Traveling With a Toddler: Is Business Class Worth the Extra Money?
The boarding line crawled forward at 6:17 a.m. in Atlanta, my 2-year-old Lila clamped around my neck like a barnacle, her blue sippy cup leaking apple juice down the front of my gray sweatshirt. The guy behind me shifted his carry-on and sighed loud enough for me to hear, and I already felt the familiar knot in my shoulders: we’re the family with the toddler everyone is dreading sitting near. We’d booked economy for our cross-country trip to visit my sister, because when I looked at the $750 upcharge per person for business, I’d laughed out loud. Why would I pay that much just for a bigger seat? We can tough it out, I told my partner. All those people who splurge on business with little kids just like to waste money.
Take off went fine, for the first 45 minutes. Lila colored on the back of my boarding pass, ate half a bag of goldfish, then decided she needed to climb over the armrest to see what the woman in front of her was watching. I hauled her back, apologized over the seat, and then she dropped her favorite stuffed panda, the one she can’t nap without, right under the seat in front of me. I tried to reach it, contorting my body so my head was almost in my lap, my knees jammed into the tray table that wouldn’t close all the way. I couldn’t reach. I ended up asking the guy in the aisle seat to get it for me, apologizing three times while he sighed and leaned down. By the time we hit an hour of turbulence, Lila was screaming, because she couldn’t stand up, couldn’t move, couldn’t get any of the toys I’d stowed in the overhead bin that I couldn’t reach without climbing over everyone. I changed her diaper standing up in the tiny plane bathroom, holding her with one arm while I fumbled for a clean diaper with the other, and by the time we landed, my lower back ached so bad I could barely get off the plane. I kept thinking, this is just what traveling with a toddler is, right? You suffer through it.
My mom had offered to chip in for the flight home for my birthday, and when I checked, the upcharge for business was only $220 extra for my ticket (Lila still sits on my lap for domestic travel under 2, so no extra ticket for her). I figured why not, let’s see what all the fuss is about. When we walked on, Lila immediately wiggled out of my arms and dropped to the floor. There was three feet of open space between my seat and the bulkhead, enough for her to stand up, turn around, spread out her sticker book. I sat down, stretched my legs all the way out, and didn’t hit anything. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d stretched my legs on a plane. Lila played with her stickers for 20 minutes straight, no climbing, no screaming, no trying to get into other people’s space. When she got tired, I reclined the seat all the way flat, and she napped for two hours, no clinging to me, no cramped legs. I got actual hot oatmeal and coffee, and I ate it with both hands while she slept. I even read half a magazine. When she woke up, she stood on the floor and danced to the songs on my phone, and no one turned around to glare. The space between seats was enough that her noise didn’t carry to anyone else.
Sitting there, waiting for us to land, I started thinking about all the advice I’d read about toddler behavior on planes. Most of it says you just have to bring more snacks, more toys, expect the worst. But what I realized that no one talks about is that most toddler crankiness on planes isn’t bad behavior at all. It’s just what happens when you put a kid who needs to move every 15 minutes into a space smaller than a high chair for three or four hours. They can’t help it. Their bodies are still developing, they need to shift, stand, explore, even just stretch out. Confining them doesn’t teach them patience, it just makes everyone miserable.
I’ve talked to a few other parents since that trip, and I’ve sorted out what I actually use when deciding whether to splurge. If you’re traveling alone with your toddler, your flight is longer than three hours, and the upcharge is less than $300, it’s almost always worth it. The extra space means you don’t have to juggle a kid, a diaper bag, and snacks all while contorted into a small seat. If the upcharge is more than $500, though, it’s usually not worth it – that money can pay for a week of kid activities at your destination, or a nicer hotel with a backyard for them to run around in, which will make the whole trip better. If you’re traveling with another adult, you almost never need business class: you can take turns walking the aisles with your kid when they get fussy, and that’s usually enough to keep everyone calm. For flights under an hour and a half, just tough it out in economy – it’s over before anyone gets too miserable. After that first business class trip, I also started using a middle ground hack: if I book economy, I pay the small extra fee for a bulkhead seat, which gives me the same open floor space for my toddler to play for a fraction of the business class cost.
Last week I booked our next trip, a three-hour flight to visit my in-laws for Christmas. I stared at the business class option for 10 minutes: the upcharge was $850. I closed that tab and booked economy, and paid $35 extra for the bulkhead seat. I’ll pack extra stickers, accept that my back will be a little sore when we land, and that I’ll apologize a handful of times to the people around us. But if the upcharge had been $200? I’d have hit confirm on business without a second thought. It’s not about being fancy, it’s not about pampering yourself. It’s just about knowing what your toddler actually needs, and deciding if the extra cost gets you that, or if that money is better spent somewhere else. I don’t have a hard yes or no answer. It just depends, on the flight, on your budget, on how much space your specific kid needs to not feel cooped up and cranky. After the economy flight out, Lila cried for 20 minutes after we got off, and I had to sit on a bench in the airport holding her until she calmed down. After the business flight home, she walked off the plane holding my hand, smiling, ready to get bagels. That difference matters, sometimes enough to pay for, sometimes not. Only you can decide where that line is for your family.
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