Last week, Nick Lachey appeared on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live. During the interview, he confirmed rumors that he and ex-wife Jessica Simpson had run into each other on a flight to Hawaii on March 29. TMZ claimed that they went out of their way to avoid each other. However, an exclusive source told People that despite not seeing each other in 20 years, Jessica, Nick, and Vanessa Lachey had actually had a “cordial” conversation.
Nick said that he ran into Jessica in first class, where he and Vanessa had been sitting with their three kids and Jessica was sitting with her mother, Tina Simpson. He also mentioned that Jessica’s three children were seated elsewhere with her estranged husband, Eric Johnson. The seating arrangements were mentioned as a context detail, but people latched on to the fact that Jessica was in first class while her children were in coach. Since there’s been some debate about it online, Us Weekly spoke to an expert about the proper etiquette of families booking seats in different airline class sections.
While appearing on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, the [Nick Lachey] confirmed he unexpectedly crossed paths with his ex-wife nearly 20 years after their divorce. During the interview, Lachey, 52, recounted that the two families “spent six and a half hours on a flight to Hawaii together.” Though, he quickly clarified that by “spent” he meant they were simply in the same “vicinity.”
“Her mother and her were together,” Lachey says of the “Irresistable” singer, adding that the kids and Simpson’s estranged husband Eric Johnson “were all on the plane, but not with us.”
“The kids were in a separate class of service?” Cohen asks.
“Yes,” Lachey confirms. “A separate class of service.”
Simpson, 45, and the former professional football player, 46, share three children: daughters Maxwell, 14, and Birdie, 7, and son Ace, 12. The pair wed in 2014 and she announced their separation in January 2025 after 10 years of marriage.
According to Lachey’s account of the flight, Johnson remained with the kids over the course of the trip. But the story raises a popular family travel debate: is it appropriate to book a seat in a different class than one’s kids?
Longtime educator and parenting coach Josephine Hunt tells PEOPLE the decision depends on a variety of factors, including the child’s age, length and timing of the flight, any medical needs, the child’s ability to advocate for themselves and proximity to trusted siblings.
She says the question depends less on a specific age and more on “the child’s emotional maturity, regulation skills, communication abilities, anxiety level, temperament, travel experience, sibling dynamics, and ability to independently problem solve in unfamiliar environments.”
“There is also an important resilience component to this conversation,” she adds. “Gradually building independence through manageable experiences can help children develop confidence, adaptability, and self-trust. However, resilience develops best when challenge is paired with appropriate support, not abrupt overexposure to situations children are not yet emotionally prepared to handle.”
“Ultimately, parents know their children best. The decision should prioritize emotional safety, developmental appropriateness, and realistic expectations over convenience, upgrades, or assumptions about maturity based solely on age,” Hunt concludes.
Real talk: I don’t think it’s a big deal that Jessica and her mom flew separately from the rest of the family. It’s not like she left her children alone to fend for themselves. They were flying with their father. Jessica has no responsibility to buy a first class ticket for Eric now that they are separated. Also, the first class section only has so many seats. I think the ultimate irony here would be if Jessica’s children couldn’t fly first class because the Lacheys were already taking up six spots.
I absolutely think that families who fly coach should not have to pay to sit together. That said, first class is a luxury upgrade that customers pay a lot to sit in. As a parent with children who fly fairly regularly, I agree with US Weekly’s expert that it depends on the child. Not all kids are great travelers. Some kids can handle long flights while others simply cannot. It’s the same for adults! If I paid thousands of dollars to fly first class, I wouldn’t want to take a six-and-a-half hour flight with a kid who isn’t mature enough to behave on a plane.
Nick Lachey ran into his ex Jessica Simpson on a flight to Hawaii #WWHL pic.twitter.com/c7zRRM2pWc
— Watch What Happens Live! (@BravoWWHL) May 14, 2026
photos credit: Crash/MediaPunch/INSTARimages, Jorge Estrellado/Image Press Agency/Avalon
God he is such a smug jerk. He never has or had a nice thing to say about her. It’s so obvious that he found her to be a spoiled brat when they were married and judged the crap out of her for it. Well why did he marry her then? Because he wanted the blond virgin?? That says so much more about him than her. And I’m not saying that Jessica was being bratty about the plane seating (I think it’s ok what the seating was), but people have flaws! To keep speaking about your ex with such a negative tone after SO long is just gross. I don’t think he ever really even cared about her at this point because you don’t publicly snark on people you have cared about in the past. He just sounds bitter. Jessica has more personality and heart in her little finger than Nick has in his entire bro-dude body. He was lucky to have her at all.
He lost me at, “Her mother and her were together…”
She played the dumb blonde schtick to the hilt in the little of their show that I watched. As a blonde navigating work in the 80s and 90s, I found it annoying then and annoying now.
It’s not a big deal to me. People need to relax.
Not a fan of either of these people. But I would ditch my family in economy to fly first class in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose. (And my husband would actually encourage it!)
😆😆😆😆
Well when we travelled, parents were in a different class while us kids were strictly Economy.
I never entered Club Class till I was 19.
Kate hudson has mentioned that when she and her brothers flew with their parents a Goldie and Kurt sat in first class and put the kids in coach – like., she wasn’t paying for us to fly first class!
Perhaps more common than we think.
Not having kids or money, this is not my issue.
Though when I have found a reasonably priced first class ticket – omg it’s the best !!! Especially if it’s a long, ocean crossing flight.
Same. Single and child-free, so completely out of my wheelhouse. I once had enough points to upgrade to first class for a long flight & hooboy! did that change my life. I will now spend exorbitant amounts for one of those wonderful lie-flat seats! I’m older and my physical & mental comfort are worth the money.
Also, as a kid, we always took car trips–three kids, two adults, and the dog and in a big, ol’ station wagon. We never went anywhere we couldn’t drive to. No air-con in the car, either. That was fun. 🫤
Well, she and her ex-husband are apparently not together anymore, so he has to pay for his own ticket. And if he’s not willing to pay for first class, well then, too bad for him. She doesn’t have to pay for him. And also, if they share the kids’ tickets and he’s not willing to pay half of a first class ticket for all the kids, well, I guess they’ll have to sit in the back, which is not that bad because I’ve been sitting there all my life and survived
With that amount of people, it could be difficult to find seats together or close in either class. I doubt the kids even care and it’s not as if they were alone. That would get a side eye. Also aren’t they divorcing? It could be uncomfortable to be in such close quarters for such a long time.
You get sick of reading these experts commentary on someone else’s kids. They are not paying for the tickets, do not know these kids and should remain quiet. The kids are going to Hawaii with their parents. The trip is more important than the seating.
I saw her last night, in Entertainment Tonight, and I was surprised because she no longer looks like her old self, you know? in some pictures I thought she was Brandi Glanville!
I was stuck in steerage class after a long international flight, part of the of getting off a massive plane packed with overhead luggage. When a woman comes pushing her way through, finding every nook and cranny, yelling “I must get to my kids!” What became clear was that the nanny was in coach but the family in first class had ordered her to get to first class at landing to help the kids off the plane.
I’m not even worried about the nanny being in coach. Being away from the family on a long flight was probably a nice break for her. What angered me was that they clearly expected her to climb over people and do whatever it took in violation of deboarding etiquette and safety so they didn’t have to help the children with luggage.
None of these people are thinking about scheduling. If they need to get to their destination in a certain timing and there weren’t enough seats in first class for everyone they could split the family into two groups so they can all be in that specific flight. The kids weren’t alone, they were with their father. Her husband probably preferred NOT to ride all the way to Hawaii sitting with his mother-in-law. So it seems like they worked it out to me. But people always want to make a big deal about minor things.
Agreed. It’s a nothing burger story. Lachey is a jerk.
I don’t think it’s a big deal but I don’t really get the “depends on the kid” thing in relation to this story. A 12 year old and a 14 year old are old enough to know how to behave on a flight–they’re not kids. Like, if it was the 7 year old with the dad in Coach and the older kids with Jess in First Class, that rationale would make more sense.
There are plenty of other reasons that they would be in a separate class of service that make more sense to me than that.
On another note, I hate what Jessica has done to her face. She was a natural beauty and she went full Mar-a-Lago 🙁
yeah, my kids just watch movies and play video games the whole time, lol. (they’re 14 and almost 12.) It was different even a few years ago. I dont know that I’d put them in coach while I was in first class* but I dont feel compelled to sit near them. I only pay to pick seats because I’m kind of picky lol.
It makes me so angry that we have to pay to pick seats, What an unpleasant and expensive experience flying has become.
Sometimes, moms need a break and some self care.
Only so many seats up front, if there’s not enough for all three kids they all go bonkers if one gets to go up and the rest don’t. Heaven Forbid the two women that made all that money for the family get the first class seats. Their mother was flying them home from HAWAII, boo hoo they had to sit in coach.
But of course the real bad guy here is Nick for even mentioning it.
“STAY OUT OF IT NICK LACHEY”
Yes. Why didn’t he just leave it at, “I saw her on a flight to Hawaii.” ? Why make the negative dig? That was unnecessary and screams of pettiness and bad character.
Am I the only one who didn’t hear the dig? He was asked a kind of leading question and answered it the best he could. Maybe I’m too soft on him.
You’re not. People are overreacting. He’s barely mentioned her over the years and this was a brief convo where he answered Andy’s question.
I wouldn’t want to be away from my kids at any age on a plane, but that’s just me. I’ve always gotten a kick out of them and enjoyed their company … They’re my favorite people. Plus I have way too much Catholic guilt to sit in first class while my kids and husband are crammed into economy seats.
Still, people should do what works for them.
That Catholic guilt is a very real thing.. I completely understand.
Entirely possible first class was sold out if Lachey’s entire family rode it. I don’t see the problem given a parent was with them. The appeal of first class is the spacing mainly, and kids fit in economy seats much easier.
Kids on planes are generally little s***s. I don’t blame her for wanting a few hours away from them. There should be a special closed-off section of the plane where all kids get seated so the rest of us don’t have to sit trapped listening to them bickering and whining and having our seat backs kicked.
After all this time, a second marriage and four children, Nick Lachey sure is a bitter man who will never pass up an opportunity to demean Jessica. He holds onto every grudge he has against her. For a supposedly happily married man he sure seems petty and miserable.
I know everyone’s kids are different, but I know mine would not have appreciated the luxury of first class enough to justify the additional expense. How wide the seat is and how much it reclines and whether they serve wine or not would have been irrelevant to them. I on the other hand, would give my right arm to fly in the lap of luxury, lol. So, especially because they were with their father I would have no problem with the kids flying coach. And if none of those kids were Nick’s, he should mind his own business.
As long as the kids are attended and I don’t have to watch them, don’t care.
I would never sit apart from my kids on a plane, even if my husband was also flying with us. There can be weirdos on planes. I’d want to know my kid’s every movement, and who is near them.
Also, she is touring. The record label many have only provided so many first class seats.
Many celebrities and rich people do this with older children and not because they are cheap. Ron Howard, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, have. (I want to say Chris Rock, Sting, and Melinda Gates, as well, but I could be mixing up my rich people, lol.)
If the children are well-behaved, it can be a good lesson for them re: privilege they enjoy vs. privilege they’ve earned. The nature of their lives already puts them so far ahead that when opportunities present, many celebrities want to take advantage of them.
There are also practical realities…there are only so many first or business class seats. It’s not super easy to book 5-6 on the same flight, let alone near each other, and if it’s a choice between booking an inconvenient flight with enough remaining empty first class seats or splitting up, splitting up makes sense.
it’s also courteous to the other adult business travelers (and even upgrades) who would otherwise enjoy and appreciate those seats to fill them with your children, who neither need or really want them. If you are rich or famous, you are recognizable and that can cause issues in economy, but your children aren’t and, in many cases, a trusted adult happily flies back with them (grandpa in this case) which is also a good lesson about no one being “too good” for economy.
Further, sometimes the primary traveler’s tickets are bought and booked by an employer, sponsor, etc and family tickets are purchased separately.
And sometimes it simply is too expensive to buy that many tickets! While that’s probably not an issue here, I don’t ever assume someone else’s finances or impose what I may or may not feel is a good use of money on someone else.
Exceptions exist and the age and behavior of the children is important to consider, but I have no issue with this.
Maybe she gets more privacy in first class.
I could see peole wandering up to her in coach.
Eh, whatever, I really don’t care. I feel I’m supposed to think something, but I’m thinking nothing haha.
Better question- why bother bring the ex? Ugh
And yes she is a celebrity and likely was looking for the privacy of travelling in first.
Joanne, Nick has three children with Vanessa (I just looked it up). Are you talking about some outside relationship I am mildly interested in knowing?