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.

Your difficulties do not mean a child is not equally entitled to be in BC or FC though. I fully appreciate it makes it harder for you and obviously I don’t think you’re being entitled. However, airlines need to make profit. They’re not all going to ban children and therefore, children will always be there.

I fly business long haul fairly regularly - every 6 weeks or so - and there are rarely children in the cabin. I am one of those people who would happily pay a premium for child free flights to be honest, and I do think that children on flights generally can be hard work for everyone. I will likely be irritated if there are children in BC when I fly this weekend, in reality I’ll put on my noise cancelling headphones and hope the parents have a great supply of snacks and Bluey.

You have absolutely NO idea that the OPs children will misbehave.

And she has as much right to pay and fly business as everyone else does.

I'd rather share a flight with young children who are often innocent and joyous than a judgemental miser. 🤷‍♀️

Out of curiosity - do you have a favourite airline for BC?

Have you priced paying for a seat for the one year old in comparison to business class @muaa ? Then you put older child by the window and younger child in the middle seat and your dh block them in sitting in the aisle. Even better if the other parent sits across the aisle as you can swap for a bit of a rest or so one of you can go to the loo or walk a bit.

This thread is crazy. OP if the flight isn’t child free then purchase whichever seats you prefer!

I've never heard of a child-free flight unless the airplane was chartered.

I should have added: yes, I agree with you on the comment that this thread is crazy.

Oh I don’t think they are a thing. I was badly making the point that children are either welcome or they are not.

It' not a question of children being welcome or not any more than it is a question of adolescents or the elderly being welcome or not.

It's a question of whether or not it's worth paying more to travel in BC with children.

I assume for most people it depends on direction?
Emirates, Qatar or Singapore eastbound (not flown Cathy since pandemic)

USA- I prefer American to BA in club but BA in 1st. Virgin good if you want to party. It is pretty much all the same to be honest. Some people like Finnair (the glassware is lovely)

I took my 1yo on a long haul BC flight and it made travelling so much less stressful. It’s not just the flight but checking in at a different desk (no queue) and going to the lounge before the flight. They have a play area in the lounge so I could wear her out a bit. I guess it depends on your kids but I found it very easy to fly this way and my LO was amazing on the flight because she had her own space and we could lie down for a proper sleep. I say if you can afford it, do it.

Nice to see a sensible post!

Tell your DH to grow up

I suspect it’s a bit dependent on where you fly. I haven’t been as much just recently but in the 2 years leading up to the pandemic I flew with similar frequency to a mix of Asia, Central America and US. There were rarely kids flying Business to the states but on the other routes it was unusual not to see at least 1 or 2.

That's not true. I work in the industry and I've never heard of this.

I challenged @PifandHercule's post, too. Odd the poster never returned to provide evidence of this patently untrue assertion.

Around the end of the term at International schools, some BC flights have loads of children on. So I agree it varies a lot, but for some people it’s just the usual way to travel.

Ah yes, fine for all the poor people in economy to have to put up with children on their journey. No ok for the rich people in business, they need their rest.

@Okshacky That's great in theory but if they're anything like my under 2s then they want to be sat on you the whole time.

Possibly cause it's an unfamiliar environment 🤔

So a larger business class seat would be much better than a second seat that goes unused (speaking from personal experience in our case 😅😄).

@Curiosity101 worked for us.

I think business would be a lot easier with children in terms of priority lanes, lounges and a calmer cabin with more space. The only time I can imagine them finding it more stressful is perhaps take off and landing if they want to be with you but can't whereas in economy they would be right next to you. That's layout/carrier dependent though.

I don't have or want children and whilst I'm pleasant in the way I would be to anyone, I don't want to indulge them on the flight or the lounge anymore than I would anyone else. So I don't think anyone should be listening to videos etc without headphones, I don't really want anyone to stop and chat to me if they're walking round the cabin etc but as I said that applies to everyone, regardless of age. And just before anyone jumps on that, I don't mean I wouldn't greet a seat mate or return a smile as someone was passing.

Business and first are a must with small children. When mine were small they were forever flitting all over the world with me, for my husbands work, visits etc... I could never have managed in economy and fortunately they were good travelers both from 6 weeks old. Also, a previous poster was right, although it was yeas back, many airline wouldn't allow babies and children on business class or first, although this was many years back.

It’s a balance isn’t it between will your 1YO sit in the extra economy/premium economy seat, or will your 3YO be ok on their own where they can’t see you for take off, landing and whenever the fasten seatbelt signs are on which can add up to quite a lot of time if there’s turbulence, and then in flight how often are they going to want/need an adult. If it were just the baby then I’d say business all the way and that’s how we did it too. I’m only saying don’t do it because of the 3YO.

They’ll likely sit in their own economy seat next to you without an issue. But will they sit happily where they can’t see you? If they end up in your seat in flight it’ll be pretty uncomfortable. Or they could be asking for stuff and have you getting up every 10 minutes because 3YOs. Then they’ll absolutely have to go in their own seat when the seatbelt signs are on and they could get upset when they can’t see anyone. On a night flight the adult without the lap baby will probably want to listen out for them since they’re not in sight so won’t be able to wear noise cancelling headphones so that’s potentially a shit night’s sleep for them when the whole point of the flatbed is supposedly more sleep.

But go premium economy and even if the 1YO doesn’t sit for long in the extra seat it’s still handy for putting stuff on and baby legs can spread into it whilst napping or you can spread over the armrest if you’re holding their head. So it still has it’s use.

But OP knows her kids and is the best judge of her own 3YO at what they can realistically manage! All of the above is based on mine.

This.