airline advice

[lucyp]

I am having to fly interstate with bub, who will be 6 months old when we go - and was just wondering if anyone had any tips on which domestic airlines were bubby friendly or offered good service?? I read MarthaM's thread about ordering the "special meal" which I thought was a good idea...is there anything else I should know? One of the mums in mothers group said that Virgin( I think) provide bassinettes - How does that work?????

oops - also - car hire or taxis in regards to babyseats? Sorry to sound naive but never travelled with bub before :)

[red crayon]

Hi lucyp. I haven't done much flying interstate but have done a bit of flying with my 6 month old within south east asia. when you book your tickets, ask for a bassinet. They attach to the wall in the row of seats right at the front. the one drawback with the bassinet is that when there is turbulence, you have to take your baby out of the bassinet. I always end up with Spencer sleeping on me, despite having the bassinet. You will also be given a baby seat belt. This goes around your baby and attachs to your seatbelt. You need to use this during takeoff and landing. I flew within Australia with friends who had a 2 and a half month old, and we flew QANTAS. I remember them being pretty helpful but other mums have may have better suggestions.

As for taxis, I know that in Victoria you can travel in a taxi without a babyseat. This law may be different from state to state so it may be worth checking it out first. Again, when I travelled with my friends with their baby, we hired a car and asked for a capsule. Most car hire companies either have baby seats and capsules or will hire them from someone else for you. You are usually charged extra for the seats and capsules. The one we had for my friend's baby was in good nick.

Good luck with the travel.

[moggs]

Hiya,

I travelled from london to oz when molly was 8 mths old. Best thing to do is to email or phone the airline company who will give you a bassinette which spencersmum said. The only problem is that they run out of them fast. We had a basinette on the way to oz but going back we didn't even though we booked one. Luckily to singapore they had a spare seat but from there to London we had to keep her on our laps!

We made a big song and dance about it but it got us nowhere. We complained to quantas who gave us a $100 rebate so I guess that's something.

Also ask for baby food because they never offered but do have them..

Oh and book your flight for night-time so hopefully bubs would sleep the trip!

Hope i've helped

Moggs xx

[mumofethan]

i dont know about airlines, but in regards to taxi's...

alot of taxis have baby bolts, but ensure u ask the booking agent to get u one with, otherwise u dont actually have to have a carseat to ride in a taxi with a baby... but more of us mums feel safer... as for hire cars i believe some of them hire seats out aswell... you can also hire from hire4babe for short periods!

:D

Michelle

[Rell]

I have flown many times on both Qantas and Virgin and found both to be quite good. I have not seen bassinettes used on domestic services with either carrier but i only fly Brisbane to Sydney so they might on longer flights. Both carriers insist the baby is wearing a seat belt which attaches to your seat belt but I also put my kids in a carry pouch as well when they were small enough.
On take off and landing it is a good idea to feed your bub or get them to suck on a dummy to avoid it hurting their ears. I also have panadol on hand just in case
As far as car seat go I always took my own but I am preity sure you can request both taxis and hire cars with them in.
Another point you get to bring extra luggage when you are traveling with an baby which is a big help as I found a baby takes up one suit case.

Hope some of this helps and you and your bub have a great flight

[suziebear]

Qantas does not have bassinetts on most of their domestic services. These are more applicable on international flights. There are the odd one so when you book call Qantas direct with your flight details and request this. The other thing you need to make sure is that you notify whoever is doing your booking of the 6 month old as they must have a booking even though they do not have a seat or ticket. It is advisable to request an exit row seat (this will depend on the configoration of the aircraft) or added leg room to make holding your bub a little more comfortable. The other biggy is check in really early. Domesticly the only pre seating done is Qantas club members and the earlier you can get to the airport with little one the better chance of getting a nicer seat with some room. Just chat to the check in staff and advise you are travelling with an infant and could you have a seat allowing you a little more room.

All major car rentals companies in Australia can organise car seats but many can be quite grubby and tacky. If you can take your own Wrap it in a big plastic bag and Qantas will only charge 1 piece excess luggage which is really quite cheap. Then when you book the car advise the service officer that the car you book would require the anchor point as you are travelling with a car seat.

Good luck.

[jlrjyeboah]

We have travelled on quite a few interstate flights and also internationally. I haven't seen bassinets on domestic flights but maybe they have them on the longer flights. Qantas might be more inclined to offer bassinets, I don't think Virgin planes are eqipped to carry bassinets. It also depends on what age your baby will be when you travel as most airlines only allow a baby to travel in a bassinet to between 6 and 8 months of age. I found Virgin to be really good when it came to excess baggage for our children. We were allowed to bring a port-a-cot, and a car seat at no extra charge. Airlines usually allow pre-boarding to parents with children as well. We never had any trouble, everything always went really smoothly. :)

[jamb]

Definitely Virgin or Qantas as they allocate seats and block ones next to you if possible. Jetstar don't and although you board first it does not guarantee a vacnat seat as late comers just plonk themselves next to you.

I travel alot and have never even had to request vacant seats next to me.

Both allow you to take all your extras, pram, porta cot, carseat etc and regardless of total weight it only accounts for 5kgs. You are also allowed an extra carryon bag for baby.

[Chickadee]

Athough most taxis have anchor points for car seats and can provide them, the ones that usually service the airport taxi ranks don't generally carry the seats with them. I had an argument with our taxi driver (WA) who informed me that it is in fact legal to carry a bub on your lap in the car. I'm not sure if he was right or not.

If you pre-book a taxi they will bring one with them from the dispatch, but I'm not sure that you can pre-book a general taxi to the airport or if you'd have to use one of the more expensive airport shuttle/limosine services to meet you when you arrive.

I believe I had a bassinette booked on Qantas when we flew Perth-Sydney and Sydney-Perth. Maybe it was because it was the red-eye flight. If you can't get a bassinette and really don't want to hold bub the entire time (and I don't blame you for that!) or just want extra room for diaper bags and stuff, you can book them a seat of their own at a discounted price. Note that the arm rests in bulkhead rows don't raise up so you won't be able to completely stretch out on the two seats.

[Norman]

I've done quite a bit of flying with my son both interstate and international and agree with the above posts. I travelled by myself for these flights and found the staff at Qantas were very helpful with taking my son while I ate etc.

Definitely try to get them to suck breast/bottle/dummy for take off and landing.

I always try to fly at night so he'll be sleepier - and also avoid the peak times as this is when you won't get a seat free next to you.

I was asked by a Qantas staff member to take my son out of Baby Bjorn carrier as they had to wear a seat belt - pretty silly as the carrier was a lot more secure. I also once had to take him out of the carrier to go through a metal detector at the security check point - very annoying while you are carrying a handbag, nappy bag and duty-free shopping (and he was sleeping!!).

Change tables in the toilets on the plane are nigh on impossible to use - they are triangular in shape and very small.

But importantly - remember to smile nicely at the other passengers who roll their eyes at you as you walk on the plane with a baby - luckily my son has always been great during the flight and slept or played quietly - but sometimes I secretly wished he had acted up just to fulfil their assumptions that cause the scowls at you for dareing to fly with a baby on their flight ...

[razzle]

We had another post about this not so long ago - maybe there are some tips in there too. :)

link: flying with bubs (http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=789&highlight=qantas)

[flower]

In regards to asking for a bassinette......be careful what you wish for!! If your baby is really young...2months or less...knock yourself out..but...the thing is with bassinettes is that the row you sit in has fixed arm rests...so you cannot pull them up in order to 'spread out' a little, nor can you breast feed comfortably as you dong the poor kids head into the armrest. Its so uncomfortable and there's nothing worse than having the whole row to your self and not being able to stretch a bit. I find that the best thing to do is check the loads...if the plane is not full...ask for a row...'down the back' and that way you can pull the arm rests up and baby can lay across two seats....( you can even wrangle the seat belt from 2 seats around his waist) you might be even able to hoist your ankle up & over too if your lucky. My child fell asleepin the basinette but when he woke he freaked that he was in it..not to mention on one airline was right under the big wide technicolour screen...and wasn't that terrific!!!
As he got a little bigger..the best I get from a bassinette is an hour or two at a time...with lots of removing him. Its a pain if you ask me. He's now 6 and a half months.






Hi lucyp. I haven't done much flying interstate but have done a bit of flying with my 6 month old within south east asia. when you book your tickets, ask for a bassinet. They attach to the wall in the row of seats right at the front. the one drawback with the bassinet is that when there is turbulence, you have to take your baby out of the bassinet. I always end up with Spencer sleeping on me, despite having the bassinet. You will also be given a baby seat belt. This goes around your baby and attachs to your seatbelt. You need to use this during takeoff and landing. I flew within Australia with friends who had a 2 and a half month old, and we flew QANTAS. I remember them being pretty helpful but other mums have may have better suggestions.

As for taxis, I know that in Victoria you can travel in a taxi without a babyseat. This law may be different from state to state so it may be worth checking it out first. Again, when I travelled with my friends with their baby, we hired a car and asked for a capsule. Most car hire companies either have baby seats and capsules or will hire them from someone else for you. You are usually charged extra for the seats and capsules. The one we had for my friend's baby was in good nick.

Good luck with the travel.

[Merlion]

We travelled to Singapore when bubs was 4 1/2 months old via Valuair (which is part of SIA but a cheaper airline). We were got there 2 1/2 hours before take off time and were first in line and asked for a bassinet. She didnt really use it on the way to Singapore but on the way back she slept in it the whole way. we also used our Baby Bjorn carrier. We put her in it so she is strapped on to our chest and then they put the seat belt on them. Make sure you get your bubs to suck on something (ie.. bottle, breast or even a dummy and that helps alot especially with air pressure). The air stewards were very helpful and always willing to give you a hand.

Another thing do your research on the internet. When bubs was born I looked up every website that hired baby equipment and got the best price and they might be able to help you regarding car hire etc.

[ThomasMum]

As far as I know for domestic flights the chance for you to get bassinette is pretty low especially for small planes like turbo prop type, and for slightly bigger planes you have to book this in advanced, and the number is very limited. Last time we flew with Thomas when he was almost 4 months old Joshua or me had to nurse him during flights. We only fly with Qantas so I'm not familiar with the policy etc other airlines. And to make it easier Qantas crew WAS very very helpful. Being Qantas member also help, e.g. we stayed at Qantas Club to the last minute so we didn’t have to wait and queue. They always prioritize your needs. If you think that you might travelling a lot with bub, perhaps joining the Club might not be a bad idea to make the travelling less trouble, as its not easy traveling with bub, no matter how good bubs are!

As far as the hiring car concerns you won’t have any problem at all, they will provide you car seat/capsule with no trouble at all. All you have to do is tell them when you booked your car that you are traveling with bub and needing capsule like we did. We’ve got our car through Avis (online booking) and voila the car was ready for us at the airport with baby capsule fitted ready to go!

Hope this helps


Happy travel!