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

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

As a ypung person I fail to see what cant be done virtually

In the business world a lot can't be done virtually.

My husband works on power plants, certain meetings can be done virtually and are presently being done virtually (right now my husband talks with people in France (or Germany can't remember), India and the U.S. but equipment tests cannot, engineers do not virtually monitor steam tests, they do not count pipes virtually, and etc.

 

[DLgal]

As a ypung person I fail to see what cant be done virtually

In person site visits are necessary for a lot of industries.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I feel like something isn’t right here.

I guess it could be pandemic related? But this just doesn’t make sense.

Disgraceful Is a really strong word to use and 5-10 people is a lot. The whole of you encounter one jerk, he’s probably a jerk. But if you run into jerks all day...

I’m one of those uppity people who only fly business/first when I travel and it’s all on my own dime. Rarely do I even clock who else is in the cabin outside of my group because 1) the configuration of seats is such that once you’re seated you can’t really see many other people and 2) most people aren’t actually all that interested in others when traveling. I often look a half step above old timey train hobo as I travel in comfort with zero jewelry or makeup and never been looked at sideways.

People have mentioned that maybe they were upset because of the lack of service but honestly there isn’t that much service There’s usually meal/drink service for the first hour or so and then usually it’s lights off and everybody disappears until just before landing when they feed you again (way too much food in business class lol). Everybody is sleeping or watching movies and I’ve seen a few people ring the call button but mostly people just find the attendants in the galley on their way back from the restrooms if they need drinks or to grab a snack.

From my experiences on long haul flights, this was either a plane full of angry cuckoos or something happened that you’re not realizing.

 

[Keli]

I'm not sure what went down since I wasn't there but I have to say if 5-10 people said I did something wrong and/or unprofessional between two different flights I would have to rethink what I was doing and make some changes for next time. That's a lot of people to take exception with your behavior enough to say something about it.

 

[Pamlur]

I am in agreement with the people who say you cleared it with your managers, your crew members were okay with it, let it go and do it again. It is valuable to your son, and as long as you are professional, don't worry about it. Some may have been upset because a traveling companion didn't get an upgrade because of your son.

 

[fly girl]

I was cabin crew for 20 years with a legacy airline in the states. I know the ins and outs of crew behavior and non-reving. Including my child non-reving first class international.

Something is not adding up.

No way are passengers in both outbound and inbound flights going to call out your actions unless it was really bad.

Talking to your kid isn’t going to illicit that. Those passengers are in their own world and encapsulated lie flat seats watching movies, doing work on their laptop, or sleeping. Unless you were obnoxiously loud or outright ignoring paying passengers, they really don’t care.

Crew suggested he take off his mask? Ok, this is where I think we’re being punked. No way. This just isn’t legit. Right now masks are like seatbelts, a requirement. As OP said, he wore it so that can’t be the reason for the complaints.

Yes, as a non-rev you are supposed to be absolutely discreet as possible. This obviously didn’t happen, but it is not cause for all the complaints. First class passengers fly enough to know about employee perks. This isn’t a shock to them.

My initial thought was they were upset you’re traveling with him right now, during a pandemic. But as other posters pointed out, that is baseless because they’re traveling too. Sure maybe one or two may have thought that, but ten? Nope.

This just doesn’t add up. OP is leaving out a key piece, or trolling.

 

[fly girl]

Some may have been upset because a traveling companion didn't get an upgrade because of your son.

Paying passengers will always go before employee perks. Upgrades will go before non-revs. This isn’t the reason for the complaints.

 

[bcla]

Paying passengers will always go before employee perks. Upgrades will go before non-revs. This isn’t the reason for the complaints.

I've flown on buddy passes before. A relative of mine was a travel agent, and a few sales agent gave them to him for booking a large tour via that airline. We flew to Hawaii where I got to ride in business class - at least outbound. We could only get two business class seats on the return flight, although it might have been because my relative persuaded the agent at LAX.

It was kind of odd flying standby. We worried about whether or not a full flight meant we had to find a hotel for another day, and whether or not we needed to cancel a flight. Add to that being on an international trip without a cell phone. We even made some last minute arrangements, although my travel agent relative was used to dealing with stuff after leading several international tour groups.

 

[KatMac]

Throughout my life, I’ve been the type to get into trouble defending the underdog or victim. My overwhelming instinct is that you are neither. Look, I get that there are uppity, mean, cranky and potentially jealous people. But there isn’t 5-10 of those people complaining about the same thing on two flights. You’re not telling us everything and that is your right. But going on what we’ve been given, I can’t imagine how anybody would be comfortable saying with certainty that you behaved in a professional manner. Had there been one complaint, then it would be easy to write it off as an uppity, mean, cranky or jealous passenger. But even two would be enough for me to wonder what the you’re not telling us. Five to ten is enough to convince me that something went wrong on your end. For every person who complained, you can bet there are several more who kept silent. It sounds like there were too many unhappy people to write it off as cranky or jealous people. Maybe you’re not even aware of the issue, but I think you are.

If it’s validation you’re seeking, looking around, I’d say you got plenty. If it’s honest assessment, you’re the only one who can do that because you’re the only one with all the information.

 

[Karin1984]

Crew suggested he take off his mask? Ok, this is where I think we’re being punked. No way. This just isn’t legit. Right now masks are like seatbelts, a requirement. As OP said, he wore it so that can’t be the reason for the complaints.

This is probably depending on country. Where I live no masks are required for kids under 12 (?, could also be 11 or 13), the child is 11. I've just checked my national airline and it's not required for kids under 10. At the national airport it's not required for kids under 13. So that he doesn't have to wear the mask could be true.

 

[Sleepyhead]

I am in agreement with the people who say you cleared it with your managers, your crew members were okay with it, let it go and do it again. It is valuable to your son, and as long as you are professional, don't worry about it. Some may have been upset because a traveling companion didn't get an upgrade because of your son.

I was absolutely professional at all times.
Going to take him again once more before Christmas.

 

[Sleepyhead]

Of all the times you've responded to your thread, of all the comments people have made, you've decided to just now tell people the reason they found it unprofessional between two flights was the presence of your son on the flight? Doesn't sound believable here. We're missing something or there's a reason you omitted or didn't say that was the reason that in your first comment or any other comments.

I did mention before that the complainant's we're due to the presence of my son being with me on the same flight that I was working on.

 

[porschegrl]

I was absolutely professional at all times.

So then what was the purpose of asking for opinions here?

 

[fly girl]

This is probably depending on country. Where I live no masks are required for kids under 12 (?, could also be 11 or 13), the child is 11. I've just checked my national airline and it's not required for kids under 10. At the national airport it's not required for kids under 13. So that he doesn't have to wear the mask could be true.

Good point.

But I still find it puzzling. OP stated it’s a long haul UK based airline. I could be wrong, but I think all long haul UK airlines require masks over the age of 6. However, the part I find sketchy is that she said a fellow crew member suggested he could take off his mask. If it’s a rule right now with her airline, fellow crew members aren’t going to risk getting themselves in trouble with their supervisors over OP’s kid. I can see bending rules like giving her son an extra large dessert. That’s far different than not complying with safety protocols by telling OP her son could take off his mask.

 

[starry_solo]

Isn’t it weird that the OP joined this forum only a few days ago and this is her first post? If I had a similar issue, I wouldn’t be posting it on a Disney themed board, but a travel board/forum.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

I did mention before that the complainant's we're due to the presence of my son being with me on the same flight that I was working on.

Not really because you just now explained the unprofessional part was your son being on the plane, not that it was the talking with your son, not that you might have been paying too much attention to him, or some other reason. Multiple people asked for more information for why the passengers would find it unprofessional (and disgraceful) you side stepped that until late. Sorry makes it more like you just found a convenient reason instead of maybe it being something you did. But have fun on your future flights with your son, it's not a perk you should feel like you can't use just be more aware of what you are doing the next time.

 

[Mysterian]

Isn’t it weird that the OP joined this forum only a few days ago and this is her first post? If I had a similar issue, I wouldn’t be posting it on a Disney themed board, but a travel board/forum.

It's kooky. Unless Sleepyhead actually enrolled in multiple forums to get a broad scope of answers? I'm picturing everyone from automotive forums to Furries, Bronies, and Ren fair people all discussing this too.

Since FlyGirl has years of experience in these matters and she sees that a piece of the puzzle is missing, so would many others who frequent a travel forum. Not sure, I'm just pretending to be house detective here because I'm on currently on hold with a vendor call.

 

[Sleepyhead]

Spoke to one of the managers today and found out I'm not the worst in this airline for these sorts of things!! Some crew have even have their children help them on the flight, obviously this was done extremely diligently to ensure that safety wasn't impacted and that the service and passenger experience wasn't impacted!!

 

[meajuly5]

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.

would have been wise to take his seat photo at that time as well

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I don't think any of us can truthfully or even constructively answer the OP's questions since we weren't there to witness the entire situation. Apparently the airline allows kids to travel with their working parents, so the OP didn't do anything wrong in that respect. It's the question of unprofessionalism that can't be answered without a detailed picture of what occurred during the flight.

Does the child have a loud speaking voice? Did he have constant questions and requests, even if ignored by the OP? Did the child tend to pop up out of his seat more than a few times? Was he in a window seat and had to walk back and forth in front of his seatmate? Even if these types of things happened a few times, it may have been enough to annoy the other business class passengers. I'm not saying this was the case because I truly don't know. It's also important to note that a parent, naturally, will have a completely different perspective of their own child's behavior. Parents are around their kids all the time and tend to be a lot more tolerant of their kids' behavior. It's very difficult for any of us to evaluate any potential unprofessional behavior without having actually been there to see it.