The online social media Australian-Filipina Blackman family shared their travels with kids in coach – booking the bulkhead row and letting the kids sleep on the floor for their flight. While they’re mostly known among their millions of followers for cute family content, this has caused some consternation in aviation circles.
As a kid I used to love flights with empty rows where I could spread out and sleep on a long haul. I never flew in a premium cabin until I graduated college, went to work, and became a frequent flyer. My early experiences to Australia were in the back of the aircraft. But a full middle row on an American Airlines DC-10 did the trick!
Sleeping on the floor, though, just isn’t something I would have ever considered – even leaving aside cleanliness issues. This wouldn’t be great in the event of turbulence, either. There’s no way to stay buckled.
Aftermath of major turbulence on AC19 today
byu/HefetzHashud inaircanada
It wouldn’t be the first passenger to choose the floor of the aircraft, though – even the first one recently.
Just take a seat in the aisle…
byu/pa_goose inunitedairlines
And of course in 2017, Pakistan International Airways gave 7 passengers on a Boeing 777 handwritten boarding passes to stand in the aisle of a 1,700 mile flight from Karachi to Medina. They didn’t have much choice about the floor!
Meanwhile in 2019, a British family had to sit on the floor of a TUI flight from Mahon, Spain to Birmingham when the carrier swapped planes for an aircraft that didn’t have their row.
Others will have the last laugh when your kids contract listeria or salmonella from laying on that filth Even just for content, the hospital bill will be the biggest thumbs up.
Dogs can stay in bulkhead seats floor I don;t see why kinds don’t . They both represent safety issued in case of turbulence .
As long as it gets likes on social media, it’s all good.
My 14 month old kid slept on the bulkhead floor on an overnight flight. The parents had zero legroom at that point – but we were at a point to do anything to get her to sleep….
Sounds brilliant to me as long as not takeoff or landing and they are on some sort of padding.
Why would any crew allow this?
Why wouldn’t a crew allow this?
You’re not required to wear your seatbelt if the seatbelt sign is not on.
Chances of unexpected injury-inducing turbulence is overall pretty low. And if they become projectiles, most likely to injure the parents, and probably hurt less than the laptops flying around.
Just don’t do it on Alaska Airlines.
Next, you’ll tell me they once allowed smoking on airplanes. Bah! That would be crazy… passengers with matches… live fire… filling the air with carcinogens… wait. WHAT?!
Kids sleeping on the floor of long-haul flights from North America to Europe and from
Europe to Asia was not an uncommon sight on the major flag carriers in the 1970s and 1980s. It was blankets on the floor and pillows and blankets on top of the kids on the floor in the row. Saw it a lot myself.
We travelled a lot when my younger brother and I were kids and we almost always slept on the floor in front of the seats on overnight flights. It’s not like we were lying directly on the dirty carpet. My mom brought blankets in our carry ons and basically made us a bivvy pad on the floor in front of the seats. I don’t see that it’s any more dangerous than an adult sitting unseatbelted in their seat during the bulk of the flight.
People get bent around the axle about the weirdest thigns.
Not just for kids. If you worked for Aramco and were from Dallas you slept on the floor in coach of BA flights to London where you changed for Saudi Arabia. Long journey.
I think most passengers would prefer the small kids sleeping on the floor over them being awake and crying. Also, from a physics point of view, a small kid going flying during turbulence isn’t going to do as much damage as an unbuckled adult. Small kids seem less likely to be hurt from a lot of tumbles compared to adults.
Just as long as if turbulence hits and your kid gets injured you can’t complain and demand compensation. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
They’re probably not even sleeping. Mom just told them to lay on the floor and close their eyes so she can get a shot for the gram.