V-Flyer

It was probably one of the worst flights I've ever taken with Virgin and just wanted to see if any other v-flyers were on board.

Do tell more

you should do a TR.

Will do, just wanted to see if anyone else thought the same. To give you a preview, we had a screaming 9 month old in the snooze zone. Not happy.

inkiboo wrote:Will do, just wanted to see if anyone else thought the same. To give you a preview, we had a screaming 9 month old in the snooze zone. Not happy.

Hmm, That sounds like bad form and not even read the trip report yet!!
Personally very interested to see what the CC response was to any complaints about it.
Had a similar incident a few years back on a flight back from EWR, not a baby, but two bigger babies that had spent too much time in EWR CH. On that occasion the CC dealt with it very promptly and very well.

inkiboo wrote:Will do, just wanted to see if anyone else thought the same. To give you a preview, we had a screaming 9 month old in the snooze zone. Not happy.

Oh dear....looking forward to reading the TR to get the full low down

This is a really difficult one.. For the record a baby shouldn't be in the snooze zone. It maybe due to a skycot position, but the hint is in the name.. Ie it's there for people to sleep!

Babies in business class divides alot of people.. My personal view is people are entitled as anyone to have a child with them even in business. I'm flying out from manchester to Orlando in a months time and will have a 6 month year old in upper on the way out.

I've seen some really rude behaviour in my time from other passengers and even stood up to someone on a VS1 flight to New York who was mouthing off aggressively to young mother. Fortunetly the CC dealt with it and had some strong words with the guy..

What Virgin need to be is sensitive to both parties so skycot need to be at the back or in sensible locations..

As I said snooze zone is definitely not a place to put a baby and CC should have know that!

inkiboo wrote:Will do, just wanted to see if anyone else thought the same. To give you a preview, we had a screaming 9 month old in the snooze zone. Not happy.

Ouch.... I always thought little'uns were not allowed in the snooze zone for this exact reason n( Look forward to reading the TR and about the upper deck service.

Just taking a leap here, the VS46 usually runs on a B747 LHR config so UC is upstairs and in the nose... snooze zone, if memory serves, is the upstairs 5 rows. Not a nice place to be stuck with a crying baby. Poor kid, must have been really upset

No-one wants a screaming baby on a night flight.

Difficult one for the CC though - what should they do? Ask the family to move? What if they refused? They've paid just like everyone else after all, and rightly or wrongly were allocated those seats. Maybe there were no other available seats with bassinets?

Sorry to hear you had such a bad flight, I too always thought babies were not allowed in the snooze zone. v(
Emirates Customer Service have informed me that I can't choose seat 2A when I travel to Sydney because Private Suites 1A and 2A are blocked out for unaccompanied Minors? I can just imagine the automatic sliding doors opening and shutting and the excited children running between the two suites throughout the flight! Hope I'm wrong! :0

always a difficult topic. I have been in UC where a couple had a wonderfully well behaved toddler BUT they made the effort to ensure it was kept amused...and then in PE with a brat taht was allowed to roam around on a night flight by sleeping parents. it jumped on my wifes legs twice waking her up !!

I had this very same horror on my 09:20 JFK flight out of LHR on 26th Dec!! Unfortunately I was treated to not just one, but TWO screaming children for the duration of the flight. Having driven down from the Midlands that morning (setting off at 03:30am) an hours kip onboard would've been greatly appreciated! Not least - we were on the new A330 with the new UCS, to which the parents thought it was acceptable to allow the children to jump up and down on the seat, jump over the seat dividers, and one of them managed to break the reading light on their suite due to continually pulling and 'tugging' on it.

Numerous complaints were raised with the crew onboard, to which the best they could do was occasionally provide the parents with a 'death stare' when walking through the cabin. I realise that the crew are restricted in what they can realistically do in these situations, but I paid good money for my seat and it shouldn't be down to me to tell the parents to control their children.

If parents aren't able to control their own children then please don't inflict that on the rest of us travelling. If the child is crying or causing annoyance to others, then maybe some engagement is needed, or take the child into the galley in an attempt to calm it down out of view of everyone else.

On my flight I had a little boy and his sister sitting across from me and they were as good as gold, and dare I say it - better behaved and civilised than some adults I've seen onboard!

This is not my only experience of this type of behaviour onboard VS, and the last few flights I've been on have encountered issues with this very same problem! Whilst I know my response may be controversial for some to read, I find it extremely rude to see parents allowing their children to misbehave and cause much annoyance to fellow travellers, especially when travelling UC!

For me there is absolutely a responsibility on the parents who take a baby or child on board. I've also seen kids running up and down upperclass with the parents doing nothing. Like any situation parents needs to be aware and control their child. I'm still not sure why anyone would think a snooze zone is the right place for a baby!

I also there needs to be a responsibility on the people around them. What I strongly don't agree with is where it's clear someone is making an effort but there baby won't stop crying, then people go to have words. You can't always control your baby esp if its a bumpy flight. In that circumstance it probably only makes the situation worse. I would have strong words back if that happened to me.

The case I mentioned above was when a mum was on VS1 to newark and she had been in the galley for ages trying to calm him down. The baby had been crying for a while and this guy got up and had a right go at the women. She looked a bit scared so I stepped in. As it happened it only made situation worse as the CSS had to warn the guy.

This is a topic where people rarely agree, but as I said I think babies should be allowed but parents need to take responsibility.

For the record, the worst behaviour I've ever seen on upperclass hasn't been babies but adults.. From one guy who snored so loud it would wake economy, through to a group who were just obnoxious..

I think the 45/6 has been on the 600 the last few days where snooze zone is the first 5/6 rows of the cabin just divided from the rest of the cabin by a curtain so wherever the baby was in 17a or 1a or the bassinet position of 8g (there is nowhere else a bassinet can go) then I imagine everyone in the cabin would have heard it screaming.
It's very difficult for crew yes we could encourage the parent to bring the baby to the galley to try and calm it but the whole cabin would still be able to hear it as the airbus is so quiet that any noise travels a long way. If a baby is intent on screaming there's not a lot the crew can do. Yes it is very very annoying for pax who have paid a lot of money especially in snooze zone but all the crew can do is ask the parent if there is anything they can do to help.
If it was the 744 with snooze zone upstairs then that would be very odd indeed if ground staff allowed a baby to be sat up there??
The matter of misbehaving children is totally different and the cases mentioned above Completly unacceptable. They should not be allowed to run riot and I have seen on several occasions crew ask patents to control their kids only for the parents to become really aggressive and turn on the crew for 'interfering' and on one occasion we had to get the police to meet the aircraft as a father had been verbally and physically abusive to a crew member who asked him to stop his two young sons fighting and swearing at each other - such fun!

also, changes in cabin pressure can be painful, especially for younger children/babies ears. Could have been part of the problem.

Sorry to hear this. Sounds like other things might not have been great either... ?

The snooze zone is a bit of a fiction, really. On a 346 the division is marked by a curtain which will not repel a baby's screams. On the 744 you have a bit of separation from the Y passengers but a crying baby will be heard regardless. Such is public transport, I guess. The earplugs help!

Was it a full cabin? Maybe the parent didn't even want to be in the snooze zone?

My last trip was a few years ago, flying back in UC - and there was a misbehaving child on there, I mentioned it in my TR. This little darling was grabbing people's feet while they were asleep then running back to her own seat before they saw her. v(

I can never sleep on flights so she ignored me as I was sitting up watching a film (clash of the titans I believe!). her parents and grandparents had settled down in the front 4 seats and promptly nodded off. ][|)

Thankfully, in many years of long-haul overnight flights I've never encountered any screaming brats

However, a few years ago on a LHR-LAX (UC) flight my partner was constantly & unnervingly stared at for 9 hours by what can only be described as the child of the Anti-Christ ):

I apologise if this child was the spawn of anyone on this board but next time, please ensure it wears dark glasses

at240 wrote:Was it a full cabin? Maybe the parent didn't even want to be in the snooze zone?

That would be my initial thought.