baby onboard

[tclo2701]

hi, if no bassinette seat do people just sleep with their babies on their laps in business class (ie share the seat) is this comfortable for long haul flights or what other options are there?

 

[futaris]

If the baby doesn't fit in the bassinet, the only other option is to buy another seat (at the cost of a child fare), or hope that there is another seat free. Usually in this case, people use a car seat or use a CARES restraint.

As to sleeping with the child in the same seat, depends on the child's age, health, etc, etc...

Travel with Children - FlyerTalk Forums

 

[harvyk]

Did a set of flights last year when my daughter was 15 months old. CBR-MEL-AKL-RAR-AKL-MEL-CBR... On each flight bar the first CBR-MEL flight, my daughter was given her own seat, even though she was only travelling on an infant fare.

Both the ground staff and FA's mentioned to me that whilst they don't block a seat off specifically for her, they will make sure that seats next to parents with infants are some of the last to be assigned.

There was a chance that she wouldn't have a seat for AKL-MEL, however shortly after take-off the FA's invited the single traveller sitting next to us to move into another seat, which he took, and thus again gave us the spare seat for our daughter.

 

[StevePER]

We flew business class with our 15 month old DPS-HKG-ICN-HKG-SIN-PER.

On DPS-HKG-ICN (flying CX) we didn't have a seat for him (would have been pointless anyway as the herringbone layout meant we wouldn't have been able to keep an eye on him). We had the bassinet for the second flight but he didn't want to go in there. He sat on our lap for some of the trip but for a lot of the time he wanted to walk around the cabin.

For the remainder of the flights, we booked him a seat but didn't really get our money/points worth because he didn't spend much time sitting down. Lucky bmi Diamond Club redemptions are so cheap.

 

[jamesatfish]

Welcome to AFF!

As others have mentioned, it really depends on how old your child is as to what's comfortable for them and you.

I've just returned from a RTW trip with my 6 month old daughter flying First. We were allocated the bassinet seat on overnight flights (with the exception of SFO-JFK which had no bassinets), however our daughter didn't like any of them so she slept on my chest for pretty much every flight.

As she was sleeping on my chest, rather than beside me, there was certainly no problem with room in the seat and I imagine this would be similar in Business.

During meal times etc we found it easier for her to sit on my lap whilst we ate with the exception of the new BA First layout which has a great rocker-style baby chair that affixes opposite your seat (you basically look at your baby instead of the TV).

For our next trip we'll be back to choosing the best 2 seats as a travelling couple and not worrying about getting the bassinet allocation.

 

[11sjw]

We flew J on a One World around the world ticket (paid with FF Points, 280k ea) two years ago with a 20 month old (PER-MEL-LAX-YVR-PHI-NRT-SYD-PER).

For the long flights (9hrs +) we generally were assigned a bassinettes however she was too big and couldn't settle down in them. At times she fell asleep on the floor or on my chest. Once asleep she was ok to move into a position that either of us could sleep on our side next to her. Not that she slept too often (1hr in total MEL-LAX = grumpy toddler ). The flight NRT-SYD we were given the middle 3 J seats which was great.

During the shorter flights she either sat on our lap or we walked around the aircraft with her.

Ok rambling over now!

 

[GetawayGuru]

Whilst our almost 12 month old did use the bassinet during a long haul to Paris (and enjoyed almost 7 hours of sleeping bless him) on the way home, it was a more turbulent flight which meant we were required to lift him out of the bassinet when the seat belt sign got lit - nothing like having to wake a sleeping baby!

Seems the key is to prepare for every eventuality and take deep breaths. Good luck