Advice please QF MEL to LAX and return

[willclan]

Hi all, I have been reading these posts for years, and have learnt much from such a dedicated group of travellers, and have been able to use the good advice from Frequent flyer to get the best seats, etc. Can I please ask some advice. My son and his wife, together with their 18 month old son, are travelling MEL-LAX on QF93 26/9/10, returning LAX-MEL on QF 94 17/10/10. I believe these flights are on the A380.

My questions are: Can they have seats allocated prior to the flight when travelling with a small child, if so any recommendations for a couple with an 18 month old? Do QA place all children in the same area? (he is too big for a bassinet). Can any one advise as to how full these flights are likely to be? Any other advice for travel with a small child most welcome.

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[markis10]

Welcome to AFF, Qantas do not preallocate seats in general for Y travel however frequent flyers may request a certain seat, having status helps with that. I dont believe they like to group children together and my experience has shown random seating results in the past however they do try to seat families together:

"First and Business passengers can be allocated seats when booking.
If travelling in Economy, your seating preference is recorded at the time of booking and your seats will be allocated upon check in at the airport on the day of travel.
Families are seated together whenever possible."

Fly - Specific Needs - Children & Infants - Travel Information

 

[11sjw]

Get them to request a bassinette anyway. If anything the 18 month old can sit in it during meals etc (well our 22month old did at the time). It also provides a handy storage solution for the extras that someone of that age requires.

Other than that get to the airport early to have a decent crack at getting good seats.

 

[cove]

We worked on and bought a third seat at a good price when our son was iffy for a bassinete. Sure it was a long time ago we did it but I think you could consider that option by seeking pricing which we did several years running. It is about 28 hours flying.

 

[danielc]

May I suggest that you use the online check-in option. I took flight 93 back in September and chose my seat when checking in online the day before. When you arrive at the airport there should be a dedicated counter to drop off your bags and present your travel documents. On my last trip this saved me significant time as the normal economy check-in queue for the A380 flight was quite long.