..."I question the common sense and courtesy of parents who fly first class with a child..." Huh ????

You pay for first class, therefore anyone who can afford it, has the right to be there.

I don't blame the child in this instance, but the parents who let him get away with this type of behaviour ( speaking as the parent of a 3 year old ) and the FA's who let the safety of a child be put in question by allowing him to continue to run through the aisles with a seat belt sign on, and turbulence.

Ryan - If adults misbehave they are accountable for their actions and it their fault (or the FAs fault) for not controlling them. They should be held responsible for any disruptions they cause during a flight (just because some adults misbehave doesn't make it okay).

I don't think all children should be banned from first class, just very small ones (infants, toddlers) who are at times uncontrollable.

wagonwheel - you have taken that quote completely out of context. The comment is regarding a child on a lap which means the child is under the age of two. As I said previously, it is hard for even the best parent to control a child under the age of two at times. I'm not sure what would provoke a parent to take a child under the ago of two into first class - to me that is just asking for trouble (IMO).

GoJacks,
Slapping a 3 year old to get them to stop having a tantrum would, I suspect, be about as effective as trying to explain to you why slapping a 3 year old who is having tantrum won't work.

Putting kids in time-out or doing things like taking away toys as punishment aren't the problem relative to my Dad's 1970's method of the belt. The problem is that parent's don't discipline their kids AT ALL, not the method they choose.

Snowrooster:

I think I read it right !

While we're at it lets ban all children from 5 star hotels, restaurants, cars over $50K, lets see...oh yes, upscale shopping malls, museums ( very expensive and quiet in there ), the ballet, etc. etc.

My daughter who is a flight attendant would have told the parents in no uncertain terms to control that child.

wagonwheel - Again, I never said "all children." Let me spell this out to you one more time . . . I am referring to CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF TWO which is what this post is about (a child on a lap which means he/she is under the age of two). We are also talking about first class on an airplane, not any of the other places you mentioned. Try sticking to the subject at hand.

Ryan, Check the spelling. I never wrote "slap the 3 yo".

That was directed ast the parents, and of course,sarcastic.

Flying in first class with an infant on your lap is a waste of money or miles anyway, which further indicates the idiocy of the parents in this case.

"While we're at it lets ban all children from 5 star hotels, restaurants, cars over $50K, lets see...oh yes, upscale shopping malls, museums ( very expensive and quiet in there ), the ballet, etc. etc."

Okay.

snowrooster, you may have meant "children under the age of two", but that's not what you said. It's so easy for misunderstandings to occur, isn't it?

I always have my Bose QuietComfort headphones... they help tremendously.
I seem to get yappy flight attendants on my travels.
They stand near by and don't realize how loud they are talking.
The headphones do not eliminate noise 100% but they do take it down to background noise.
Also, they do not work well when you want to sleep.
For that I carry good high tech ear plugs.
They take virtually no space and I just tuck them into side pockets on my travel bag.

Go Jacks,
I stand corrected. Having had a 3 yo throw a tantrum, there are times where'd I gladly take the slap in the face as an alternative.

A couple more thoughts on this subject from a mother and grandmother:

(1) I think a child that age should definitely have his own seat and not be allowed out, especially when there is turbulence and the seat belt light is on, and definitely NOT allowed to run up and down the aisles, and climb on other passengers at ANY time, for any reason, even if he is screaming. The flight attendant should have INSISTED the parents hold him.......... or else.

(2) There are times that only the Almighty himself could stop a very young toddler screaming......... and to those who are sure you can definitely stop it if you're a "good" parent, I'm afraid it doesn't work that way.

(3) First Class is not a big deal to some people who can afford it routinely. To them, it's a bigger, more comfortable seat with plenty of legroom.......... and they probably give no thought to the people around them who may be flying First Class the first and maybe only time in their lives, and who are horrified to have a screaming child next to them.

(4) I have huge sympathy for the people on this flight, and I, too, would have been severely ticked, but I don't think the airline can be held responsible for the discomfort (except that they didn't INSIST the child be held all the time.)

Barbara - Yes, misunderstanding are ineveitable at times. To me, it is obvious that I was referring to children under two because these are the only children that are allowed to ride on laps on planes, but I realize I know this because I've dealt w/the situation myself w/my own children recently. However I did respond and clarify that I was referring to children under two once and wagonwheel still insisted that I was referring to "all children." I think it was pretty clear I was talking about children in first class, and not shopping malls or museums (which I happen to take my own children to regularly).

Ryan,I have two little ones myself and it is a constant test of patience which I often fail miserably.

I lose arguments with my 4yo daughter on a daily basis.

Bonniebroad, I agree totally. (From someone who is the mother of three and hopefully, not a grandmother any time soon!)

It's a real drag for a parent to have a screaming child, no matter where you have one. I once rode next to a couple who had a cholicky baby, which means something was wrong with the childs' indigestion system and so they would be screaming for most of their childhood until their body worked out the problem. It was awful to see them struggling with the child.

After I had my son I found I was much better at being around screaming children. Now, he's a teen and I'm thinking I wish he were a little guy once again.

I think the idea that first class should be reserved for those w/o children under two is laughable. They pay, they fly, same as everyone. There's been a few adults I wished I could have locked in the bathroom on some flights.

Perhaps there was something going on with this child that wasn't immediately apparent to other passengers or even to the flight attendants. I travelled lots of times with my kids when they were little - and there are 4 of them, with only 5 1/2 years between the oldest and the youngest. Not once did I have any kind of persistent behaviour problem with any of them. Things came up, of course - whining, yelling, squabbling, wanting to get up and run around, all the usual kiddy stuff - but nothing lasted very long, primarily because I perceived this as a safety issue. The kids had to sit reasonably still in their seats and not cause big disturbances because we were in an airplane with lots of other people, flying more than 30,000 feet above the ground, and that was that. The priority was to keep the situation under control NO MATTER WHAT. Either the parents on GoTravel's flight didn't have the same priority, or there was some problem that prevented them from doing what they needed to do.

FYI - A child under two on a parents lap does not have a ticket (and no money was paid for that child to be on the flight). That's fine if some of you disagree and think children under two belong in first class. My opinion is they don't (and I take my kids - ages 2 and 3 - pretty much everywhere). I just think that if you are paying for a "first class" experience that's what you should get. For me, first class would be a big expense and a big deal, maybe to others it is not. To each his own.

For the record, it didn't bother me too much because of the sound buffer from the bulkhead.

However, everyone in First Class that I could see was miserable. Miserable.

I question the airlines for allowing a lap child in First Class.

I would not be surprised to find out that USAir did issue free upgrade vouchers to the rest of the passengers in First Class.

You could tell how peeved everyone was. The only other thing that entertained the toddler was pressing the call button for the FA. This child was tall enough to stand on the seat and reach the call button.

I just think something is wrong here and can't figure out where the breakdown occured.