Is business class worth it with two toddlers ?

[muaa]

Would it make the journey better ? My DH absolutely refuses do go long haul with our 1 and 3 year olds.

Would flying business actually make it any easier ? The one year old would still be on one of our laps. The three year old would their own seat etc.

Has anyone done this ? It's so much more expensive and I don't want to do it, unless it will make a considerable difference.

Jesus - why would anyone be so selfish as to take a child on a business flight?

Quite vile, actually.
Some people....🤦‍♀️

And what is your contribution to the gene pool?

OP, crack on with business class if you can afford it. I can’t and I’m envious but why should your children be denied? There’s no age limit on public transport!

I’ve done it long haul with my three year old. Would not recommend. It is actually easier to be in economy where they are sitting right next to you and within easy reach.

What absolute nonsense. Name one.

@lafado hello? I miss your intellectual input

I only ever fly business or first class and literally could not care less about kids. Far less annoying than some drunkard.

Excellently put!!

Well you’re miserable.

I was cabin crew for over two decades. There were frequently children and babies in business class. They were mostly quiet, happy travellers. I’ve had far more drunk or obnoxious adults causing trouble than babies! As someone said, toddlers sleep well on the flat beds. They’ve room to play in their seat area. Parents with babies on their knees can change positions and are much more comfortable. Food might be an issue. Business meals can be too frilly for a child and children’s meals are always economy meals.
Not all business passengers are on business and wanting to work. They travel for many reasons. Most will have noise cancelling headphones and barely hear anything!

its entirely possible to have a baby in a bassinet right behind you in economy when you’re sitting in business. Some aircraft have economy behind first . They’re all different. I’ve had plenty of first class passengers with children too. Often first class passengers leave nanny in business with children!
And there are seats with bassinet positions in all cabins, even first.

A flight isn’t traumatising 😂😂😂

I definitely don't agree that it's inherently selfish to take kids in Business class (although plenty have posted with that view). Business is just a different part of the cabin. It's only curtained off from the other sections and the back of business is normally only a metre or two from economy or sometimes premium economy depending on the plane.

And planes are loud full stop. Regular flyers tend to take some sort of noise cancelling device like headphones or earplugs if they want to sleep or concentrate on work. The noise of a couple of kids in the business class area really isn't a big deal relative to the overall hum of the engines. Obviously if they're running wild that's a different thing but I've flown a fair bit prior to having kids and largely it's all been very unremarkable. Parents have tended to be proactive and do their best.

To add to that - there's no reason to believe the kids will be badly behaved / negatively impact the flight. Sure, kids are less predictable than adults on average. But that's no guarantee they'll ruin things or be a PITA.

Quite right too. Who wants to pay all that money to be surrounded by other people’s squalling kids?

I used to live in Asia and have gone many flights on my own with two young children. I can’t say it was the most fun I’ve ever had but it wasn’t awful either. For me the biggest faff was in the airports going through customs etc

Yes

We did long haul London to LA in BA Business with DD1 when she was 10
months old and it was great! She slept really well the entire way, cuddled on my lie flat seat.

However, we did London to Orlando a few years later in economy with DD1 then aged 3 and 7 month old DD2 and it was ALSO totally fine! DD1 just wanted tv the whole way and DD2 slept - although having a bit more room to manoeuvre around a sleeping baby when I needed to get up to go to the loo would have been much appreciated

Most recently we’ve done a 4.5 hour flight to the Canaries in bog standard easyJet and it was awful. Kids (we now have 3!) were tired and grumpy. Other passengers had zero tolerance or patience or understanding for those of us desperately trying to wrangle overtired toddlers and genuinely doing our best to keep them quiet.

so, basically if you can afford it I would say go for it! The extra space will be amazing and mean you may actually get some rest!

Oh course you can fly business with babies/toddlers/children.

I'm genuinely bemused why anyone would think taking a child on a long haul flight would cause them psychological harm. My toddler loves a long haul flight. Admittedly he's only done if in business and first, but he's living his best life munching through all the snacks, chatting to all the staff and engaging with the 101 things to do I bring with me. He doesn't cry or make a fuss, he is generally at his most jolly. Uninterrupted time with his parents. What's not to love?

Do it OP. You'll have a brilliant time.

I haven’t RTFT but I used to travel often with my DS in business when he was 3 - 6 years old for DH’s work. It is 100% worth it for him to sleep comfortably long haul. We never had any issues and lots of men travelling for business used to want to play with him and were so sweet as they were missing their own kids. We had a few wankers ask to be moved etc but those were mainly boomers who had saved up for their business class flights and had no idea that internationally mobile families regularly travel in business or first. I never travelled with a nanny in coach although plenty do. I would say it’s always worth going in business if you can afford it and there will be loads of other families there too. Obviously it goes without saying that you should work hard to make sure your kids are ok and entertained and never rely on the staff to manage your kids for you or anything like that. Happy travels.

Wondering what seat you paid extra for that gets you away from children - I haven’t heard of airlines offering that? @Pushmepullu

I can’t be bothered to read the utter drivel about flying with children which I am sure has been posted. Yes if you can afford it, then it’s a far more comfortable way to fly. Jesus Christ the amount of crap women (it’s rarely men) come up with about babies/children on planes. It’s a form of transport ffs.

Some serious snobs here - richer people deserve better than less well off. So people in economy should be disrupted and rich people should be left alone. Very telling attitude from you @Sicarios

OP, former business class frequent flier here! If you can afford it and, crucially, it's a flat-bed business class, not just giant dentist chairs, then I'd say it's worth it, but check out the layout of the likely aircraft first - e.g. the Airbus 380 (horrible, horrible) is very different between different airlines. BA on the old 747s used to have an excellent layout in the middle aisle that effectively made a sort of family pen.

Obviously all the usual caveats apply about bringing things to entertain and distract (I have seen children expected to endure long haul flights with absolutely no toys, books or parental engagement and that is horrible), but just to have a bit more space, better food and much more helpful cabin crew may be worth it for you.

Mate if you don't care just do it. Why ask?

It might be but I'm not sure if the other business class holders would agree.

They may not appreciate the words 'business class' and 'toddler' being in the same sentence, given that some of them might actually be on business trips and want to get work done in peace whilst they're travelling.