Tom Wood
A couple have defended their decision to regularly take flights in first class whilst leaving their two kids to sit back in economy.
The pair have two 13-year-old boys and say that they’re totally cool with the whole arrangement, arguing that it doesn’t make them bad parents.
Setting the scene, the mother of the two lads - Jill Robbins - explained that they fly regularly, and the kids have been on several flights each year since they were only young.
This current separation strategy started when they were about 11.
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In a piece for Insider, Robbins said: “Other passengers regularly ask my kids where their parents are on flights and give disapproving sniffs when my boys point toward the front of the airplane.
“They'll also tell my kids things like, ‘I can't believe your parents made you sit back here.’
“I've gotten side eyes and exaggerated looks for leaving my kids behind — but I don't regret my decision to fly premium without them.”
The mum argues that both kids and parents are OK with the whole thing, and the boys even ‘know the drill’ which is ‘almost as routine as hopping in our family car’.
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As far as safety goes, she notes that the kids at least travel together, and admits they’d probably think differently if there was only one child.
She also admits that if her kids were anxious flying then they’d probably figure something else out, but ‘they’re not’.
The mum explained her reasoning further: “I'm also comfortable letting my child use the public restroom in an airport while I wait outside, they're probably old enough and mature enough to be OK if they don't sit next to me on a plane.
“I get that not everyone sees it this way, and that's fine.
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“At the end of the day, my kids are going on a family vacation where they get five to seven days of togetherness with their parents, who sit a few rows away from them on the plane that gets them there.”
She added: “Plus, premium classes are wasted on my kids.
“They don't need extra legroom and can't enjoy the free alcohol, either.”
She’s got us there, to be completely honest.
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Elsewhere in her argument, Robbins stated: “I don’t think leaving my kids a few rows back in the plane is much different from our day-to-day lives.
“After all, with middle school and sports activities, the boys spend time away from me and in the company of others every day.
“Oftentimes they're much further away than a few rows back on the same airplane.”
Well, as long as everyone is safe and happy, nobody really has any right to tell these parents how to raise their children.
That doesn’t mean people won’t have a good go, you’d have to suspect.