Emirates has just implemented a new policy that’s sure to be controversial. Some people will celebrate it, while others will be miffed.
Continue reading: Wow: Emirates Bans Young Kids From First Class When Redeeming Miles
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The only controversial part of this is only applying this to the miles redemptions. Not allowing kids in the first class is absolutely logical, and all airlines should have such policy, but when an airline only does it when it in instances where it doesn't hurt their bottom line, it becomes clear that customer experience is not the reason why they do it.
How about AF not allowing La Premiere lap infants. They do not want to ruin the experience for the pampered folks.
Or maybe toddlers eat too much caviar.
as someone who is easily annoyed by kids, I understand the impulse toward banning them from F, though ultimately that's too blunt an instrument for addressing such annoyance imho.
what is absurd is doing it specifically to punish loyalty program members. as nice a product as emirates may offer, i'll always take a dim view of airlines that view their loyalty members as hostile combatants.
From an airlines perspective, a miles ticket redemption is treated closer to employee/staff travel (with airlines such as Emirates even offering confirmed first tickets to a subsection of their senior employees), compared to revenue / cash travel. Whether it’s staff travel or miles redemptions, these are deeply discounted fares in their perspective. They often even have share the same fare class on their systems. The age discrimination for staff travel in first class has been implemented for years and is creeping over to redemption travel now.
Great but should be applied on Cash paid tickets also, on every Airline. First Class is not a playground, besides, kids don't appreciate it! They don't know the difference.
Why should kids be banned? My 5 year old daughter acts more mature on flights than most adults. We'll be on an Emirates business class flight in April and she'll be sleeping 8+ hours of the 11 hour flight. I was hoping to upgrade that flight but I guess I'm SOL.
Great move. Hopefully, they extend it to revenue passengers as well, and other airlines follow suit. Created more room for my dog!
Why would be kids be noisy in First Class? Because their parents didn't teach them how to behave.
If you think "Great, ban revenue kids too", maybe start banning adults as well, because they're the ones allowing the problem to occur.
What a place this world have became.
What an obvious insulting slap in the face to EK's 'loyal' members ! Either ban all kids in F or not at all .... But we all know 'Dirhams' tawk..,,
Always the worst parents with the worst kids insisting that *their* child is an angel and behaves better than adults.
When I flew JAL business class to Japan in '22, I had a mother and her two small kids seated ahead of me. The kids moved into one seat after takeoff and watched movies together on the IFE the whole flight. I think they definitely understood the difference between that and schlepping in coach 🙂
And even if the kids are too young to know the difference, the parents sure do!
You're proud of this comment? Of your bigotry? Don't you see how everybody who has ever looked up to you must now renounce their associations with you because of what you just revealed about yourself?
Shame on you.
"...besides, kids don't appreciate it! They don't know the difference."
To my admittedly untrained eye, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with children appreciating something or knowing any differences.
And wouldn't EK be better off financially by letting kids sit in first on an award ticket? They're not going to drink expensive champagne, or whiskies, or wines, they aren't going to stuff themselves as much as adults do (I've yet to encounter Augustus Gloop on any flight in any first class cabin), etc. etc. etc.
During all of my F flights (too many to count) I have never experienced any unruly ‘ankle biters’. My two, regular F flyers, were never flight monsters. They always (like most children of their vintage) behaved appropriately or suffered the consequences. It was called discipline in those days.
I have encountered rude, crude and even revolting adults acting appallingly in F, however, a few home truths in their shell-like and peace was restored.
"How about banning Indians?"
Have you ever effed yourself? No? Now's the time.
This may be just the start and maybe this extends over to revenue based travel. I think all in all, this is a liability issue. As seats get more complex with controls, recline and technology, having a child under 8 may pose a liability that the airline no longer sees as making logical sense.
It is true that babies and toddlers have been elevating their points game in recent years, some even downright abusing the system. So hence this necessary action by Emirates.
Ah yes, because parents who can afford to buy First Class for the fam sent their children off to the Academy of GrammarManner School where they were taught to Be Seen And Not Heard, while a family who had some points built up from a home renovation probably send their kids to public school, where they were taught to wear Broccoli Hair and do Stunts on their E-Bikes
I mean there is a kernel of truth to your comment even if you don't believe it. The upper class does emphasize refinement, deportment, and carrying yourself in ways that the middle class is completely unaware of.
Could be interpreted that EK thinks that parents who pay for their children's tickets with cash have well-behaved kids and parents who pay for their children's tickets with points have poorly behaved kids.
I suppose this is just the filtering mechanism they could come up with that roughly identifies who is not behaving well in F currently.
People who didn't really pay for it with money, who don't feel access comes with some obligation to behave a certain way, or feel like the atmosphere of F is supposed to without screaming kids.
Obviously, not saying that everyone redeeming miles doesn't know how to behave well. But those who don't behave well overwhelmingly come from people who didn't pay full ride for it.
So what is an airline supposed to do when confronted with this available filtering function?
I am a parent, so I'm not just talking without any knowledge of what it's like to travel with kids. But I totally get this move. A screaming toddler ruined a flight for us in business class, only our second business class flight ever. I truly thought the toddler was going to die, the way he screamed.
How many Emirates flights go out with a full F class? The A380 has 14 seats, so a family of 4 will still leave lots of room for travelers paying cash. But the 777s have only 8 seats (sometimes, only 6). If half the F seats are booked to a family paying with points, that doesn't leave much space for latecomers with cash.
One comment notes that Emirates allows confirmed upgrades for senior staff. Maybe this is really directed at them, but they had to apply it to everyone to avoid dissent.
I wonder whether this is permitted by age discrimination laws in the EU and elsewhere. It would be lots of fun if someone took them to court and generated lots of publicity around it.
I understand that small children can be fussy, noisy, rambunctious... I get that. I also understand that even the most involved parent can't always control this.
I do not want to have my first class experience ruined by the noise of a small child. I paid money for a quiet, lovely experience.
@ThrowAwayBrain
You must be such a magnet for engaging and interesting conversation at dinner parties, no?
What a silly comment, John. I'm pretty sure all the intricacies of flight tickets and roles throughout this blog, while interesting to us, isn't really interesting party conversation.
It seems fairly obvious to me; they don't want wealthy local families who pay cash for tickets not to fly their airline, so they don't want to tick them off.
@Long and Thick
Interestingly, I read @Fleece Johnson's comment as meaning "Banning Indians would be unacceptable, and therefore banning children is unacceptable"
Many people that book Emirates F on miles, likely could not otherwise afford to buy it (at least - purchase without a thought). If you are very wealthy - then you likely are not worrying about mileage redemption.
Makes since - they will accommodate children if they come from very weathly families - but this keeps out the mileage hogs out.
I think that on the ME3, even more than on most airlines, the super-rich are not there because they are flying private; the extremely rich pay cash all the time, and use their miles for "freebies" for their relatives.
Said relatives may not be accustomed to what is expected in such circumstances,
That must be American English.
In British English:
The middle class does emphasize refinement, deportment, and carrying yourself in ways of which the working class is completely unaware, and about which the upper class does not care.
Utterly brilliant! Thank you for respecting business people’s needs. You lead the way Emirates at every level! Thank you!
They should have some exclusions for real reasons a child must be in First Class, but otherwise, yay Emirates. Well done.
F stands for Family. You should only be allowed in F with children (well, I will be generous and allow children up to the age of 30)
A step in the right direction although in the interest of consistency they should just ban kids up to a certain age regardless of what currency was used to pay for the ticket.
I fly Emirates fairly consistently. I book business or first depending on the trip
I find it interesting that Emirates would implement this policy
I upgraded from business to first for points. We took off and this very tall blonde hair Russian girl, wearing sunglasses on the flight, made numerous phone calls. Problem was she literally was shouting. Then her boyfriend sat in her pod post dinner. They proceeded to get very touchy and despite sitting close, they shouted in Russian. I asked the FA to have her quiet down. The response was “I know you upgraded to experience tfirst class”. I interrupted her and said “how do you think I got Emirate points to fly 1sr class? I got it by paying first class. I’m not the issue. She needs to quiet down”. Nothing happened. We landed at JFK and as we taxied on an active runway the blonde Russian got up to walk to her bf pod. I looked at the FA and she had this shocked worried look but did nothing. So. I stood up. Looked at her and said I put up with 13 hours of yelling and you did nothing. Now the pax is clearly breaking the law. So, I will too and I will get off first as there are no rules on this flight. The Russian was no where near me when I said this, but saw I stood up and went to the door. She yelled “you have problem with me?” And the FA did nothing. I said “lady if we get into a fight I promise you the authorities will board and you and I won’t go go our destinations. So sit down”. Which she did. Door opened. I was first off. Went through Global Entry walked to get my luggage which strangely was literally first off, took it and was gone
I complained. I got no answer
And Emirates wants to implement rules regarding who can book in first?
If you want First I strongly recommend Singapore and Air France. Business is good in Emirates. The FA know and enforce the normal rules
But first? The FA acts like a scared person unsure of what to do and instead insults the person who made the complaint versus correcting the behavior of a clearly entitled oligarch daughter in first while bombs dropped in Ukraine.
Emirates first. Do not bother. The product is the same as business. You get a closed door that people can see over and on demand dining. I’ve flown Emirates first about 7 times paying cash and only once did I get a personalized service catered to me and asking what I’d like. Normally they ignore you. And now apparently no kids can get award seats in First
Wow.
Can we require all so called influencers to get a real job, rather than what they currently do?
“Then her boyfriend sat in her pod post dinner.”
Where in her “pod” did he sit, exactly?
just a thought - do the husbands now upgrade to 1st, while the wife + kids remain back in Business? Somewhat goes along the lines of the middle eastern culture...
I'm not suggesting but I can see it happening a lot.
And I'd divorce the guy who tries it.
It may be that Emirates doesn’t want kids in First at all, but are concerned that an outright ban would be unlawful age discrimination in some countries where they fly. They have a lot more control over the terms of mileage redemptions and upgrades. This doesn’t necessarily reflect a value judgment on the behavior of kids using mileage redemptions.
As a world traveler who’s been traveling with our kids since they were infants, I’m actually okay with this.
We always book our international flights in J, even with if we have enough miles for F and there’s availability.
The kids aren’t going to be eating caviar and drinking Dom, so the whole F experience largely goes to waste on them.
However, I still value a flat bed when traveling overseas, so business class suits us just fine. Not to mention, there’s typically better availability.
Fleece Johnson is just pointing out the hypocrisy in our current climate. (shout out to the idiot who brings up Philadelphia)
We find racial discrimination unacceptable. But yet we still allow age discrimination everywhere.
I'd just ask for more caviar and Champagne and enjoy 13 hours of peep show right outside their pod, maybe some videos are TikTok worthy.
Excellent. An airline showing common sense and consideration for its customers. Kudos!
Pretty sure this was targeted at all of credit card travelers that are willing to blow a bunch of points to fly the whole family in First primarily from the US.
No wonder it is a 4 star airlines. Becoming one of the worse airlines in the world. Joining Ryanair soon
It is likely illegal due to age discrimination. Hopefully will be subject to lawsuits.
If you want no kids, go fly a Gulfstream. These are common carriers.
This has been my experience as well. Drunken or semi-drunk adults on my Emirates F flights have more often been a nuisance than kids.
The kids should be back in business with nanny, who has instructions that they're not to approach first class at any time for any reason.
I think you'll find their conditions of carriage clearly state that they are not a common carrier, and can decide who they do and don't want as customers pretty much as they please, as well as enforcing things like dress codes and passenger behaviour. If you think you've been "discriminated" against, you can always sue, but you'll have to be able to prove it, and their phalanx of high-priced lawyers will have you for breakfast in court.
The “if you want no [insert here] go fly private” argument by yourself and some bloggers is absolutely nuts, a la “if you don’t want to be robbed walking to the store, just move out of the hood”. The latter example is even much more feasible.
Emirates - we continue to allow children in first class - just not the middle class ones.
I call it a pod. It’s roomy with the ability to eat with a guest. He she on the ottoman.
Good start EK! All airlines should ban kids who are not yet teens in both business and first on long haul flights
Big positive IMO. Tying up first class (or even biz seats) for little kids is pretty silly expression of privilege. Kids who do things like fall asleep in the footwell of a car lol and eat "dinosaur" shaped chicken nuggets lol.
They get very little out front cabin other than proximity to their parents. Leave the limited reward spots for people who will actually use and enjoy the amenities.
“I call it a pod. It’s roomy with the ability to eat with a guest. He she on the ottoman.”
There is no ottoman in EK first on any aircraft.
You made up this whole thing.
It's absolutely this. I suspect you absolutely can't do that for cash bookings (there has to be at least one country Emirates flies to which law says it this way), but when it comes to redemptions, you could promptly have legal grounds to claim it's a "promotion" only targeted for adults.
But I'm not a layer and even if I were, you probably need to make sure you comply with the laws of all countries you're flying to/from.
@Pete - Conditions of carriage don't trump law. Of course this will vary widely by jurisdiction (your concept of "common carrier" and not being one doesn't exist in most jurisdiction), and there are many where doing this is okay, but for example French courts recently ruled that adult-only hotels break the law. I don't like that ruling but also don't see why it wouldn't apply to flights.
Seeing a small child in any cabin near to you is a dismal way of starting your flight. Had 2 awful small children about 5 rows away in a business class flight, the parents cared not one jot, that is the awful thing, many very unhappy travellers.
Does the airline believe that kids from rich families paying cash for 1st class are ok because they are potentially less disruptive in the cabin? Seems like wishful thinking if so, but this is most likely just about trying to minimize mile-rich families from booking up the seats using miles.
I fly emirates quite a lot from Miami, in first and paid tickets. I have had multiple experiences of well behaved children and ones that are abhorrent with parents that do not care and make flight attendants act as nanny.
I just spent 78k on Emirates for upcoming journey with my wife in next few weeks. ( many destinations over 17 days ). But children are fine if the parents are responsible.
What upsets me, I better not have an influencer that talks or videos on the flight and makes it disturbing. As this happens a lot. Ben appears to respect others, but don’t vlog.
Then simply pay for your ticket from your bank account.
Rich Emiratis like to fly with their kids in Emirates first class. Rubbing that group the wrong way can quickly make its way up to the ruling sheikhs.
emirates is trash. its all shiny and pretend nice, but underneath the veneer is grimey.
and all of you saying J and F should be restricted are just turds.
They'll try to say something like that they can use Montreal to ignore local laws, but I can't see that argument being too popular with courts, particularly since Montreal doesn't really kick in before check in.
look at ole Wendy here getting all bent out of shape.
Take a pill Wendy, youre cooked.
No, the point is a cash ticket sale in F is much more valuable to Emirates than a mileage redemption in F.
EK’s logic is clearly they are willing to let someone who pays $10K for their child to sit in F and disrupt the cabin do it, but allowing someone to transfer 100K miles from a credit card and disrupt the cabin is a different calculation.
There’s a weird view on this blog and others that mileage redemption tickets are always of equal value to an airline to cash fares, in some situations they are but in many cases they just objectively aren’t.
I don’t know why I’m surprised at how many anti-children commenters there are. Do you all truly believe that somehow children appear magically at a certain age full of the knowledge of how to behave in restaurants and airplanes without ever having experienced these things before?
Obviously every frequent flier has encountered poorly behaved children. However, next to every poorly behaved child is an even worse parent. Melt downs happen, but when it’s a little one I actually have substantially more understanding. Can you honestly say that your flights up front are more often ruined by actual children as opposed to adults who don’t know how to behave in public?
frrp …. as an ignoramous, who do you think you are to post such disgusting drivel on a subject which you clearly know nothing about?
If you are a male then you must be suffering from penis envy. If you are female then obviously it is your bad breath, teeth and tiny mammary glands which must be causing you such psychological perturbations, yes?
Darlink omar, you post like a wet liberal with your woke rhetoric expressing disdain for the well brought up children of well to do parents. One gets the distinction impression that you are one of those ‘points pillagers’ who demands ‘status’ because you have accrued enough points to be able to upgrade to premium economy,
@FRRP:
Ahhhh, but it has a shower on board its A380s. Does that help to get rid of the trash and grime, you think or it that all part of the shiny veneer?
@Ross Kennedy,
And none of you unhappy travellers said anything. How bizarre is that. But took your unhappiness like champs.
Have you tried to tell a disinterested parent that their child is disruptive? Suddenly they’re very interested in getting up-in-your-grill…..and you’re the one who’s likely to get met by the police after the diversion. It’s just not worth it.
“Take a pill”? BigAI, you need a whole prescription. I am definitely not cooked but i am pretty sure you’re expired.
@Sel D
Airlines are "public" transportation. The fact that so many adults get their panties twisted over having to deal with the public speaks volumes. Anyone clamoring for a no-kids cabin on a common carrier airline is a self-centered, anti-social, entitled snowflake with the emotional maturity of a teenager.
Adults can be held responsible if they misbehave, but with children people often take "it is what it is" approach, especially many parents who simply got used to the constant noise and consider it okay to bother others with it. That's one thing.
And the other is that yes, far more of my flights were ruined by screaming or otherwise misbehaving kids than by misbehaving adults.
Spoken like someone who has never traveled with children. Extra space—the primary benefit of first/business class—is a godsend.
Not all discrimination based on age is against the law. Reasonable age-based restrictions, particular affect the young (rather than old), are allowed basically everywhere.
That might be what you think you paid for, but all you really paid for was a seat on the plane. Unfortunately, any and all of your fellow passengers are quite capable of disrupting your quiet.
There is a big difference between the direct control parents can have on their kids flying domestic first class versus international first class when considering the seat configuration (an adjacent larger seat versus a pod / suite). But it does seem strange to allow young children on cash tickets but not mileage tickets. I wonder if it’s okay for the parent(s) to use miles for their tickets but they buy the ticket for their child
Let me guess: despite this being an overt action to protect UAE elitists that are the most gay hating, woman hating, and other religion hating people on the planet, this won't stop you from giving them money?
Biologically Wendy, it can only be one or the other. Hermaphrodites do exist in the animal kingdom, however, homo sapiens do tend to have a male or female bias.
A human may choose to identify as a dog, however, they will still be a human who is biologically male or female, yes?
Have been noticing for a couple years for instance with Qatar QSuites or Etihad any cabin beyond economy usually when award seats are released bookable from partners (like AAdvantage), its usually just 2 seats at most, effectively a way to prevent parents with kid(s) from receiving award seats together on same flight. I see this as way to effectively limit number of kids on these cabins.
Used to be common find 3-5 such award seats together prepandemic on flights originating or to USA.
Guess I'll just have to book a ticket outright and expense it and load it with my two toddlers so all the crabby folks in the comments can enjoy their "peace and quiet" lol hope those headphones are noise cancelling
It's called yield management. Airlines decide how many seats in each class they make available for award booking at what point in time.
So such a scenario is very unlikely to happen, where they could sell a seat alas already gave it away for an award booking.
Was on a first class flight once. Someone brought on their screaming baby. Kid screamed the entire flight. Got zero sleep when I really needed it and it was the whole point flying premium. All for this change.
Do kids still earn the points for a cash ticket of first class? Interesting it only applies to first not business.
If it's true then I think I will stop flying Emirates altogether... I am not sure how to say this in a polite way ... Anyway karma is a bitch and I am sure the universe will haut the people that come up with this idea!
Also fuck Emirates ! There I said it.
So you can tolerate engine noise noise that cars make and blaring Emirates publicity but babies crying is what makes you miserable? Then why not avoid flying ? Get your own jet ? Stay home ?
Support ! Can't stand those Simon's - ruined my in flight experience each time !