V-Flyer

I am using my amex card, building up miles. but my children are only 8 and 5. do you think that pe will be wasted on them?

I'd say yes to that, unless your two are taller than average and find a Y seat a squeeze.

That said, they might appreciate their parents being less frazzled and more relaxed at the end of the flight....

The problem with having a school age family is finding reward availability when they are out of school.

DocRo wrote:The problem with having a school age family is finding reward availability when they are out of school.

Yes - very lucky and very flexible.

It depends what Minky means by 'wasted' though.

Will they appreciate the leather seats and extra leg room ?

My advice? save the miles for a treat for you and mrs minky !

My 2 little cherubs are the same age and there has been the same discussion in my household (actually "discussion" would be overstating it - more of an "oh no we're not" from my dear wife).

So I'm probably going to sit and accumulate miles for the next 10 years or so and then use them on UC rewards when it's just the 2 of us traveling again.

Who knows, by then VS may have got its 4* rating back...

RC

If, like me, you predominantly travel with the family, I'd say it's only wasted if you are not too worried about travelling in PE.

Put another way, with young children, you can't travel one class whilst they travel another. So, if you want to travel PE, you simply need to weigh up wether the whole package (cash and miles/upgrade vouchers) is worth the outlay for you to travel PE.

At least, that's the wy I look at it.

And, warning, children appreciate it more than you think - at age 7, my daughter had already started grumbling about travelling Y - they do appreciate it, even if they don't "need" the additional leg room etc. They know it's special in some way.

Too right they notice Concorde! When I unsuccessfully tried to upgrade on my last flight, as we were boarding, my 5 year old asked, loudly, which were the seats that we were not allowed to sit in! They then insisted on going up to the bubble to look for themselves.

The other consideration with a miles PE upgrade is that the cost of a qualifying L fare plus the extra taxes rarely make it much better value than if you'd booked a K in the first place...

Our LO's are 7 & 5 and we flew PE at Easter and will again next week. Both DH and I want to fly PE and therefore the LO's do too.

I suppose in theory it could be classed as a waste but as previously mentioned we all have to sit together (and want to!!) so therefore we all fly PE....

I'll never forget a short haul flight we took to Spain when our eldest asked why don't the seats turn into beds like on our last flight!!! Our days of flying UC are over but we love PE and I suppose the girls gain a little more space to manoeuvre so not a waste imho.....

Ali

thank you for all your replies I suppose I will have to wait to find out if I ever get to the point of booking it and how much it will cost. I am desperate to try it, its a complete unknown to me, and as for uc, well thats just a distant dream of what could be.

I took my son on several long and short-haul flights before I ventured into PE. What I found was that on the short-haul flights there were very little problems as he was beautifully behaved. On the long-haul flights, although his behaviour was just as good, I was in a lather of anxiety as anyone who has had a child in their bed with them knows, children wriggle like mad when asleep. I barely slept (they were all overnight flight to/from JNB) to ensure that the person in the seat in front was not discommoded. PE may well have been wasted on him although I don't believe it was, but it certainly gave me peace of mind! Equally I know he appreciated the extra attention he got in a smaller cabin than he would have received in Economy.

For us a win-win situation but then there were only the two of us

It isn't wasted as such - whatever makes you (as the spender - miles or cash) happy.

Like the previous poster, we choose to fly a different class for everyone's comfort - restricting a toddler to an economy seat wouldn't be fun for us, him or the rest of the cabin... He might well have a shock when he grows up (and has to pay for his own seats), but - in the meantime - things work well for us.

Enjoy your miles however you choose to spend them

We have flown PE since our daughter was 5 I think. Husband is nearing 6ft and neither of us are small build. Having done it once we couldn't go back to economy. Saying that we used miles to upgrade to upper last august for the first time and since then have paid to upgrade to upper and our daughter will be flying upper with us (now 8) to miami in three weeks time. She's so excited