travel than themselves!