Should 1st class babies and children stay in 1st class?

[user30]

Long haul flight, economy on lower deck, business/1st class on upper deck.
From the moment the fasten seat belt signs went off there were between 1 and 7 women (I would guess nannies but I do not know) juggling babies and toddlers in economy as well as badly behaved children aged 3-7 running around and making a huge mess in the bathrooms. I was on the front row and was repeatedly tapped and asked to tuck my legs under my seat to give them more space.

Cabin Crew seemed irritated (at one point 2 children threw handfuls of rice down the stairs onto a Cabin Crews head!) but only said something when a boy started throwing (unused) sanitary towels at economy passengers.

AIBU to think that everyone including children should stay in their own section of the plane? It was a nightmare and I am very tired so may be a bit cranky 😂

What kind of ‘culture’ thinks this is acceptable behaviour?

Me neither.
Crosses it off the list!

Fuck dat. They should have been asked to leave.

@Fluffybutterfly I am the same race as many of the nannies, so would like to report but cannot find any problematic posts - please can you point out the racist posts? Thanks
As for jealousy, I am assure you I am in no way jealous of people with horrifically behaved children although I do make a good living from helping them with parenting (mostly in London and the SE of the UK but non UK families)

Nah. Most people can barely tolerate their own kids, let alone anyone else's.

Well if the airline won’t deal with it then people will look for alternatives. The 1st class passengers will eventually have a whole plane to themselves for all of about a month before the airline goes bust!

Hellish for adults and likely to be more hellish for young children!

Not a surprise that it was Emirates.

I've flown to New Zealand, Singapore and Australia a dozen times and always used Singapore Airlines. Never had anything like this. The last couple of times I've hovered over the Emirates and Qatar options when booking because they've been a couple of hundred cheaper, but gone with what I know. Thank goodness! That said, was horrified as I disembarked in Auckland last year to see that parents with basinets sitting in the front row of economy had left open dirty nappies on the floor. Who does that?

"Go away you little shit" may have worked 😂

well the fact you ineffectively flapped doesn't say much for your coaching.

What does a parenting coach do?

Oh god, I am flying Business with Etihad in a few months, one leg of which is a A380. Argh! I think my tolerance for that sort of nonsense will be very low indeed. I have only flown Qatar, and in Economy - is this really such a common occurrence on ME airlines?

Thank f**k for that!!

You really think you did something there with your reply didn’t you? Did you sit back arms folded all triumphant after pressing post?

I am not unfamiliar with the ME as I lived there growing up, but that was also 35 years ago too so my perceptions and ideas could be out of date.

Water? hot cup of coffee or tea would be more effective.

I have only flown with Emirates once. The entire economy section came down with food poisoning after eating the food being served there. The queues for the toilets were very long and the toilets themselves much as could be expected with so many ill passengers. I walked into business class and used the toilets there in desperation and yes I was challenged and quite rightly too.

I know what you mean but Emirates and other Gulf carriers have pretty much cornered the market in terms of flying people from UK and European regions eastbound to places like the sub-continent and beyond (Aus/NZ)…as far as the UK goes lot of people now won’t touch London with a barge pole so it’s going to take a lot more than unruly kids to make those airlines go broke.

Of course if the cabin crew knew the company management would have their backs if they confronted this behaviour, regardless of the passenger involved, then it might not happen.

Be interesting to know if that would be the case - we’d need to hear from someone at or recently at Emirates to know how they think it would work out…

I knew this was going to be Emirates before I got to that part. 1st class passengers are treated like (in this case mini) kings.

Economy passengers generally treated as scum of the earth and as an inconvenience. I fly regularly from the UK to Aus and back but stopped using them a couple of years back after bad experiences.

BTW complaining is pointless they don’t care you are a mere peasant as far as they’re concerned.

They would not behave like this in first class, because they have been taught those people are worthy of respect. You are in economy, so you are trash and who cares what you think or what their children have done to you?

I’ve met this type of parents many times and unfortunately if you aren’t a Saudi Prince yourself the parents will treat you like shit on their shoe as well.

I agree “accidentally spilling” a large glass of something sticky on the child’s head is probably the most satisfying solution here, you’ll get nowhere with the kids, the nanny, the parents or the airline.

We are flying via Singapore thankfully when we go to Australia, and I fly direct generally everywhere else if possible.

Yes I lived in the ME for many years and this behaviour is quite normal and the nannies (maids) will not chastise them for fear of loosing their jobs...same for crew.