Comments on: Which Airline is the Most Family-Friendly?

By: ~j.

~j. — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:44:13 +0000

The most family-friendly experience I’ve ever had on an airplane was with Frontier Airlines. I was flying (home) from IND to SLC (with a stop in DEN) with my then-3 year old daughter and then-10 month old daughter. (I was without another adult during this trip.) My older daughter spilled cocoa all over herself and her seat during one of the flights. I rang for the flight attendant to ask her for some paper towels (anything, really) to clean up the mess. Immediately, she said, “Why don’t I hold your baby while you take her to the restroom to get cleaned up?” The flight attendant was so friendly and clearly eager and happy to hold my baby, so I took her up on it and took my daughter to the restroom, wash up, and change her clothes. By the time we got back, the cocoa-drenched seat cushion had been switched out, and waiting for my daughter was a blanket, a pillow, and a fresh cup of cocoa WITH A LID. My baby was happy in the arms of a helpful and happy flight attendant. I was so overcome with gratitude (the purpose of this trip was a funeral for my cousin’s infant daughter, so emotions were already running high) that I wasn’t successful in holding back tears as I thanked them for their help. Their sincere response was that it was their PLEASURE to help.

Upon my return I sent a letter to Frontier Airlines’ corporate office detailing this experience, and heard back from them in a timely manner – they thanked me for taking the time to write and let me know that my letter would be used in future training sessions for flight attendants.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:53:33 +0000

I have to agree that Jet Blue is the most family friendly that I have flown. They have satellite TVs in every headrest so you can turn on something for the little ones to watch. They also have a good variety of snacks and let you have as many as you want. I was impressed that they had changing tables. I had not seen that on other planes and I used to travel a LOT.

By: April~Living The Sweet Life

April~Living The Sweet Life — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:14:59 +0000

It really is crazy that one of the airlines hasn’t thought of this yet. It would be so simple to implement. They could even higher some of us (bloggers) to help them with tips and ideas and then spread the word about it.

By: LaurenS

LaurenS — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:51:01 +0000

No contest. Aer Lingus. Too bad I don’t go to Ireland too often. They bend over backwards to families with small children.

By: Madeline

Madeline — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:27:40 +0000

I haven’t been on a plane since having Levi, but before he came along I traveled quite a bit. I can’t imagine any of the airlines I’ve used being classified as really family friendly. Some are worse than others, but so many of them are just plain rotten when it comes to service…unless of course there’s been some dramatic changes in the past couple of years.

By: vanessa

vanessa — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:41:39 +0000

ooh I love that “DO express gratitude when an airline or employee goes out of their way to make your flight more enjoyable.”

Oh look an email popped through from a comment from you on my site we are on eachother’s sites at the same time! :)

By: Mary @ Parenthood

Mary @ Parenthood — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:51:43 +0000

I’m not a big traveller but the idea of not flying until Elizabeth is 100% reliable on the toilet sounds more and more appealing…

By: Blessed

Blessed — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:54:15 +0000

I haven’t flown with the kids yet but Jet Blue hasgiven me my best flying experiences to date so they are who I would be looking to if I had to plan to fly with the kids anytime soon!

By: Nini Lettner

Nini Lettner — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:08:34 +0000

So far, the best experience I have had flying with kids has been on Jet Blue. They are always so friendly, have changing tables in the bathrooms, every seat has a video screen on it, which can help buy some time with a toddler if the ‘bag of tricks’ gets old. We had one flight from San Jose to Boston and my daughter was miserable…the flight attendants were SO gracious…let me stand in the back with her as much as I needed to. On our flight back from Boston to San Jose, they let her walk in the back (she didn’t want to sit much at all), they showed her where they kept the food, they played with her and talked to her…it really was such a great experience!! If possible, we try to fly Jet Blue!!

By: Keith Wilcox

Keith Wilcox — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:43:17 +0000

I used to work for American Airlines Headquarters in Fort Worth. This was before 2001 so things were a bit different then. AA had just introduced their more room through coach thing which took seats out for an added 3 inches of leg room (that’s a big deal). They were gearing up to be a more business friendly Airline with more perks for AAdvantage and everything. Unfortunately they got hammered and haven’t really recovered. I remember a discussion at the time about family friendly airlines and I remember the bottom line was that nobody thought it was a good idea because even parents don’t want to be around other kids. An airplane full of families is a nightmare, essentially turning that airline into a niche product that is too inflexible to deal with market fluctuations (airlines, at their max, only make 3% profit). AA, with their more legroom deal, almost got killed — and that was just a little change. I have to say, while I’d like to think an airline could at least try to pull it off, I probably wouldn’t fly on it. I hate to say it, but other kids drive me pretty much batty usually :-)