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Hi All. I’m looking at flying VA Edinburgh to Orlando in June. We have a 2 year old who has only ever been on shortish flights 3-5 hours. I’m worried about how she’ll find a long haul flight and what it’s like having a toddler in upper class (I’ve only ever flown premium economy).
Are we likely to annoy other travellers? I shouldn’t care but I don’t want to be stressed all the way there when it’s supposed to be a relaxing experience.
Has anyone taken a toddler upper class and can offer any advice or thoughts?
Personally, I wouldn’t. The main issue is during take off and landing (which might include a long taxi), where it’s hard to see what’s going on or intervene. It’s an A350 EDI-MCO, which at least means you are sat as close as possible in the middle pairs compared to other configs. You’ll still be facing away from each other with a small divider in the way, although you should be able to hold hands.
I took mine when the eldest was 18 months to Asia and my OH declared we were getting off the plane if we ended up diverting for a medical emergency even if we were in Kazakhstan. We have survived Tenerife since successfully but our main holiday is to France on the ferry this year!!
I certainly can’t imagine trying to keep my 2yr old son in his own business class seat especially during take off/landing and there is no reasoning/bribing them at that age so it’s difficult. I was on a BA flight (so similar seating) and a child escaped down the aisle during taxi out and the mother had no way to get to him being on the opposite aisle. They had to sit in economy for take off and landing in the end.
Personally I’d just prefer to be in economy with less expectation and less going on (e.g. buttons etc), they will sleep across you at that age anyway. You can’t really fully relax and enjoy the dining or have a long sleep either so a lot of the “value” is lost though you can take turns and crew can usually serve one of you first etc.
Premium cabins are a bit wasted on small children. Even though we didn’t discover avios & points till our son was about 7 and could sit quietly for 8+ hours in CW, he wouldn’t touch plane food so we still had to make other arrangements. He’s 18 now and in the phase of not wanting to go on holiday with his parents but if he changes his mind and expects us to foot the bill he’ll be in PE at best 😂
We did MCO-MAN in PE on VS last year and the middle 4 seats looked to work well for families because you can put a parent on either side and the child’s seat gives you a bit of extra space.
My biggest issue with PE for a family is you can’t put the arm rests up so in my mind it’s harder for a small kid to sleep. No actual experience though!
I have traveled in KL, EY, TK and BA J, and VS PE (all miles – we have burned through several years of mileage accumulation visiting family on two different continents post-COVID), with a 2-4 yo. Ours will eat [almost] anything, so unlike some food was never an issue. The best aspect of the premium experience is the extra space. We find that the side-by-side J or PE seats (KL, TK, Old CW, VS PE) are better at ages 2-3; the Suite type configurations don’t provide enough visibility at the younger ages. For the OP, if uncertain I would recommend PE.
Agree with CamFlyer. I travelled with young squirrels on Virgin when the youngest was 3 and then a few times in the years following. A more expensive product is not always better in all scenarios for all users just because it costs more. Imagine significant prolonged turbulence with the seatbelt sign on and everyone required to sit in their seat, and whether your little one would be able to manage that experience by themselves without seeing you at all. At that age, premium is the right product in my view. Yes it’s not as good for sleep on the way back. Just one of the many compromises of having kids and putting their needs ahead of yours. C’est la vie. They’ll be old enough to manage in their own in Upper in not many years – but not now.
Hi All. I’m looking at flying VA Edinburgh to Orlando in June. We have a 2 year old who has only ever been on shortish flights 3-5 hours. I’m worried about how she’ll find a long haul flight and what it’s like having a toddler in upper class (I’ve only ever flown premium economy).
Are we likely to annoy other travellers? I shouldn’t care but I don’t want to be stressed all the way there when it’s supposed to be a relaxing experience.
Has anyone taken a toddler upper class and can offer any advice or thoughts?
I’m of the school of thought that you should care and if you do care about other travellers then I’m really glad as you’re a dying breed.
If you really cared, you’d never take an infant on a plane! But if you’re going to do it, I’m not sure that disturbing people in a premium cabin is worse than disturbing (a lot more) people in economy?!
I’ve been disturbed by other people’s kids in all cabins, it’s all equally painful. You just have to remember that it’s not yours any more, at least. Though my son only ever cried a couple of times on a plane (on the descent) because we were obsessive about keeping him occupied, for our sake and that of the other pax! When he was four we flew to SYD and people were actually coming up to us and praising how good he was at the end of the flight! He could actually be demonic but so much of it is in how you manage it.
“Are we likely to annoy other travellers? I shouldn’t care but I don’t want to be stressed all the way there when it’s supposed to be a relaxing experience.”
Dont even worry about other travellers. We travelled recently to DXB on UC with a small kid and were similarly worried. Turned out the worst trouble was a mother of two who put her kids with their dad and was loudly playing a movie on her phone. Spoke to a crew member who quietly told the mother to use the headset.
Some OAPs will stare at the kids like they have never seen kids before, thinking they are entitled to a lounge like experience. Just ignore them.
Personally, I wouldn’t. The main issue is during take off and landing (which might include a long taxi), where it’s hard to see what’s going on or intervene. It’s an A350 EDI-MCO, which at least means you are sat as close as possible in the middle pairs compared to other configs. You’ll still be facing away from each other with a small divider in the way, although you should be able to hold hands.
This is not a problem during takeoff and landing, as you can request a seat belt extender and sit next to the child in same seat, connecting the extender to your seat belt. Of course, works well only for small kids. Done this on both SQ and BA.
I flew UC with my 4 month old (outbound 4 month & 6 month Inbound) to Orlando.
He got a lot of attention from the crew and you could see the passengers faces drop a little when we got on but he slept all the way both legs of the flight.When we got off another customer actually commented how well behaved he was. Would I do it again?
Yes but as he could sit on our knee and go in his bassinet it was very easy to do. A 2 year old would be harder as they have to be in there own seat for take off and landing but this will only be 30 minutes- 1 hour & then they can sit on your seat with you
“Are we likely to annoy other travellers? I shouldn’t care but I don’t want to be stressed all the way there when it’s supposed to be a relaxing experience.”
Dont even worry about other travellers. We travelled recently to DXB on UC with a small kid and were similarly worried. Turned out the worst trouble was a mother of two who put her kids with their dad and was loudly playing a movie on her phone. Spoke to a crew member who quietly told the mother to use the headset.
Some OAPs will stare at the kids like they have never seen kids before, thinking they are entitled to a lounge like experience. Just ignore them.
We were also really nervous about other passengers when we took our 5 month old to the US last year. We got some regular head shaking and dirty looks from the OAP couple across the aisle who were on their 40 year wedding anniversary. The baby was a good as gold (and even if she wasn’t, do you think we also want her to be crying all the time?!), whereas the OAP drank about 10 bottles of those mini wines and was demanding the cabin crew regularly bring her more. As we left, she was pushing and shoving and hit into me whilst I was carrying the baby. I said ‘sorry, do you mind?’, to which she slurred back ‘not really, no’. She then proceeded to leave the aircraft, and fell down the seats as she was attempting to take some left behind amenity kits in J.
As we left, she was pushing and shoving and hit into me whilst I was carrying the baby
Ha! I also had an old guy who took exception to me leaving the aircraft before him (I was sat in front of him) and attempted unsuccessfully to trip me up. My airpods remained firmly in and I pretended not to notice… his passport didn’t work at the eGates and he subsequently had to join a lengthy border force queue 🙂
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