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Hi all, grateful for any advice. We are booked to go LHR-SYD, flight BA15 and BA16, in July 2023 in Business Class. We are a family of two adults and two kids who by the time of the trip will be three and six (almost seven). We managed to use two companion vouchers thanks to all the helpful advice on this page and forums about telephoning at 1am!
Our kids are generally well behaved and will be very closely supervised by me and my husband during the flight, but due to Covid they don’t have that much flying experience. BA have recently announced that BA15 and BA16 will have Club Suite from November 2022. Ironically, the old style Club World “yin-yang” seats would probably have been better for us, as each parent could have sat next to one child with plenty of access, although I appreciate that otherwise the new seat is vastly superior.
What seats would you go for? I am thinking that centre pairs will not be a good idea, due to the need to walk around to the other side to get to the child. My thinking is to get seats A and E (or F and K) in two rows, one behind the other, so that each parent is across the aisle from one child. Not ideal but better than the centre seats? And as we are on two separate bookings (my husband and I had one companion voucher each), I think it’s probably worth us paying to book our seats to get what we want?
I think our six year old will be absolutely fine – he’s happy to read, play on his Nintendo Switch, watch films with headphones, and he’s a good sleeper. The three year old is a good sleeper too but may need some reassurance during takeoff and landing, but that will be hard in Club Suite – I won’t even be able to hold her hand or even see her very easily. I saw someone on another forum who had asked to be seated in WTP/WT with the small child just for takeoff and landing which was accommodated – I wonder if that could be an option, subject to their being space?
Any general tips on flying in Club Suite with pre-school age children would be very gratefully received in general! TIA.
Just thinking back to my CS trip in June, I was in a window seat, OH was in front of me and teenage son was across the aisle (doesn’t need a window as he was on his laptop & phone for 12 hours 🙄). I could just about reach across to tap the teenager when I wanted to speak to him, but not when I was strapped in for take off and landing. I could only see his legs at that point due to the side of the seat blocking my view, even with the door open. It would have been much easier to talk to him (and hold his hand, several years ago!) had I been in the other middle seat with the divider down so this is worth bearing in mind. With OH in front of me, it was easy enough once the seat belt was off to stand up and lean over to talk to him, but again, only when not restrained!
Bearing this is mind I would suggest 2 middle pairs with one adult and one child in each. One would hope BA would seat you together, but if it’s a busy flight with a lot of pax who have pre-selected seats, it’s not guaranteed.
If you pick 2 middle pairs and have adult and child sitting diagonally opposite one another, both adults would be able to tend to either child fairly easily, either through the divider, or by leaving their seat and going to the one either behind or in front. You’d be in the same aisle so no need to walk round. Hope this makes sense!
Just thinking back to my CS trip in June, I was in a window seat, OH was in front of me and teenage son was across the aisle (doesn’t need a window as he was on his laptop & phone for 12 hours 🙄). I could just about reach across to tap the teenager when I wanted to speak to him, but not when I was strapped in for take off and landing. I could only see his legs at that point due to the side of the seat blocking my view, even with the door open. It would have been much easier to talk to him (and hold his hand, several years ago!) had I been in the other middle seat with the divider down so this is worth bearing in mind. With OH in front of me, it was easy enough once the seat belt was off to stand up and lean over to talk to him, but again, only when not restrained!
Bearing this is mind I would suggest 2 middle pairs with one adult and one child in each. One would hope BA would seat you together, but if it’s a busy flight with a lot of pax who have pre-selected seats, it’s not guaranteed.
This is very helpful advice, thank you! If they were older, it sounds like middle pairs would definitely be the way to go, but I am predicting lots of time with the three year old at her seat (opening snacks for her, helping her with headphones, reading her a bedtime story etc) and it would probably be a pain to have to go all the way around each time. But as you say there’s a tradeoff, as it would be harder to see her/chat when we are both in our own seats. Do you think the gap when the divider is down is large enough to lift a child through?!? Or is that a very bad idea?
If you pick 2 middle pairs and have adult and child sitting diagonally opposite one another, both adults would be able to tend to either child fairly easily, either through the divider, or by leaving their seat and going to the one either behind or in front. You’d be in the same aisle so no need to walk round. Hope this makes sense!
Yes it does! This could be the best solution. I have a feeling it’s going to be fairly hard work in any event, but the flat beds should help…
Yes, I sometimes can’t believe we took our son to SYD and WEL when he was 4 – in economy! Fortunately he was going through a phase of being fascinated with planes at the time and was beautifully behaved the whole way.
With 2 middle pairs you could realistically lift the 3 year old over the seat next to you or behind/in front so they could be with you for a story, etc, the surround is actually not that high (even on me and I’m only 5 foot 2).Yes, I sometimes can’t believe we took our son to SYD and WEL when he was 4 – in economy! Fortunately he was going through a phase of being fascinated with planes at the time and was beautifully behaved the whole way.
With 2 middle pairs you could realistically lift the 3 year old over the seat next to you or behind/in front so they could be with you for a story, etc, the surround is actually not that high (even on me and I’m only 5 foot 2).That’s great to know, I think we’ll go for that. She is quite small and light so should be ok. Thanks for the very helpful advice.
Let me tell you a story.
We came back from Barbados in CS. So we all got windows, we sat in a row. I was behind my 11 year old son.
At one stage we hit a huge pile of turbulence and he started to panic. There was literally nothing I could do. The crew would not let me stand up to get to him. I couldn’t reach him, couldn’t see him. It wasn’t great, to put it mildly. This is a kid who has flown around 100 hours in Business before and knows the score too, not a little ‘un.
I strongly recommend that you don’t have a kid in a suite where you are not direcly alongside them.
I thought the Sydney flights reverted to B787 (so, old Club World) by July?
Took my 12 year old grandson to Dubai couple weeks ago. Going out I was in window seat club suite grandson across aisle to me his mum the other side. Well it was me who was up all night covering him in quilt and making sure he was ok as although his mum was next to him she was to far away and would have to walk through galley to get to him. If there had been a problem it would have been me dealing with it.On return day flight he had window and his mum was next him and he spent time in her suite playing games. I must be only person who doesn’t like the club suites, I didn’t like the door I didn’t like the seat I felt claustrophobic in it and I didn’t like the across body seat belts.
Although I have no data to support this claim, I’m pretty convinced that airlines are seeing a huge switch in their premium cabins away from business and toward leisure travel. If so, BA’s hard product strategy, whilst universally lauded by travel writers, is not really targeted at the right demographic.
Leisure travellers generally don’t fly alone. But Club Suite and recent First iterations are designed around privacy and in-flight entertainment, and are heavily compromised for couples or family groups.
BA might not be your best choice of airline next time.
Took my 12 year old grandson to Dubai couple weeks ago. Going out I was in window seat club suite grandson across aisle to me his mum the other side. Well it was me who was up all night covering him in quilt and making sure he was ok as although his mum was next to him she was to far away and would have to walk through galley to get to him. If there had been a problem it would have been me dealing with it.On return day flight he had window and his mum was next him and he spent time in her suite playing games. I must be only person who doesn’t like the club suites, I didn’t like the door I didn’t like the seat I felt claustrophobic in it and I didn’t like the across body seat belts.
I am with you, as a 6 foot tall guy I felt so uncomfortable, could not sleep at all as every time I turned my knees would e
Hit the underside of the table above the footwell (actually at destination I realised I had quite few bruises on my knees). The only positive thing of CS for me is the storage space, but I rather miss that and actually enjoy some hours of sleep on an overnight flight back to London from LA. I had much better sleep in the two middle seats in the old 747 CW.We recently flew with a 2 and 4 year old in the new CWS. Originally I had booked four middle seats, so each adult had side access to one child, so one could look at the child and the other could access them.
The flight ended up being fairly empty so we had a pick of seats and the kids wanted to go in the window seats so we switched to two window seats for the kids and the middle seat next to them for us.
This, at least for us, was a much better choice. If we leant forward in our suite we could see our kids clearly and I could reach out and hold hands with a bit of a stretch. It also was quieter for them with their doors closed and both happily ate, watched and slept across the flight. They’re both well travelled but this was our first post pandemic flight so they’d had about 18 months of not travelling yet were very happy in their own little suites.
The way back we flew old style CW, putting them in the middle pair and us either side, which was a better set up for families, but still seats I hate!
But as Rob found out, during take-off and landing and any turbulence, you wouldn’t be able to do any of those things. You are harnessed into your seat the same as if you are in a car.
This is the problem I have, my son is 3 and if he were in a suite-like seat he would probably remove the seat belt during takeoff, open the door and start walking up and down the aisle. So no BA and no QR unless we can guarantee no Q suite.
We went to Australia in QF Y and it was actually ok – lifting up the armrests to make 3 seats like a sofa was as comfortable as Y can get really.
My son would definitely have done that when he was little! I don’t know if airlines have a contingency plan for this? It does like a bit of a nightmare waiting to happen. Thinking about it, a row of 4 in PE would probably be the most practical option as the adults could then bookend the children in the middle seats. I did an 11 hour overnight in PE in July and was pleasantly surprised – it wasn’t exactly comfortable but it wasn’t hugely less comfortable than the old CW, which felt like trying to sleep on a stretcher!. I haven’t slept in CS yet.
I thought the Sydney flights reverted to B787 (so, old Club World) by July?
Oh really? That would solve my problem if so!
Although I have no data to support this claim, I’m pretty convinced that airlines are seeing a huge switch in their premium cabins away from business and toward leisure travel. If so, BA’s hard product strategy, whilst universally lauded by travel writers, is not really targeted at the right demographic.
Leisure travellers generally don’t fly alone. But Club Suite and recent First iterations are designed around privacy and in-flight entertainment, and are heavily compromised for couples or family groups.
BA might not be your best choice of airline next time.
Indeed, but we only had enough Avios if we could use our 2 x BAPP companion vouchers.
Let me tell you a story.
We came back from Barbados in CS. So we all got windows, we sat in a row. I was behind my 11 year old son.
At one stage we hit a huge pile of turbulence and he started to panic. There was literally nothing I could do. The crew would not let me stand up to get to him. I couldn’t reach him, couldn’t see him. It wasn’t great, to put it mildly. This is a kid who has flown around 100 hours in Business before and knows the score too, not a little ‘un.
I strongly recommend that you don’t have a kid in a suite where you are not direcly alongside them.
That must have been horrible for you both. By the sounds of it my info may be incorrect (I was only going from a BA Facebook post) and our flight may not have club suite anyway, but this is good to know for the future.
Hi @fikachu – we are flying BA11 to Singapore in August 23 and I booked Club also. I believe the flights to Singapore and then to Sydney around this time are all 787-9s and use the older CW seat configurations so may not be a bad thing for you?! I would have preferred the club suites for my family though as we have much older kids!
Found this article which suggests BA will change the metal flying till March and those planes have the CS config but I can’t tell if this means by July or August 23 it may be all 787s again?
I’m also flying July/August on BA15/16 from London to Sydney and back and noticed that they had reverted to 787-9s. Any chance that these will have Club Suites by then?
Hi @fikachu – we are flying BA11 to Singapore in August 23 and I booked Club also. I believe the flights to Singapore and then to Sydney around this time are all 787-9s and use the older CW seat configurations so may not be a bad thing for you?! I would have preferred the club suites for my family though as we have much older kids!
Found this article which suggests BA will change the metal flying till March and those planes have the CS config but I can’t tell if this means by July or August 23 it may be all 787s again?
Yes it sounds like my info was not accurate. So may turn out to be less of an issue for this flight. Thanks for the link.
This is the problem I have, my son is 3 and if he were in a suite-like seat he would probably remove the seat belt during takeoff, open the door and start walking up and down the aisle. So no BA and no QR unless we can guarantee no Q suite.
We went to Australia in QF Y and it was actually ok – lifting up the armrests to make 3 seats like a sofa was as comfortable as Y can get really.
It’s all about training your kids. I had a 2 year old and 4 year old and they both knew not to remove their seatbelts (they’d struggle to press the button TBH) and knew the correct behaviour was to sit in their seats. They were more than happy to do so with an ipad! Also they can’t open / close the door.
But as Rob found out, during take-off and landing and any turbulence, you wouldn’t be able to do any of those things. You are harnessed into your seat the same as if you are in a car.
Our children were small enough that they didn’t need to use the car part of the seatbelt just the lap one and during takeoff / landing there wasn’t an issue with me leaning forward and being able to hold hands. But it’s going to be different for everyone
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