To think that it is ok to jump the queue when with an infant?

[Eole]

DH, DC (3 months) and I were flying for the first time today to see family, long expected break!
We had booked priority, lounges and everything we could to relieve a bit of the stress.
Priority queue was quite long to check in luggage and we started queuing nicely.
Another mum came along and told us we could jump the queue which we did gladly as baby started stirring a little bit.
However it enraged some of the people in the queue, literally shouting that it was very out of order and that was no such thing as baby class, and what is wrong with you people etc.
Interestingly, every other step in the airport (security, customs, boarding) we were invited nicely by the staff to jump the queue.

So YANBU, of course you can jump the queue when with an infant
YABU no, you should queue like everyone else

Virtually every flight I've been on has stated that elderly, people requiring extra assistance and families with small children board first

Ok but that's not what the op is posting about.

I don't see that staff approached her, she said another mum approached her?

Yep, my bad. Just re-read and realised it was check in not boarding

There's no law to let you in first, but people can be such arseholes. My husband was queuing on the plane stairs and let in a woman with a baby who wasn't even on the stairs yet, so she jumped queue of probably 30 people, and no one made a fuss. You were just very unlucky, other day, other flight it might not have been a problem at all

A newborn baby is not a golden ticket. If baby asleep why would you need to queue jump? I think it is tiresome for all to queue, for disabled, elderly, those with children so all should wait their turn. If announcement made certain group can go first then fair enough but you should not queue jump because another passenger says you can.

Every time I have flown with my grandchildren we have been checked in and boarded first and brought to the front of the queue by staff. It’s not unusual!

You don't jump the queue by yourself OP. You either join the priority queue or ask the staff if there's one and wait for them to lead you to the front at their discretion.

Those people sound like arseholes to me. I think it's fine to jump the queue if you've got very young children or other issues. It wouldn't have bothered me in the slightest had you jumped ahead of me. It seems like being courteous and chivalrous is no longer in fashion.

Was your infant stressed at having to queue? Maybe if the queue time was half an hour or more, but I wouldn't do it otherwise. I have a toddler and infant, both can be carried/put in a pushchair if needed, the only time I'd possibly skip the queue is if my autistic toddler had a meltdown and we needed to get out of the current situation.

I don't understand why other people's comments in response to the OP are so focused on "the rules" and whether she broke them or not. So what if it's not the rule that she can queue jump. She's got a newborn baby, for God's sake. Whatever happened to just being decent, kind and polite? Whoever shouted at you, well, they clearly weren't brought up right.

Presumably all the people objecting have never traveled with an infant. Very unsympathetic.

No of course you can't skip queue with a 3 month old.

Presumably all the people objecting have never traveled with an infant. Very unsympathetic.
I'd prefer to travel with an infant over a toddler any day.
If they're going to let anyone skip the queue it should be toddlers and the elderly.

That's a very stupid thing to presume, on a site called MUMSnet.

You'd think so, wouldn't you..

I don't think this is a big deal at all. Cannot imagine shouting after a woman and their young baby over them getting through a que before me.

A lot of people need to grow up.

So boarding a flight, most of the time they offer families with young children and elderly to board first. I do not think there is any issue in this at all! I see some people huffing about it but I always think “the planes not going to take off until we’re all in so what’s the issue…”

With the check in desks, I do agree that usually there is no priority for elderly and families with young children. On the odd occasion a parent with a young child has jumped the queue, it doesn’t bother me if I’m honest and I’d never say anything. But I can see why others would get a bit annoyed. I would’ve asked staff if it was allowed to queue jump. Or wait until they bring me forward

You’re definitely not being unreasonable. Airlines have pre-priority for those who aren’t able-bodied (in wheelchairs) and for those travelling with infants. Tell that woman to mind her own!

You are massively entitled and very rude. Glad you got hollered at, frankly.

The kind of check-in queues I'm thinking of where it makes a difference could easily take an hour. I think under 3s (probably under 5-10s) definitely need help with that length of queue!

I think it's unreasonable given OP was already in priority check in queue. People had reasons for booking priority check in, yes in some cases it might just be because they didn't mind splashing the extra cash, but other people would've had genuine reasons and OP decided her having a child trumped everyone else's priority check in! And also because they were only checking in bags..

I don't understand why anyone would get worked up about this. Even if baby is asleep, they can wake up and start crying at any time. And seats are booked so it's not like they're jumping the queue and nicking the best seats.

Because she was in a priority queue along with other people who had paid for priority queue. For reasons no one, including the op knows. And she decided that her priority was more important than the other people's priority. If a member of staff had told her to go, or the whole queue had agreed for her to get in front, then that would be fair and reasonable. But she didn't.

I couldn’t get worked up over this.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a big deal and wouldn’t spoil my holiday.