Jump to content

Recommended Posts

I would also ask at the airport when you check in if there are any open seats on the plane and if it would be possible to have an empty seat beside you. Most airlines we have flown have let us bring the car seat on the plane if we know we have an empty seat beside us. Amazing to have somewhere for baby to sleep/hang out other than your lap!

Has anyone ever tried taking a carseat onto the airplane to seat an infant during the flight? We have a long haul flight coming up in the summer and have bought an extra seat for the baby (with the infant in car seat option). However, we need to buy a new car seat anyway, so would like to make sure that whatever carseat we buy can be used on the flight. We checked with our airline, but they just said as long as its forward facing, no more than a certain weight and fits into the passenger seat then its okay. In terms of brands, we spoke to a Britax specialist and the only one they have is one that relies on the ordinary seatbelt being threaded through some holes in the back of the carseat (so not sure how safe it really is) and does not recline very well so baby might be quite uncomfortable when he falls asleep.


Any other ideas / tips out there???


Many thanks,

Bee

We took the car seat on a long haul flight thinking it was just the most brilliant idea. It was okay, especially for the first half of the flight, but eventually my son had had about enough of the seat (in hindsight not the most comfortable thing to be in for 10 hours) and he really didn't want to be in it anymore. So now we had a car seat taking up our extra paid for seat and a child who then had nowhere to sit. We hadn't thought of that. Wouldn't do it again but it sure seemed like a good idea at the time! We do long haul at least a couple of times a year and rarely end up on flights with any extra seats so you can't really count on that.


One tip: we usually try to book our three seats in a row of four, with the empty one in the middle. That way if they can at all help it they will usually try to find a better seat for the poor soul who gets sold that middle seat. Like I said it doesn't help on a fully booked flight but always worth a shot.

We fly to NZ and back once or twice a year with our two kids. Singapore Airlines (and others) provide bassinets for infants (SA ones will carry a child up to the age of 2) which mean you get bulkhead seats and the associated space. In the days where we had only one child we did the trip 3 times - 2 of which we had a bassinet, once just a spare seat, and he slept equally as well simply lying on the seat. In fact it was almost better, as if we struck turbulence we could just put a seatbelt on him and not disturb him, whereas babies in bassinets had to be lifted out.


We're currently in NZ and booked a seat for our nearly 21 month old, and she happily slept lying on the seat (I had one child each side of me, I ended up a bit squished due to legs/heads, but they slept!).


From my experience I would say that a carseat would be a total pain for a long haul flight. The extra seat is such a useful thing to have when you're travelling with kids, and having a carseat there will be a nuisance. Also, depending on how far you're travelling, you'd potentially have to deal with it in transit - our trips involve two 12ish hour flights, with 5 hours to kill in Singapore, at which point it's hard enough dealing with kids/hand luggage without having the added bulk of a carseat to carry round.


P x

beec Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks for your advice! The one about booking a

> row of 4 seats with the middle one free is

> particularly cunning!


Traveling with little ones is all about survival, baby!


It's a no lose gamble....... either the plane is not full and you get the whole row (delicious when it happens) , or it is full and you offer the "guest" one of the aisle seats and an adult on one side so it doesn't effect the quality of their flight (don't need bad karma on such trips :) ).


I can't claim the idea though, it was actually suggested by a clerk at check in once and we've pre-booked that way ever since.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • I have been using Andy for many years for decorating and general handyman duties. He always does a great job, is very friendly and his prices are competitive. Highly recommend.
    • Money has to be raised in order to slow the almost terminal decline of public services bought on through years of neglect under the last government. There is no way to raise taxes that does not have some negative impacts / trade offs. But if we want public services and infrastructure that work then raise taxes we must.  Personally I'm glad that she is has gone some way to narrowing the inheritance loop hole which was being used by rich individuals (who are not farmers) to avoid tax. She's slightly rebalanced the burden away from the young, putting it more on wealthier pensioners (who let's face it, have been disproportionately protected for many, many years). And the NICs increase, whilst undoubtedly inflationary, won't be directly passed on (some will, some will likely be absorbed by companies); it's better than raising it on employees, which would have done more to depress growth. Overall, I think she's sailed a prudent course through very choppy waters. The electorate needs to get serious... you can't have European style services and US levels of tax. Borrowing for tax cuts, Truss style, it is is not. Of course the elephant in the room (growing ever larger now Trump is in office and threatening tariffs) is our relationship with the EU. If we want better growth, we need a closer relationship with our nearest and largest trading block. We will at some point have to review tax on transport more radically (as we see greater up take of electric vehicles). The most economically rational system would be one of dynamic road pricing. But politically, very difficult to do
    • Labour was right not to increase fuel duty - it's not just motorists it affects, but goods transport. Fuel goes up, inflation goes up. Inflation will go up now anyway, and growth will stagnate, because businesses will pass the employee NIC hikes onto customers.  I think farms should be exempt from the 20% IHT. I don't know any rich famers, only ones who work their fingers to the bone. But it's in their blood and taking that, often multi-generation, legacy out of the family is heart-breaking. Many work to such low yields, and yet they'll often still bring a lamb to the vet, even if the fees are more than the lamb's life (or death) is worth. Food security should be made a top priority in this country. And, even tho the tax is only for farms over £1m, that's probably not much when you add it all up. I think every incentive should be given to young people who want to take up the mantle. 
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...