[L00pback]

Hi All

Wonder if you could give us some advise on our pending flight to NZ.

First off there are 4 of us, 2 adults, a child aged 2 and a baby who will be 12 months when we fly and we fly on a 747.

The question is what do we do about the baby's seat. We've bought 3 tickets and have requested a bassinet so far but here are our options:

1). Leave it as is and hope we get a bassinet but we may not, however, we will be sitting together and we'll have the baby on our laps for the whole 32hour flight. We can't book the bassinet in advance as they don't guarantee we'll get it.

2). Buy another seat for the baby and use a car seat. We'll then have to go by the window (restriction of using a car seat) which means sitting in a group of 3 and the 4th person sat somewhere else (seating on the 747 by the window is row of 3). We won't be able to have a bassinet as we have bought the extra seat.

3). Buy the extra seat for the baby but don't use the car seat and have the baby on our lap for take off/landing. When OK put the baby in the seat and fix in with seat belt so he can't fall out. We'll then be able to sit in the middle row of 4 together.

4). Do nothing and hope (because the flights in May) that the plane won't be full and we'll be able to have an extra seat anyway.
5). Do an advanced pilots course, get a job flying 747's for Air NZ and then upgrade the family to business class.

Has anyone done this before? Any advice would be welcomed.

Cheers

Alan

[Flutterby]

Leave it as it is but arrive for check in Very early so that you get the best bulk head seats........then board the plane first and ask for a bassinet straight away?
Baby and 2 year old could probably share a seat for at least some of the journey.

One point to note, the bassinet is designed for a 0-6month old, so a 12month old may not fit.
They offered us a bassinet for our 2 year old on one of our flights, but then realised she was a bit (lol) big and wouldn't fit!

[hosebergine]

I'd go with option five - I think that's what I'm going to do in July with my 11 month old! Here are my thoughts for what it is worth:

1) 32 hours is a long time to cope with a wriggle-puss, will you be able to cope with the strain of the journey with two very young children if you've not managed to rest? I've got to admit my parenting skills do suffer when I am very tired. Get to the airport very early though if you go for it, as Flutterby says. Also, one lady on our return flight last yr said her 9 month old was too big for the bassinet - she wasn't very big but it depends on how your baby settles I guess
2) this is the option we're considering but finding out which car seat is suitable is a nightmare, I have some info from Britax which may help, let me know. It puts lots of pressure on the parent with the two children but obviously one can be resting ready for their next shift! Plus I'm freaking out about carrying a seat round Heathrow. Can you request the back row seats next to the window on either side of the aircraft because on our 747 they tapered to rows of two? It is more bumpy at the back though.
3) Do you think they will be ok in the lap belt? I'm not sure how to wedge her in without her breaking for freedom just as I've shut my eyes for a sneeky kip...
4) This happened to us when we took our 3 yr old over in March last year on all flights but we had one of just 3 free seats on one leg so we were very lucky.

I'm sharing your pain at the moment on this one. I wish they offered seats for babies. Then the fear of getting to the plane to discover the seat is too big would disappear, as well as the pain of lugging it round the airport.

I've asked a friend who is cabin crew on another airline what she thinks, I'll let you know when she comes back to me. Probably haven't help at all have I, but at least you're not alone

[andrewp]

We went with option 3 and by real luck also managed to get a bulkhead at checkin and so we got a bassinet. I guess there were'nt lots of babies on the flight. We also discovered that Signapore's Airbus's don't have 4 seats in the centre, so we had to split up. Took window for the baby, then Mum, then "cost centre number 1" (3 yo) in aisle seat. Then I took the aisle seat on the centre section. ie 34 A, B, C and then D if that makes sense. Meant my OH and I could swap seats during the flight to try and get some rest. Seemed to work well for us as we got to NZ without getting any death stares from other pax.

Good luck.

[YouMeAndThree]

I flew in September with my DD's on my own (OH went over the month before). At the time they were 5, 4 and 23 months. I thought long and hard about what to do seating wise (and posted a couple of times). In the end I opted to just buy seats for 3 of us as I wanted to have window seats so that I didn't have a child escaping on the end of an aisle row. I was hoping that I could have the baby on my lap for take off and landing, then put the arm rests up and all 3 girls could sit side by side in the 2 seats. As it turned out the arm rests didn't go all the way up, so it was impossible to have the children sitting together :(

On the first leg (to LAX) I was offered to switch to an aisle row with a free seat for DD3, but because of my worries over escaping children I didn't want to move. However the row in front was only occupied by one person, so my eldest DD ended up sitting in one of the spare seats in front, and was more than happy to watch Kung Fu Panda whilst her sisters slept.

Second half of the journey, again we were offered to switch to an aisle row, which this time I accepted based on the good behaviour of the first leg. Turned out that none of my girls wanted to leave my side or get out of their seats :clap.

So for me, going without a seat and hoping something good would turn up worked out well.

What kept me going was "it's just one whole day out of the rest of my life"

Good luck with your decision making.

The actual journey was far less of a headache than I thought it was going to be - the logistics of transporting 1 adult, 3 little girls, one buggy, 7 suitcases, 5 hand luggage bags and a laptop was a different matter :exit

[L00pback]

Hi Everyone

Thanks for all the advise.

We think we're going to get the other seat and leave the car seat - at least thats the current plan but like all the plans we've made so far, it might not be the one we end up doing!:D

Cheers

Alan

[Georgebulldog]

We travelled on a long haul flight with a 12 month old & found having a seat was great as she watched all the childrens TV & fell asleep :)
If I knew before we came about NZ car seats I would have left one of mine at home as out here they have anchor straps which secure the seat in really tight much better than UK ones
Good luck with the flight

[KatieBen]

We are also flying in May with a 3 year old and a 16 month old (will wave if we're on the same flight!). We've gone for 3 seats with the 16 month old to be in a sling on my lap for most of the journey - hopefully he'll fall asleep for a lot of it. The 3 year old should be OK watching TV (it was the Go show all the way there and back last time...), haven't managed to get the 16 month old interested in it yet.

AirNZ said they would guarantee a bassinet seat for babies up to 8 months but they were first come first served (so not sure how that works) - also that they have a weight limit of up to 12kg. My 3 year old fitted (just about) in one at 18 months for the recce trip with his feet hanging through the edge - he was around 10kg at the time I think. They also said we wouldn't be allowed to bring our car seat - of whatever make - on board for the 16 month old to sit in, hence deciding to go with sling.

FWIW - we've gone for the option of 3 seats in the middle/4 section, somewhere in an unpopular part of the aircraft (like the tail) and are hoping that as it's a May flight the last seat will go untaken so we can use all 4.

Having used a bassinet seat on the last trip - would prefer not to use it again.

[hosebergine]

KatieBen - why did they say you couldn't use a car seat for your youngest on Air NZ?