When Mr A suggested using his airmiles to upgrade our British Airways flight to Bulgaria to business class I was a little wary. After all we’d never flown with our little adventurer before and I wasn’t too sure about flying business class with a baby. I didn’t want to be *those people* that everyone who’s paid extra for their seats gets annoyed with if their baby kicks off during the flight.

However Mr A managed to persuade me with arguments about how handy the lounge would be beforehand and how nice it would be to have the extra space passengers get when they fly Club Europe (British Airways’ name for business class on shorthaul flights). So, as we’d decided that we would make this first family holiday as straight-forward and easy as possible, I agreed.

Despite my trepidation, it was actually the best decision and made our journey and the start of our first family holiday in Sofia so much smoother. If we could eke out our Avios points (British Airways’ airmiles) I would definitely do it again. Here’s the advantages we found of flying business with a baby:

A speedier check-in

Is there anything worse than being all excited about your holiday and then getting to check-in only to discover the BIGGEST queue? Sure, we can all check-in online these days (although it always surprises me how many people don’t), but you still need to drop off your bags and it amazes me how long this process can take sometimes.

Being able to jump into the priority queues certainly speeded things up and as we had an early morning flight we were also through security and ready for breakfast in the lounge in no time.

The tranquility of the lounge

Our little adventurer having a snooze in the British Airways lounge at Heathrow

The extra space on the flight

One of the main benefits of flying business is the extra space. Of course, if you’re flying long-haul this means the luxury of the fold-down beds (which I imagine is every tired parent’s dream). But even short-haul means you only have two people sitting side-by-side, rather than three. This was something I’d been really worried about, as our little adventurer is quite a wriggler and I was already feeling bad for the person who ended up squashed in next to us. But by flying business we were able to make use of the extra space. We could pass her back and forth between us easily and had plenty of space to eat our food and store all of the things we’d packed to keep her entertained.

Free meals on board

Unlike in years gone by, British Airways now charges for meals and drinks on its short-haul flights, except if you’re a Club Europe passenger. This meant we got lunch on both flights. This was handy as it meant we arrived in Sofia fed and watered, with no chance of the hangry vibes appearing as we tried to figure out how to get to our Airbnb.

Your luggage comes out first

Once you’ve arrived at your destination you just want to get going and there’s nothing worse than hanging around waiting for your luggage, especially when you’ve got a little one who also wants to be moving. Flying business with a baby means that your luggage comes off first and you can be on your way to start your adventures in no time.

So all in all we had a great first experience of flying business class with a baby. The British Airways flight attendants were lovely and so accommodating and rather than annoying the other passengers, we actually found that they all enjoyed chatting and smiling with our little adventurer. The only problem now is that she may have got a taste of the high life!

The first of many adventures

Have you flown business class with a baby with any other airlines? What was it like?

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