To not want the dc in economy while we are in business?

[Flymeinbusiness]

Would be great to get others opinions...
We had some flyer miles and managed to book a much looked forward to, long haul, trip in business class for us and our 2 DC - 10 &11 in the summer holidays. Fast forward a few months and the PIL have decided to join us for the beginning part of the trip and booked economy tickets to join us. (They don't have any miles and the price a few months later for business for them both was unaffordable.)I feel terrible that my in-laws who are in their 70s will be in the back of the plane while my DH, DC and I will have big seats to ourselves. My DH thinks that both DC should take the economy seats and that they will be okay alone for 8 hours given we aren't too far away if they need us but I think one of us parents should be with 1 DC in economy instead as I don't want them alone on the flight. He thinks IBU to not let them and that I should enjoy my seat and not sit in economy. (I don't mind either although business will be a nice start to the holidays) Am I being overprotective? (Kids are good flyers generally and have done quite a few long hauls in the past)

You missed this then!

someone did actually you can't have looked that hard

I wouldn’t sit separately to my kids on a plane. You’d be relying on strangers helping them in an emergency.

still - its very possible that some of those short people you saw were not children, in fact, were dwarves, and so the unattended children flying isn't so common as you think.

Would you leave your children home alone at that age for 8 hours let alone in
the ( close ) company of total
strangers.
You are in a different cabin.
Business passengers can certainly pop down to economy but def not the other way round.
The crew does not allow visitors from lower cabins popping into the premium/business ones on most airlines.
Nor will
your PIL get upgraded. Utter rubbish.
Airlines are a business. The sell
upgrades. If they are overbooked they will upgrade their top flyers before anyone else.
There are no "cheeky" free upgrades, no matter how many times passengers ask.
Dumping young kids alone in eco on a longhaul
flight whilst adults relax alone in business is not a nice thing to do on a family holiday.

I have been on a flight in an emergency, it was impossible to move between cabins even if it had been allowed.
No-one is going to step in to help your children over their own, or their own family or friends.

Is that you, Kirsty?

@ChocChipHandbag @sewerrat dangit. How did I miss a giant gif?! I honestly scrolled through every page or so I thought, maybe missed one with my fat thumbs. Not getting that time back in my life...

You’re about as observant as Kevin’s Mom @angierae

That's fair @ChocChipHandbag ! 😂

But MASSIVE kudos to you for actually taking the time and effort to RTFT before commenting. It’s a rare thing these days.

You sound like a lovely person and great mother and daughter in law.
I would be the same, unable to enjoy my business seat as elderly relatives sat in discomfort.
I personally think business class is an unnecessary luxury for children, they don’t need the space nor care for the expensive foods and can’t drink. Flying is fun regardless for kids and they will enjoy feeling grown up sitting alone together, a different type of adventure.

I'd be unable to enjoy any seat on a plane knowing that I'd ditched my kids elsewhere in favour of people who'd tagged along on the family holiday and could have chosen to book "the unnecessary for children luxury" themselves...

Exactly.

Whatever happened to working your way up to privileges?

Kids will be fine in economy at that age. If they can't be self sufficient in an enclosed tube, when can they be?

At 11 in the late 70s i was taking the bus around downtown Sao Paulo myself to get to school, and then walking 20 min to reach our apartment. As a 35 kg little girl. No mobile phones.It was fine. Sometimes I'd stop for an ice cream.

Why are ‘elderly’ parents (are they doddery?) more important than young children? Why is her parents comfort more important than her children’s feeling of safety and security? I don’t get that, are you saying you care more about your grown up, perfectly able parents than you do your young children? If her parents were that ‘elderly’ they wouldn’t be on a plane trip at all! So you couldn’t enjoy your business class knowing your parents were in economy but you could your young children? Strange.

It might be out of your hands anyway. If you’ve already booked, business seats often can’t be swapped once they have the names attached to them. I also wouldn’t swap. They booked after you- enjoy your flight!

These threads always show up the type of parents whose kids I’ve ended up looking after. They’re the parents who despatch their young kids to the park and pat themselves on the back for having such independent children, ignoring the fact that other parents are looking after their kids. While they lie on the settee reading, other parents are giving their kids drinks, wiping their cut knees, answering their questions etc. If I ended up having to deal with 2 kids on a flight while their parents drank champagne in business class I’d be bloody livid.

Anyway OP is apparently going to treat the plane like a train, and shuffle all the seats around at will. Who knew that was possible?!!!

PIL stay in the seats they booked. They have gatecrashed your trip. Keep the children near you.

To be totally clear

• you cannot swap seats in different cabins mid flight.
• economy passengers cannot visit business class
• people do not get upgraded just because some of their family are in business class
• you cannot suddenly decide to swap seats without changing the tickets. If it's true long haul then you will have separate boarding lines/air bridges for different cabins and your name/passport is checked on boarding.

So the PILs either need to buy business class tickets or you need to do a full name change on the tickets if you want PILs to take kids seats. Or they just suck it up in coach.

Interesting that nowhere does the OP indicate that the PIL are unwelcome in the trip, ‘invited themselves’, ‘gatecrashed’ etc or that she is unhappy with their presence per se.

And yet many posters assume this.

This sounds like a total non-issue though and you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill. Are you bored?

It seems very simple, you booked your family into business, some others tagged onto the trip that didn’t. That’s lovely and I’m sure on holiday which is the main reason you’re travelling you’ll all have. A nice time together. The 8 hour flight is a very small proportion of that and I’m sure your PIL will be fine in standard class like
most people. That’s where they’ve booked after all. Done.

Happened across this comment and felt compelled to say this is naive. As a teenager I ended up sat next to a man who, when the lights were lowered, proceeded to touch my leg, press himself against me and scare me half to death. I look back and wonder why I didn’t shout out or press the attendant button, but honestly I was just so frightened and panicked. It stayed with me as something that was shameful and my fault for many many years. Please don’t ever leave your children to potentially face this alone.

Your children are 10 and 11 so too young to fly alone for safety reasons. No airline would take them alone. If you put them in economy (so lots of rows away with a curtain so you can't see them they are in effect flying alone. You are expecting another passenger to babysit them for you. Did you ask that passenger, Are you going to financially compensate that passenger. Is that passenger interested in looking after your children for 8 hours. Ask yourself the following questions

Who is responsible for and who will assist your children in the event (God forbid)

1. A cabin decompression so needing an oxygen mask
2. A ditching help with a life vest
3. Sever turbulence
4. Air sickness
5. Bad behaviour or they fall out..it's 8 hours..they are going to fall out they are tweens....

Is the person next to them CRB checked https://leb.fbi.gov/articles/featured-articles/violation-at-30000-feet-in-flight-sexual-assaults#:~:text=FBI%20data%20indicated%20a%2065,for%20help%20following%20an%20attack.

Thanks! I have great in-laws - we are really happy they can join us for a holiday together.

Also - I'd never ever expect someone else to look after my children and I'm definitely not the parent in the park expecting other kids to look after them as someone suggested!

They are good kids in general who are more often than not are good in class, kind to their friends and polite to other adults. They are kids so not saying they wouldn't fight but with snacks and unlimited movies they'd probably be no problem at all to other passengers but I do worry that in the unlikely event of an emergency they'd need a parent nearby.

Please don't dump em out of their seats and sit them on their own. There's a difference between being sensible and polite in class and being left alone surrounded by strangers and not being able to get to your parents/someone you know and trust. If ILs wanted business class, they should have booked it and I'd be horrified if people would willingly take something, including a nice seat away from DGCs