[chillibean]

Against my better judgement, we are going to Europe next year with our (will be then) 16 month old and 3.5 year old daughters.

Not at all worried about the older one. She will watch the iPad, do drawing, have her own seat so that's all good.

DH has found some flights with japan airlines (so each leg is around 8-9 hours) but I have a couple of issues.

1. They are day flights, so we are going to have a fully awake (or at best a couple of hours sleep) from the little one.
2. He is suggesting no seat, and just rely on the bassinet (up to 11kg so weight should be fine but they sound a bit small)...

I would rather night flights whereever possible, with an extra seat for the 16 month old.

What do you think?

[Old Grey Mare]

Day flights with no seat sound fine as long as you and DD1 sit in one part of the plane and leave DH and DD2 in the bassinet seat.

[chillibean]

Now there's an idea!!

Could those seats for me and DD1 be in business??

[JBH]

We took DS1 at that age, expecting the worst, but he was fine. We had an extra seat, but in fact he just lay on top of me in the baby bjorn facing inwards with a muslin over him. It was a day flight, but he lay quietly most of the time and dozed. I think he enjoyed the closeness. He refused to eat, but drank lots of milk.


By the way, Italy was easily the most child friendly place we visited.

[mum201]

I have flown JAL and love them, however unless your baby is incredibly short, will not fit in the bassinet at 16 months. Mine barely fit in there at 6 months (although is tall), so I can't imagine any babies fitting in there after 12 months........ If you can afford it I would get a set.......or as pp suggested take miss 3.5 and sit elsewhere!
16 months is a tricky age....

[becstar101]

We travelled to Europe 2 years ago with children almost exactly the same age.

Very few (if any) airlines will allow a 16 month old in the bassinet. No matter what the travel agent says, or weight restrictions are, they dislike anyone over 6months. One attendant told me once kids can roll over or sit up on their own they're not allowed to use the bassinet.

SO your 16 month old will be on your lap if you're not lucky enough to have a spare seat nearby. We had bulkhead seats on 2 of the four flights (but not able to use bassinet) which was good, as we could put ds down on to the floor to play. He was crawling but not walking.

Two of the four flights we were in the middle of the plane with no extra seat. I can tell you it was a nightmare with a squirmy, fairly big 1 year old. We drugged him up with phenergan for one flight (under advice from Gp and pharmacist) so he slept for a few hours but it was hard.

It can sometimes help to check in early to request bulkhead seats, or to ask if you can be seated next to an empty seat, but it doesn't always work.

All I can say is good luck!

[lsolaBella]

At those ages we went for three seats at the side together.

Two kids shared a seat ( armrests up) most of the time or I sat in the middle between them.

As I said in another thread the big question is how much is $2k worth to you?

You also would be low priority for bassinet seats.

Eta: on that flight to EU I was 2m PG too with morning sickness

This post has been edited by lsolaBella: 21/11/2012, 05:05 PM

[TheSmithFamily]

I prefer a day flight over the night flight when the child does not have a seat. It means running down the aisles a little is more acceptable!
My DS is 11kg now at 14 months and only just fit in the bassinet at 9 months length wise.

Good luck

Bron

[Bluenomi]

We took DD to the UK when she was 15 months. We went with Virgin Aus and she fit in the bassinet easily.

The best thing was to breast feed her alot. That was the best way to keep her quite and calm. Also night flights were the best, our worst leg was the one first thing in the morning after she'd had a good night's sleep

[llinh]

well a lot of parents give kids phenergan (antihistamines) on long haul flights - whether or not that's ethical is another question.