to expect priority boarding for infants and young children on even the tightest airline

[SebbysMum]

We flew with a well known budget airline last week. Not sure if MN allows me to say which but no doubt many of you will be able to guess.

We found that it no longer boards children and babies first. Instead those who pay an extra charge get priority. There were two young babies on the flight (mine aged 4 months). The staff were extremely rude and insisted on sending us to the very back of the non priority queue, despite other passagers offering to let us go first.

As a result of this policy we saw a mother sent to the back of the queue separated from her two under-10 children on the plane (until other passengers kindly offered to move).

Is it just me or is this truely the triumph of corporate greed and mindless bureaucracy over common decency?

I don' think that airlines should give massive preference to children, but surely its common sense to keep families together on a flight.

When I flew to Madeira with BA, and they put all families at the back of the plane, I think it improved the quality of life for everyone on the plane. Otherwise you have squawking kids all over the plane and the childless people have the flight from hell as well.

Admittally when I last flew lack of hand luggage space was not a problem. People were not allowed to take much on board because a bunch of terrorists had tried to blow up planes using liquids.

I know someone who was seperated from her three year old diabetic son on a long haul flight!

She did manage to ask other passengers to change seats so that they could sit together, but what a ridiculous, not to mention dangerous situation.

The stewards should have sorted that belgo.
It nearly happened to us 2 years ago on a TAP flight but me the the bolshy cow that I am stood in the aisle and refused to sit down till it was sorted. The stewardess was less than helpful I must admit but a young English couple moved.

Buda - you have to be a bolshy cow sometimes otherwise you just get walked over by everyone.

I know belgo. Sad isn't it?

Thank God I am very good at being bolshy!

Please, which airlines are these? Would love to be separated from my under-10s on a long-haul flight. They'd be chuffed, too.

Never understood the supposed value of pre-boarding for babies & little children. They find it hard enough to sit in one place for a while, as it is. Much better to let them run mad inside the terminal until the very last possible moment.

riven, not with budget airlines- they cut costs by reducing administration, so you just get a boarding pass, and turn up at the gate to queue. First come, first on.

Thanks for the warning, just about to book a flight with Ryanair.

If you don't take hold bags and do online check-in you get free priority boarding apparently. Not much help to those with children though! I discovered this last night, booking for palma in a few weeks time.

I daresay I'll be in the priority boarding queue with 75% of the plane again as happened last time.

I fly alone a couple of times a year with ds and disabled dd.

And I always did travel- on boats, trains, any way that would take me home- ever since they were babies. Remember breastfeeding dd on an incredibly packed boat train to Harwich, her bum supported by the table and her feet pushed into the face of the passenger in the next feet. Never mind.

Having inter-railed across Europe with my family as a child (train caught fire in Yugoslavia in the small hours), I sort of expect travelling to be adrenaline-raising.

It's got a lot easier now ds is old enough to push the wheelchair, so I can attend to the luggage trolley. Before, I kept running backwards and forwards.

Cheap flights are a nightmare, and this is just one more proof of that.

Belgo - I flew to Rome 3 weeks ago and we were allowed to put bags under the seat in front.

And I don't know if Jet2 is classed at 'budget' but we got seat numbers.

When flying back from Mexico the airline was very kind and actually shuffled people's seats around so I could have a seat to put ds1 in his infant carrier in (was planning on holding him the whole time). We boarded first and the airline was extrememly kind.

Thank you Continental! Actually Continental has never been anything but nice. They have been helpful to me even when I wasn't booked on their flight. It's a long story involving many tears, but it all ends in FIRST CLASS.

I have thankfully had great service when flying on my own with ds (BMI baby), didn't have any form of priority boarding but the staff went round the gate area when the flight was ready and rounded up all the parents with assortment of children and pushchairs, took us to the gate and folded and loaded the pushchairs.

Mind you I've never flown anywhere without allocated seats.

Thing I don't get though is why everyone scrambles to board in one huge, pushing crowd. You are still going to get on the plane! Not like they are going to turn round and say "nope sorry mate we're full now". People still do this with allocated seats.

I've done BMI a few times and found them very good on the whole.

We had one trip where they didn't book us in until after the scheduled flight time...that was fun! But other than that cock-up, we've always found them helpful and friendly.

If you book early enough with a decent company you don't pay that much more than you do with Lyingair and the rest of them. I use the national airline of a certain country a lot and it works out about £20 more than Lyingair and you're treated like royalty...and the staff are older than 14 as well.
Did anyone see the shock doc on Lyingair? Scary stuff.

i flew with flybe from cyprus, at the end of the flight loads of lone mums with various amount of children, all asleep dreading getting off. steward came to say all buggies were waiting at the bottom of the steps. surely it cant be that hard for other airlines to do it?

Oh I like that,

Lyingair

it's not just lyinair.

i flew business class with british airways, on my own, heavily pregnant with a 2 year old. i paid for business class so that i could get the extra help.

they tried to shove me at the back of the queue for boarding. thank god the passenger at the front of the queue made such a big stink they let me in.

then at the other end, they made all people with kids waiting for pushchairs to wait for the ENTIRE plane to disembark before giving them to us. we were all then at the back of the passport and baggage queue. nice.

i have written to complain. do you think i've received a reply???

Lyanair are a bunch of tossers. Unfortunately for me they are the only airline that flies direct to Zaragoza. After 10 years havinng to fly to barcelona and then taking a bus for 3.5 hours everytime I wanted to visit my family, I don¡t feel like I want to do that with a toddler. So I have no choice but to use them.

my mum said she was once checking in with my brother, sister in law and extremely disabled grandchild in whelchair at palma airport. the way it worked out, they ended up at the back of the queue and it was sweltering hot. my mum asked if they could be moved up the queue a bit and the check in person then asked the people in front in the queue if they minded if this child's family could jump the queue, and the buggers minded

when they got to the check in desk (finally) the check in supervisor saw my neice and immediately gave the check in guy a complete bolocking.

what kind of hard hearted f***s would hold their hand up and say they objected to a disabled child going ahead of them in the queue? when it was sweltering hot?