BA business class with toddler

[Greyrootszerohoots]

Will be flying to Canada next summer. DH has serious illness and won’t be able to do it in a regular seat, needs the lie flat bed. We’ll have a 2.5 y/o.

Has anyone travelled in British Airways business with a toddler? Any thoughts / tips?

I'd take a car seat for the younger one too. They generally sleep better in them and are used to being strapped in and not being able to move. If you get an older configured BA plane the middle seats are brilliant as they create a little pod for the kids to play.

Get your older toddler used to headphones before the flight so they don't lose the plot when they can't hear CBeebies. Bring lots of books they've never seen about riding in an airplane to read on the plane. Topsy and Tim do a good one.

Honestly you'll be fine!

Oh don't worry about 'other people'. If you navigated your life based on what other people might think you'd be locked indoors forever!

FWIW I'm as child-unfriendly as they come in general and I've flown Business plenty of times when there have been kids in the cabin. They certainly haven't disturbed me unduly or stopped me from working drinking the free champagne. It's fine and the staff are universally brilliant with them. BA and Virgin Atlantic especially.

Crack on, I say.

Of course it’s fine. You have to be respectful of other passengers no matter what class you travel in so if you’d all be more comfortable in biz class and can afford it then why would you even be questioning it? The only tricky bit can be take off/landing because you can’t reach them to hold them in place but other than that it’s fine. Get them used to wearing headphones and into a fave TV show which you can download to the iPad would be my top tip. I don’t take toys because I’m yet to find anything that holds their attention for long enough to worth it and they inevitably end up stuck in or under the seat. Pre order a kids meal and bring some favourite snacks in case they don’t like it. I’ve been upgraded from CW to F quite a few times, once actually with the toddler in tow, but they were incentivising to take an alternative flight.

They absolutely don’t do the meal order in order of status. That only happens when a choice is running low, then we try and make sure the gold/silver cardholders get their choice over someone upgraded, for example. Everyone can preorder their choice online anyway to make sure they get what they want.

I'm trying to get our 12yo ASD/SLD son used to headphones ready for a famy holiday to Florida, we'll be travelling in Business Class for the space...

He'll have paid normal price for his ticket, he's entitled to be there!

I would.
We flew yesterday back home (in cattle class), and Ds age 1 slept most the journey and then just sat on my lap eating snacks quietly until we landed. There were only 2 small children on the flight and I didn’t hear a peep from the other either.

The couple in front of us argued for about 2hrs, and kept adjusting chairs up and down every few minutes.
The couple behind had a heated argument with air hostesses about not being allowed more alcohol.

Yes children can make noise, and can’t always understand why not if small, but they definitely aren’t the only ones making a racket.

Take no notice of passengers who don't want children. You and your child have as much right to be there as them. It is PUBLIC transport albeit expensive public transport!

@Honeyroar

They absolutely don’t do the meal order in order of status. That only happens when a choice is running low, then we try and make sure the gold/silver cardholders get their choice over someone upgraded, for example. Everyone can preorder their choice online anyway to make sure they get what they want.

@Tooembarrassingtomention will be along in soon to tell you this is incorrect, no matter what your actual professional experience as a crew member might tell you otherwise.

WRT travelling with toddlers, my own experience as a passenger with children has been excellent every time. As a crew member, I would say there are passengers who disturb others and passengers who don’t, and we do not differentiate based on the age of the passenger. On the whole, children, toddlers and babies are rarely a problem at all. Good luck to you travelling with your husband. My dad travelled a lot when he had cancer, and the crew were without exception brilliant. It was obvious he was not a well man, and he was very sympathetically looked after.

@Honeyroar

They absolutely don’t do the meal order in order of status. That only happens when a choice is running low, then we try and make sure the gold/silver cardholders get their choice over someone upgraded, for example. Everyone can preorder their choice online anyway to make sure they get what they want.

So they do prioritise food by status- you have just said that.

No pre-order facility at the moment on long haul.

Don't worry about what snooty passengers think. It's not their own private plane. We flew business with our young DC, a horrible man in the row behind complained loudly the minute he saw us arrive. Kids promptly fell asleep and we had to listen to his loud boring voice for the whole flight. Toddlers disturbing the peace?!

@Tooembarrassingtomention there is no prioritising food for anyone who has paid for a particular cabin of travel. If 2 passengers have paid the same fare, they should both be offered food in the same way, regardless of what card they hold. If one passenger has paid for Club and the other is upgraded due to oversales, and there is only enough food for the full fare passengers to choose, the upgraded passenger does not get to bypass this even if they have a gold card and the full fare passengers do not. The process to decide who is upgraded is more complex than you are making out too, there are pages and pages of it in the upgrade policy documents, and how each passenger must be treated in accordance with the original class of booking and the class they are now travelling in. Trust me on this - I do know what I am talking about, as (I believe) does Honeyroar.

You were right @backinthebox!🤣🤣

Yes I've done this, toddler was fine. Took a ton of new books and toys, puzzles etc DD did not nap for the full nine hour flight but we also managed it with no screen time. The only time she kicked up is when I thought she was busy and I nipped to the loo for 30 seconds (the flight attendant said she'd keep an eye). DD immediately realised and wailed! But was fine once I was back. That got me evil looks from the man in front who also sent back his wine because it wasn't good enough, so I didn't care as he was clearly a snobby plonker

@Tooembarrassingtomention

It is impossible to know who upgraded last minute and who paid in advance hmm

Not quite true
Food is offered by status
BA sometimes upgrade at the gate but you don’t get the food as it hasn’t been loaded, you can tell then!

Not sure how accurate this is. I got upgraded from pE to business class as we were taxiing to the runway. I got the same meals as everyone else

My worst nightmare too. I travel business to work and rest before meetings etc.

I wish there was a child free business class section

@Tooembarrassingtomention I have just pre-ordered food for DH and myself for long haul flights next month! 🤷‍♀️

@Milkbottlelegs

I've had more journeys and meals out affected by the boisterous chatter of adults than any toddler!

Exactly! Nothing worse than a fat business man snoring on a flight, far worse than any child I’ve encountered!

Exactly this! I don’t enjoy paying £££ to have a loud snorer next to me but it’s the gamble of public travel (can’t afford a private jet).

DS has flown in BC since he was 18m. Always been more than one child in the BC cabin.

It's fine as long as the children aren't screaming/crying the majority of the journey. People pay a lot of money to travel business (sometimes it's their only time at getting to enjoy it) and I personally wouldn't want to keep someone awake who purposely paid a lot to sleep.

I was recently on a flight in economy and there were so many empty seats that I got to sleep across a whole row that was empty. So the economy section might not even be too bad?

I'd be too scared personally to take a young child in business class and I've had someone (not a child) keep me awake in business before when I planned on sleeping. I have a chronic illness that is triggered by sleep deprivation and because of that person on the plane I was bed-ridden for the first two days of my holiday. An extreme case but just to give you an understanding of why some people might be disgruntled with not sleeping.

I never pay 100% for my children in BC, always use points…still entitled to be there as much as the next corporate big shot whose company paid

@Blankspace4

Hmmm not sure how the rest of the cabin who’ve paid a premium to work / or for a chilled experience would take to a toddler being there.

Not the OPs problem!

@BlakeDreary

It's fine as long as the children aren't screaming/crying the majority of the journey. People pay a lot of money to travel business (sometimes it's their only time at getting to enjoy it) and I personally wouldn't want to keep someone awake who purposely paid a lot to sleep.

I was recently on a flight in economy and there were so many empty seats that I got to sleep across a whole row that was empty. So the economy section might not even be too bad?

I'd be too scared personally to take a young child in business class and I've had someone (not a child) keep me awake in business before when I planned on sleeping. I have a chronic illness that is triggered by sleep deprivation and because of that person on the plane I was bed-ridden for the first two days of my holiday. An extreme case but just to give you an understanding of why some people might be disgruntled with not sleeping.

You could be in the back row of a business cabin and have a screaming child in economy only separated from you by a thin wall that doesn’t go right to the ceiling and a curtain. And a lot of economy seat arms don’t go up nowadays so you can’t lie across the row (very annoying when it’s empty!).

Most children sleep really well on planes. And if the crew were to be told that you were making a journey with a very sick husband and little child they’d (90% of them!) really help you if you needed it.

We travel BC when crossing the Atlantic, seen many children and all behaved, normally its adults that drink too much thst are poorly behaved.

If people don't want to see other passengers, then I suggest chartering a private jet.....