I was reading this week’s online Business Traveller and was drawn into a forum topic that seems to repeat every few months, should kids be allowed in executive lounges? There are some pretty funny posts, though the consensus seems to be, if you’ve been a good parent and taught your kids how to behave in a lounge and/or first class, then there is no reason to differentiate them from adults who can sometimes act even more childish. What do you think??
nickienelson – 10/10/2012 23:06 GMT
Believe me, I’d rather share a lounge with six children rather than one loudmouthed “executive” talking on a cell phone! Especially one with a headset, who paces restlessly back and forth behind my chair arguing about his (usually it’s a he) latest million-dollar deal. These people are some of the rudest travelers I’ve encountered anywhere.
rjbrownmalta – 10/13/2012 15:10 GMT
Flying to Vancouver with my wife and two nine year old twin girls in first class on BA in December.
Will they use the exec lounges? – yes
Will they be well behaved? – totally (in fact they will probably be glued to the AVOD for the whole flight)
Will they be allowed to annoy other passengers? Definitely not??Will they be better behaved than other passengers? – probably??Do they have the right to these services? – absolutely
Do I care what other passengers think about them? Not in the slightest, though is always nice to receive comments(as we often do) as to how well behaved they are.
The issue (if indeed there is one) is purely down to responsible parenting. My two know that if they misbehave, their next seat will be something like 55f and worse still we could even be tempted to send them as unaccompanied minors (as indeed one of our friends has done) whilst we are up the front.
SimonRowberry – 10/10/2012 00:16 GMT
I’ll leave you all with a thought about who should be where.
Monday October 1, around 16.30, Scanorama Lounge, CPH. A guy on his mobile phone, first speaking Norwegian then, later, English. I tried to ignore him and this crap went on for over an hour. I thought he was within a few feet. I got up to “water the horse” and found that he was actually sitting on the other side of the Lounge, some 20 metres away. And yet I could hear him like he was next to me.
Loads of kids in the Lounge at the same time. I hardly knew they were there and they most certainly didn’t disturb me like den norske tosken did.
I know who’d I rather have in any Lounge or any premium cabin. The kids don’t know better and don’t yet have the life experience. So many “business travellers” do, and yet still act like R Soles.
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8 comments
If I could figure out who the loud-mouthed execs work for, I’d e-mail a transcript of their multi-million dollar deal phone call to their competitors and to the Board of Directors!
Seriously, while the loud-mouths are a pain, the issue is the one ill-behaved child that runs amok in the lounge – that’s an order of magnitude more annoying (probably the spawn of the aforementioned loud-mouth). Wouldn’t it be nice if the lounge personnel would police both?
+1 @Scott Totally agree!
I guess I wonder whether any of you have ever been in the lounges of foreign carriers outside of the US. MOST of them have areas specifically for children, with games, books, and so on. US carriers don’t seem to get it, and I suspect the reason is that most “executive” flyers in the US are simply Y-flyers who bought a lounge membership. In the Middle East, Europe, or Asia, first class lounges have high rollers…and their families.
For sure kids have every right to be in lounges. No question there. That said, if I could pay more to make sure they were NOT present, I would.
Or the airline can set apart a family area like United in Houston or ANZ in Sydney. While we are on he topic, what about all the people who snore while traveling? They are worse ban any child on a long haul plane.
I notice there are no against stories published. I think kids with things to do and well behaved are fine. On the other hand children whose parents think the exec lounge is a daycare or they just want to scream to be heard is a different story and isn’t acceptable.
If you can afford it, then go ahead.
What makes the people in economy less important than the people in business and first?
Kids absolutely belong in executive lounges. I’ve caught up in a bad way when airlines say they’re going to have a specific children’s area (usually the back) of the plane. I mean, do they smell? Are they too loud? Unfortunately, I’ve had the “eyes on me” feeling when sitting with my three year old on a United flight (and I was in business class mind you). What turned me off most, and it wasn’t the customers, it was the flight attendants! They were so unhelpful when I ask for just extra napkins for heaven’s sake. I just want to say to them, “Save your champagne for the next drunk millionaire and give me some napkins for my 3 year old, this is her first time flying!”