[spudulike]

Hi Everyone, This is my first post here but have been reading all the others with interest for quite some time and found the forum very helpful.

We're flying to Wellington in Feb and will be taking two young children (aged 18 months and 8 weeks). I have never flown with children before and not sure what happens about car seats travel cots etc, ie. do they count as baggage allowance or do do they have to be in special covers or anything? I assume it's ok to take them as carseats in particular will be essential before and after our flight. Wasn't sure if my 18 month old could have his on the seat in the aeroplane for comfort??? :confused:

Sorry for all the questions. I hate flying at the best of times but am paricularly dreading this one... :eek:

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

Louise

[kiwidebs]

Hi Louise

Welcome to ENZ. We flew to NZ with our daughter when she was 9 months old. We flew with Singapore Airlines and they couldn't do enough for us. We had a sky cot (get one for each child if you can - or buy the 18 month old a seat). If nothing else then it gives them somewhere to sit other than on your knee.
I know some car seats can be taken on the planes but (I think) they need to be the ones that can strap in with just a lap belt. You could check with a. your car seat manufacturer and b. your airline. Also try the forums on www.babycentre.co.uk (http://www.babycentre.co.uk) - they have travelling with baby and travelling with toddlers forums, so you could ask the parents on there who have actually travelled. Also check out the website www.travellingwithchildren.com (http://www.travellingwithchildren.com) (I think that's the correct URL!!).
Also, some people on here have travelled more recently than me with little ones (our daughter is now 4).
I can't answer your questions on travel cots etc as we were lucky enough to have relatives organise carseats and cots and high chairs for us in NZ.

Good luck and feel free to ask anything else. Hope these websites help.

Debs

[Smiler]

Haven't travelled with children but Debs advice is good.

I have seen people doing this and the airline staff can't seem to do enough for them. Helping parents out with meals first is baby is asleep etc. I think they know that if baby is happy, Mum and Dad are too and makes for less stress all round the plane.

When you get on try and grab a pillow and blanket to make them and you comfy. Important if you are still feeding your little one, airline seat arms are not comfortable. On our last flight a girl got on with one of those V shaped pillows as part of her hand luggage, she looked snug the whole flight.

Certainly contact your airline and book what ever cots and (roomier if poss) seats for you. What airline are you flying?

Deborah

[clg]

We have done quite a few long haul and shorthaul flights with our daughter, now 2.5. I can say it is harder going with them than without but it really has not been that bad. I think my worries about the flight were much worse than the flight itself. Just make sure you bring some extra food, drinks, and toys with you on the plane, you never know what they will have. For take off and landings give them something to eat or drink so their ears will pop.

What you can bring with you will depend on the airline and the types of tickets you have, I would suggest just calling and checking. Carseats are fine if you have purchased seats for the kids and they are airline approved (most are), they can just ride in them that way they don't count as baggage. If you are just visiting NZ, contact the places you are staying and ask if they have cots almost all do, we did that on a trip so we did not have to bring one with us. Much easier.

At some point durring the flights one or both children will cry it will seem much longer to you than to everyone else on the plane so don't worry about it!

[veronica]

If you want to take the time to do a forum search I know this subject was covered quite extensively about 6 months or more ago. there were a lot of good ideas in the thread. think it was 'what to do with the child' and another was 'children on long haul flights'

[sizzlingbadger]

We flew back in April with a then 4 year old, 2 1/2 year old and 14 month old. We bought the youngest a seat as it was too far to travel with him on my lap.

Luggage wise we ended up taking 3 suitcases, 5 bags hand luggage, a pushchair, 3 car seats and a travel cot :D The airline had no problems with this and were fantastic. You can pre order a booster seat for the 18mth old with Virgin but when we flew on with Air NZ he had the normal airline seat, sat on my lap for take off and landing. You can also pre order childrens meals which are worth doing.

Try and get night flights that way they should sleep most of the time. We were dreading our flight but actually they slept nearly all the way apart from an hour. Definitely get a sky cot for your youngest, they can lay down and sleep properly then. We were advised that our 14 mth old was too big for one but found when on the plane he could have still fit in one (he is on the very small side).

Good Luck :)

[spudulike]

Wow, thanks for the swift responses everyone!!! I can't believe the move is coming around so quickly as we were granted PR in Oct and only put our house on the market 5 weeks ago - we didn't expect it to sell so quickly...

I'll certainly ring the airlne - we're planning on flying with Singapore Airlines as they were excellent when we visited NZ a couple of years ago.

Thanks again

Louise :D