ANA – An Airline That Understands Families

As a traveling mom it is great to see some of the international carriers still know how to treat families with young children. I just got off an ANA flight from Tokyo to Bangkok tonight and it was reassuring to watch them board families with young children first, something that seems to have gone away in the states. The flight attendants were also extremely supportive of the families. There was a lovely mother and 19-month old girl on the flight who had also started their trip in the states that morning and been flying for 25 hours. A strain on any adult (I am certainly mildly cranky at this point), never mind a young child. The flight attendants were be always helping them with drinks and had small toys and books for the child. They even gave her a postcard signed by all of the flight attendants! Now that is what I call customer service focused on families! I would bring my son on this airline and think that many of the US carriers could learn a lot. Perhaps if the airlines would treat children as clients (most are in their own seats after all for the same price as every adult) and not as an inconvenience we might have less screaming children on planes. Needless to say, responsibility for a child’s behavior is, first and foremost, the responsibility of the parents. However, more stress you put on the parents by treating them like they have the plague the less chance that the child will be well-behaved, especially young ones are very attuned to a parents’ emotional state.

So, airlines (and childless air travelers) let’s all start working together to make a traveling a little more tolerable for people with kids as, at the end of the day, we are all paying a lot for our flights, we all need to get where we are going and wouldn’t it be nice if we could all do it in a relaxed, civilized and happy manner?

Just a thought as I FINALLY get off of planes 27 hours after starting this trip! Tomorrow, though, I wake up in Bangkok to do all my Christmas shopping in Chatuchak weekend market. I love a world in which I can be ¾ of the way around the globe in a whole new culture for a couple of days!!!

Ps. If anyone from ANA reads this post, please commend your staff on flight 915 from Narita to Bangkok on 11/30, truly well done.