- Lily Allen is happy to leave her children in economy class while she travels first class.
- Speaking in a new episode of her podcast “Miss Me?” the singer joked that she doesn’t even want to sit with her children.
- But Allen said she’s not a fan of people bragging on social media about their refusal to trade their first-class seats with families.
British singer Lily Allen has weighed in on the big debate over whether children should be allowed to sit in first class on flights.
Speaking to her co-host and friend Miquita Oliver in the latest episode of her podcast “Miss Me?” Allen said she was happy to send her children to economy class while she took a seat in first class.
The singer, who has two daughters, Ethel, 13, and Marnie, 11, lives in New York with her husband, actor David Harbour.
“We’re flying to London today to come see you for your birthday,” Allen told Oliver. “I go first class, she goes economy class.”
“Wow, Merry Christmas to Ethel,” Miquita joked, before asking, “Do you know what that is?”
‘Self-centered?’ Lily replied.
“The circle of life,” Miquita said.
David Harbour, Lily Allen and his two daughters at the season 4 premiere of “Stranger Things.” ANGELA WEISS/Getty Images
The two then discussed the viral TikTok trend in which people defiantly declare that they won’t give up their first class seats to children on planes.
The correct etiquette when requesting or declining a seat swap on flights so families can sit together has become one of the most contentious debates on social media.
Some say travelers should have more compassion towards families, but others think you get what you pay for if you don’t reserve a seat, and say it’s not fair to put pressure on other passengers.
But even though Allen doesn’t see the point in seating her own preteen in first class, she’s not on the side of those who won’t give up their seat to a child.
“I find it fascinating that this has become something that gives you clout on social media where you say ‘a mother came up to me on a plane and asked me to move, and I told them to fuck off’ .
“Is this what we have become?” she added.
“Why can’t everyone be a little nicer to each other? … I say to myself as I put myself in first class and my child alone in the back of the plane. I don’t want to sit with my child.”
In the episode, Allen shared some of her other parenting habits, saying she recently had 10 of her children’s parents sign a pledge to take away their children’s smartphones by eighth grade.
“It’s their brains that worry me in the long term. They have enough to cope with having me as a mother. I would rather take the smartphones out of them and hope they survive.”
She has previously spoken about choosing to prioritize her children over her career.
“Some people choose their careers over their children. That’s their prerogative, but my parents were pretty absent when I was growing up, and I feel like that left some ugly scars that I don’t want to repeat on mine,” Allen said in an episode of the Radio Times podcast.
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