- Some parents pay more to travel in business class to make flying with babies less stressful.
- Flight attendants told Business Insider they don't see a problem with kids in business class.
Traveling with kids is no easy feat, especially on long-haul flights.
Some parents splurge on pricier business-class tickets that promise extra comfort and better customer service to lessen the burden.
Business Insider previously spoke to moms who swear that flying business class with their babies is worth every extra penny.
But what do flight attendants make of babies in business class?
BI spoke to two flight attendants who shared their unfiltered thoughts on the hotly debated practice and whether it's worth it.
Rest assured, flight attendants don't care if your baby cries
Leanna Coy, a 24-year-old flight attendant who frequently shares travel tips on TikTok, told BI that regardless of cabin class, passengers shouldn't feel entitled to fly without the sound of a baby crying.
"That's something the parent can't control," she said. "Even if they are crying, that's something fair to expect, whether you're in business class or not."
Speaking as a flight attendant and someone who travels semi-frequently outside her job, she said travelers now have plenty of options to mitigate the disturbances a crying baby can cause while traveling.
Coy recommends noise-canceling headphones, which have helped her reach a point "where babies crying don't really bother me that much."
Lea, a 28-year-old American Airlines flight attendant who goes by @flightattendantbaelee on TikTok and Instagram, echoed Coy's thoughts.
"You can't control an infant," Lea, who asked BI to omit her last name for privacy reasons, said. "If they're in my business class, fine. If they're not, I mean, that's great, but I don't have a preference toward it."
Flight attendants get why other passengers in business class might not love sitting next to a baby
While she doesn't have a preference, Lea said she understands why other passengers in business class aren't always enthusiastic about the prospect of flying next to an infant.
"Business class is more so for peace and quiet. More people are getting things done on their laptops or just want to be excluded from everyone else," she said. "Babies can kind of interrupt that."
At the same time, she said parents who fly business with their children are paying just as much, if not more, than other travelers, so they deserve to be there just as much as anyone else.
"They pay just as much as you pay," she said, referring to other business-class passengers. "Most of the time, business people aren't even paying for their tickets. Their companies are. So obviously, the parents with infants probably pay more than you paid."
The price of a plane ticket for an infant varies across airlines. The travel agency Sky Scanner reported that children under 2 who can sit on a parent's lap generally fly for free on domestic flights. On international flights, it's more common for airlines to charge the price of a discounted adult fare for an infant.
Coy said it's usually not children under 2 who cause chaos in business class.
"What I think is more of a problem is if it's a 3-year-old or so and they're kicking the seat and coughing on people," she said, adding that she recently dealt with that experience as a passenger on a domestic flight.
"I know if I paid for business class and had that kind of thing happen, I probably would be upset as a passenger," Coy added.
Lea agreed, adding that she sometimes finds it jarring as a flight attendant to serve toddlers and young children in business.
"It does always shock me when it's toddlers or elementary school kids or something like that," she said. "It's like, I'm literally serving a child that's very much asking for whatever they want."
In Lea's experience, young children in business class tend to be "very specific" about their needs but are generally well-behaved and "mature."
"They have their headphones on, they have their tablets, and then they won't really bother anyone," she said. "It's not too often that you get a screaming kid or a kid running around."
The flight attendants see why some parents only fly business class with their babies
Both flight attendants said they understand why parents with infants who can afford it would opt to fly in business class.
"Those cabins are usually a lot more comfortable," Coy said. "That gives the baby a more comfortable environment, where they'll probably have a more enjoyable flight, and the mom can relax a little bit more."
Another benefit to flying business class with a baby is fewer passengers in the cabin, which means flight attendants can provide hands-on service to parents with young kids, Lea said.
"It's unfortunate because that's very accurate," she said. "In business class, we have a lot less people to cater to and you are paying for more of an experience. So that's what we give as opposed to main cabin. There are 200 plus people, so you won't get that personalized experience."
But Lea said parents can make their journeys smoother — no matter where they sit on a plane — by working around their child's schedule and knowing how to discipline them.
"There are extraordinary kids that sit in the main cabin. It has nothing to do with your class, your financial status, or your tax bracket," she said. "There are certain parents that make their kids very mature and very structured in public, and then there are some that don't."
How a child behaves on a flight is ultimately more "about the parent and less about the kid," she added.