QF seating with Infant

[ozmille]

is this just a case of HUACA?

my son was born 2 weeks ago and I have been adding him to a couple of bookings I have running at the moment on different airlines.

CX, BA, AY and SK no problem to select a bassinet seat. On QF I couldn't select it online so I called for the first booking (travel in December) yesterday and a lovely gentleman added in the seat request so that mum and bub have the bassinet seat locked in and I am next to them.

Called again today for the second booking (travel in January) and the agent said that eventhough the 3 bassinet positions on the 747 are free she is not allowed to book it and it is on request only and will be decided closer to travel date who gets it...

Huh? Why?

 

[Quickstatus]

Seating for all airlines As far as I know including exit row seats and other special seatings or bassinets are only "on request" only.
You cannot lock it in.

Did you know There is a weight limit for bassinets.?

Best bet is to turn up to the chekin counter super early.

 

[ozmille]

I know seats are never guaranteed but they seem selected on the SYD BKK as far as I can see (as he is only a couple of weeks I think he is fine for the weight

 

[JohnK]

Hang up and call again.

I had no issues calling and allocating bassinet for my daughter. Wife's and daughters bookings were separate and my wife is Bronze. And to complicate matter further I was on separate booking so in all we had 3 separate bookings.

 

[Quickstatus]

I know seats are never guaranteed but they seem selected on the SYD BKK as far as I can see (as he is only a couple of weeks I think he is fine for the weight

View attachment 85043

Selecting a seat / bassinet on the seat map is on the basis of a "request only". A Seat Selection can never be guaranteed though the airline does try to accomodate all "requests" or, if you like, "selection"

Ive seen flights where the number of babies were > than number of bassinets. Was terrible for those without bassinets because they became lap babies on a SYD-YVR!

Also some airlines are very strict with bassinet babies. Just as little bub has stopped screaming and settled into bassinet when the seat belt sign comes on for turbulence etc and the safety requirement is that bub needs to be taken out and secured to you.

See:http://www.qantas.com/travel/airlines/seat-selection/global/en

And the disclaimer:

 

[trippin_the_rift]

in my experience it's almost guaranteed once you request. The airline wants you to have the bulkhead with an infant and the only reason you may not get it is another baby/party is there.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Most of the QFi flights have the BSCT rows blocked for airport so can be allocated to pax once names migrate from res to Altea at approx T-80 so staff editing the flight can pre-allocate seating for groups, WCHR pax, infants etc prior to OLCI opening. When flights are chockers eg BNE/LAX in school hols they may well pre-allocate seats for couples and above to avoid people in the same pnr getting split seating.

It would be a good idea to do that domestically on the A330 because bassinet rows are not blocked so WP's select them at the time of booking which can be weeks or months ahead. Even if flight editing staff looked at BSCT requests T-72 it's highly likely the BSCT seats have already been taken long ago so it's too late before OLCI has even opened never mind getting to the airport 'early.'

 

[AisleSeat]

My experience with flying with an infant is that while you can book a bassinet, if passengers who book who's infant is younger, they get priority over you. If there are too many younger babies, you get bumped to having them on your lap. Flying with my daughter at 5-6 months and then again at 18 months, she always had a bassinet on long-haul. Maybe that was just luck.

 

[ozmille]

My experience with flying with an infant is that while you can book a bassinet, if passengers who book who's infant is younger, they get priority over you. If there are too many younger babies, you get bumped to having them on your lap. Flying with my daughter at 5-6 months and then again at 18 months, she always had a bassinet on long-haul. Maybe that was just luck.

the little one will be 8 weeks so I think he could still be the youngest

 

[ozmille]

and have some bassinet seats allocated for our January flights as well. If there are 3 younger infants on the flight they can move me if they want

 

[JohnK]

Cannot sit in row 4 with a lap infant on the QF 737s.

 

[ozmille]

Cannot sit in row 4 with a lap infant on the QF 737s.

we only have 2 domestic flights booked at the moment (compared to 11 international) but they are on the 717 so he'll just have to be a lap baby for those 2 flights, I'm hoping for smooth flights so he can stay in the cot for his naps

 

[JohnK]

we only have 2 domestic flights booked at the moment (compared to 11 international) but they are on the 717 so he'll just have to be a lap baby for those 2 flights, I'm hoping for smooth flights so he can stay in the cot for his naps

Good luck.

On our recent QF BKK-SYD flight our ~2 month old daughter did not sleep for the first 6h-6h30m. Crying and screaming. I walked her around quite a lot and she could relax in my arms. As soon as we put her down she woud scream. Slept ok towards the end of the flight.

I was in exit row window and wife in bassinet aisle across from me. I find the bassinet seats extremely cramped and claustrophobic when bassinet is down. I struggle to get out of seat. We have some SQ flights coming up in Feb/Mar and need to somehow continue that strategy.

Note she was fine for her first 3 short flights CNX-BKK. Slept on ascent all 3 times and only woke last 15 minutes each time.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Good luck.

On our recent QF BKK-SYD flight our ~2 month old daughter did not sleep for the first 6h-6h30m. Crying and screaming. I walked her around quite a lot and she could relax in my arms. As soon as we put her down she woud scream. Slept ok towards the end of the flight.

I was in exit row window and wife in bassinet aisle across from me. I find the bassinet seats extremely cramped and claustrophobic when bassinet is down. I struggle to get out of seat. We have some SQ flights coming up in Feb/Mar and need to somehow continue that strategy.

Note she was fine for her first 3 short flights CNX-BKK. Slept on ascent all 3 times and only woke last 15 minutes each time.

I see this as character building

Little Miss Trippin is now 13 months old and has 22 flights under her belt. I've found bulkheads are great for long haul but shorter flights (4 hours or less) another row with spare seat works best.

Having another baby in the bulkhead can also be handy because it gives you 2x extra helpers!

I'm more concerned with her little Qantas Joey Passport which has now run out of pages! ..paging Red Roo!

 

[JohnK]

I see this as character building

I do too.

Even when a bottle of water was thrown at me early on in the flight while I was seated in the exit row. I was trying to look around for an angry passenger thinking they were upset with my daughter screaming. But it was my wife who threw the water bottle at me as I had fallen asleep and snoring when I promised I'd help her take care of our daughter. :mrgreen:

I'll have to do better in Feb/Mar.

 

[ermen]

Just wanting to check in
Due to fly PER - SYD on an A332

So I called to request a bassinet from the Qantas Service Centre (no longer Platinum so can't use the Plat line boohoo). And the agent said that bassinet row are "on request" and he cannot assign me into the seat upfront (now I know this is not true - i suspect the system would not allow me into Row 23 B/J given they are reserved for WP1). Previously, if bassinet seats were located further behind, I would have no problem getting in.

So what should I do? HUACA? Or try to wing it at the airport?


FWIW here is the seat map - as you can see I have no visibility into 23 B/J!

 

[JohnK]

Try hanging up and calling again but I suspect you can only pre-allocate bassinets on international flights not domestic flights which is why it's on request.