Do you think I did anything wrong with this or was unprofessional?

[mjkacmom]

How old is your son? Is he too young to take a selfie of himself?

 

[Sleepyhead]

How old is your son? Is he too young to take a selfie of himself?

He's 11. And just to clarify he asked me to take a photo once and that was done quietly with no flash as so not to disturb other passengers.

 

[Sleepyhead]

So... at least from my experience and from my mom's perspective... yeah. You were unprofessional. The issue isn't that your son was on the flight, the issue is that you were causing a broo-ha-ha in business class, which is typically pretty quiet as most people are working or trying to sleep - especially on a long haul flight.

I absolutely did not cause a "broo-ha-ha" in business class!

The passengers seem to make it out like the issue was that my son was on the same flight that I was working on.

 

[Sleepyhead]

It was 5-10 people between the inbound and outbound, so not all on the same flight.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My mom worked for an airline growing up, so I've been on tons of free flights. *Especially* when flying in business or first class, my mom was adamant that we not draw any attention to ourselves or mention in any way that we were using her passes. Our goal was to stay low, be quiet, and enjoy our free trip to our destination. She would have been mortified if the paying passenger sitting directly next to us knew we were using passes, let alone 5 or 10 people.

So... at least from my experience and from my mom's perspective... yeah. You were unprofessional. The issue isn't that your son was on the flight, the issue is that you were causing a broo-ha-ha in business class, which is typically pretty quiet as most people are working or trying to sleep - especially on a long haul flight.

I'm guessing this is more what happened. Business class passengers (now that I read the OP's response, I missed it before) are used to paying a premium for seats, many are business travelers. I see the jealousy thing less and less now. Many of business class passengers if they are business travelers aren't even paying for their flights, their companies typically do. Of all the travel my husband has done never once has he paid for his flight if for business, it's on his company credit card 100% of the time.

What is probably more likely is a disruption to the experience. Could be seeing a kid, could be the selfie, could be feeling like the attention was less about the passengers as a whole. I'm not sure I would describe it as entitled there just that there is an experience sold with Business Class.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It was 5-10 people between the inbound and outbound, so not all on the same flight.

You said "Lot's (between 5-10) of other passengers commented during the flight " I would not take that to mean two flights but if it was two flights then the odds that it was something on your end that caused the comments is the same if not more.

 

[Mortlives]

I fly business class unless I have no other choice (circulation problems so I need the extra pitch), and I would have thought you were fine. But there is a breed of person who flies in the same cabin I do that has an inordinate amount of entitlement (#NotAllBusinessClass), and would probably feel that anything that took your attention away from fulfilling their every need was Unprofessional, and Not The Done Thing. If you provided the same level of service you always do, I'd say you were fine, and some people always have to have something to complain about.

Welcome to the Dis.

 

[abdmom]

Probably because I did come over and speak to him for a few minutes every now and again and he wanted me to take a picture of him in his business class seat.

If you were speaking to him more than once or twice per flight, it was probably disturbing the other passengers. I fly long-haul flights, about half the time in business class, and would be annoyed if one of the flight crew kept coming close to my seat to chat with one of the passengers.

The photo taking could also be an issue. Passengers have been threatened for taking photos in airports or on airplanes. https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/...rouble-for-taking-photos-or-videos-on-a-plane

 

[happily single]

What business is it of the passengers to comment at all if your son was behaving. Many professions allow certain perks to their employees and families. As long as it did not interfere with your work performance during the flights I do not think you did anything wrong or that it was unprofessional. You had cleared it with your supervisors so there should be no problem. I am sure it was exciting for your son to see you in the work environment and hope you had fun at your destination.

My question as well was how they did know he was your son? Did the passengers comments that they thought it was inappropriate that he was using your free flights or that he was on the flight while you were working?

I, personally, would have thought it wonderful (and said so) that your son was able to be with you at work.

MJ

I agree. I think its awesome that you were able to bring your son. I didn't see how old your son is, but I would assume he is old enough to look after himself on the flight.

 

[hertamaniac]

And how would those that jeered against him know that you didn't pay a full-price fare?

 

[DLgal]

You were probably paying too much attention to your son and talking too much to him. That would have been annoying, to be honest. Any sort of chatter near me on a plane sets off my nerves, but that is why I wear noise cancelling headphones on flights.

 

[Sleepyhead]

The only special service he got was a photo of him in the cockpit, but this was done when we (crew) boarded the aircraft so other paying passengers wouldn't have been aware as they we're not onboard the aircraft at this point.

 

[Sleepyhead]

You did nothing wrong, it was approved by your employer so its no one else's business. People take issue with employee perks as they think why should I have to pay when he doesn't. Its begrudgery at its highest form. People get the hump in general with airline perks as they think you get paid huge amounts and have a glamourous life.

This is what all the other crew were saying to me. It's fine as they do as well and it's approved by our employer.

 

[Ellie008]

Talking to him multiple times during the flights as well as stopping to take his picture... sounds to me like you were paying too much attention to him. Honestly, it does sound unprofessional to me. If that was truly all you were doing, and he didn't disrupt the other passengers, then I wouldn't have made a complaint, but I definitely would have noticed and thought to myself that it was unprofessional.

I have seen kids fly as unaccompanied minors, who have to be looked after by the flight attendants, and they don't get that much attention.

I would bet the people who do this all the time tell their kids to behave as if they were flying alone, rather than talking to mom every chance they get.

 

[Sleepyhead]

I would bet the people who do this all the time tell their kids to behave as if they were flying alone, rather than talking to mom every chance they get.

I regularly fly with crew who do this all the time and them and and there kids behaved like we did. And my son wasn't talking to me every chance he got.

 

[mjkacmom]

Talking to him multiple times during the flights as well as stopping to take his picture... sounds to me like you were paying too much attention to him. Honestly, it does sound unprofessional to me. If that was truly all you were doing, and he didn't disrupt the other passengers, then I wouldn't have made a complaint, but I definitely would have noticed and thought to myself that it was unprofessional.

I have seen kids fly as unaccompanied minors, who have to be looked after by the flight attendants, and they don't get that much attention.

I would bet the people who do this all the time tell their kids to behave as if they were flying alone, rather than talking to mom every chance they get.

This is my thought, I went back to a pp and talking for a few minutes is a long time for a flight attendant to talk to a passenger, especially if it happened several times. My daughter flew at 11 and although I paid the fee, I knew she was mature enough to just sit quietly during the flight. I had assumed the child was younger and needed attention.

 

[kdonnel]

I don't think you did anything wrong but I bet there are many people on flyertalk.com that will say you totally ruined their flying experience.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Point of reference - I'm an American who has never flown anything but coach;
I flew my son (mature for his age) alone to see his uncle when he was 8 or 9. We checked him in, then the flight attendants handled everything. I appreciated whatever attention they paid to him along the way, as I would have had I just been a passenger on the flight. I see no reason why any of the passengers would object to your son on the flight or why they would see it any differently.

Makes no sense to me. Relax - sounds like you are not the one with the problem.

 

[Tinijocaro]

I regularly fly with crew who do this all the time and them and and there kids behaved like we did. And my son wasn't talking to me every chance he got.

My take is that this shouldn't have been an issue at all. I do think some people who fly business class have a bit of a privileged attitude and could have been bothered that you spoke to your son. Not sure why but that's what it is sounding like. That would not have bothered me in the least. He wasn't whining or crying or constantly getting up or kicking the seat in front of him. Those things would bother me. There is no rule of silence in business class.

 

[Ellie008]

I regularly fly with crew who do this all the time and them and and there kids behaved like we did. And my son wasn't talking to me every chance he got.

So... do your colleagues get comments like this too then?
I imagine that if an airline consistently got negative comments regarding flight attendants behavior on flights where their family was present, then they would address it with their staff and you would know about it.

If not, then either you were incredibly unlucky both times you did it by getting passengers that made negative remarks when this doesn't happen to other people, OR you/your child behaved differently than your colleagues do and it was noticed.