The decision to have children is riddled with quite a lot of existential anxiety nowadays, with the relentless cost of living crisis and fears about the climate emergency forcing prospective parents to question whether it’s right to bring new people into the world.
But children under eight not being able to upgrade their seats to first class with Emirates air miles? Now that is just outrageous.
The new policy, which according to Travel Tomorrow was part of a somewhat under-the-radar revision to the airline’s Skywards loyalty programme (where travellers can earn miles to spend on flights and seat upgrades, plus a load of other perks), means that kids who are eight or younger can no longer use air miles to claim rewards or seat upgrades.
Those privileges are now only awarded to flyers ‘(aged nine-plus) whose membership tier is silver, gold or platinum at the time of booking’.
The change in policy has (obviously) ruffled a few feathers – Travel Tomorrow reports that The Points Guy declared the policy change as ‘family-unfriendly’ – and it even sparked a debate around whether children should be allowed in first class at all.
View this post on Instagram
‘All world airlines should forbid kids under 8 years from flying on business nor first class! And if the parents would like then the ticket should be doubled the adult fare,’ typed one Instagram user, in response to The Points Guy.
But Canadian model Khloë Terae weighed in: ‘You are entitled to a child-free life but not a child-free world. See ya in first class with my one-year-old and newborn soon.’
Clearly it’s a contentious move from Emirates. However, before you get too worked up over this new policy, note that Emirates’ policies state nothing about this change applying to seats paid for in cash. What a relief.
In other, completely unrelated news, did you see that those of us who travel in economy could soon be expected to stand up during flying?
ICYMI: It’s about to get more expensive for travellers to visit the USA.
Plus: All the European airport, airline and transport strikes to watch out for right now.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out Travel newsletter for all the latest travel news and best stuff happening across the world.