walaj

here is our situation:
2 adults & 14mth baby most likely flying with Singapore Airlines, getting connecting flight at Singapore to Sydney. We could either get her an infant or child ticket

infant ticket
she would be in skycot (as we can not pre book, assuming we could get one otherwise it would be our lap )
she is on small side - reckon around 11kg when we fly and skycot max is 14kg
we would get total of 100kg (check in) luggage allowance

child ticket
she would have her own seat which means we would have to take her car seat (which is not legal in Australia thus had not intended to take)
would cost approx extra £300,
get 120kg luggage allowance.

Did you survive the 8wks waiting for goods to be shipped on the stuff you flew with?
Is the extra 20kg worth £300?
Was it too much of a pain getting to/from airport with loads of luggage?
Would a 14mth old be more comfortable in cot or car seat?
I take it there are restraints in the skycot to stop her climbing out?

thanks for listening/reading my numerous questions

Anastasia Beaverhausen

I was under the impression that you didn't have to have the car seat, but could if you chose to. We are going to buy a child seat for Harry, he will be 22 months, so could get the infant seat, but we dont want him on our laps for the whole flight as he is very long and would be uncomfortable in the skycot.

Can you let me know where you heard that you would have to take the car seat. We were going to leave ours behind for the same reason as you. Its a heavy thing and didnt want to have to lug to to and around the airport.

Thanks

DunRoaminTheUK

Hi.

We have just flown Cathay from LHR to SYD and they DO allow you to pre-book the bassinet. We thank the Lord almighty for the bassinet as our baby slept like a sky-log the whole way there and back. Also, the crew are so friendly and attentive when you have a baby that it makes the experience that much more enjoyable.

On the way out we sat in the middle and we had a couple next to us using a bassinet also. Their child was 2 years old and we were quite surprised to see her parents being offered the choice as her legs hung over the edge (which might have accounted for her screaming like a Banshee all the way to HKG?) I reckon that the Cathay flight-crew would let a fully-grown adult sleep (admittedly, my wife did try but they wouldn't let us grease the bassinet with Vaseline beforehand) in the bassinet as they seemed to completely disregard their own weight restrictions for its use.

Cheers.

walaj

in an email reply from SA UK today (we had queried how she would be restrained given her size)

"If you book a 14month old as a child we require that you do have a car seat for her and we provide the seat belt for this on board."

walaj

what I had gathered is you can request a skycot, but there is no guarantees of getting one. Our little un is a cutie (I know I am biased) but she was well behaved at the Ashes earlier this year flashing her long eyes lashes, getting the attention of guys around her and one even making funny faces, that I am sure she will get more than her fair share of attention.

She sleeps plenty in the car seat, but not sure if a plane journey has the same effect as a car does.

DunRoaminTheUK

Cathay guarantee the skycot at time of booking as long as (but only in theory it would seem) the child doesn't exceed the imposed limitations on the day of flying.

markeh

Hiya walaj,
we flew out with Quantas /BA with our baby and used a bassinet, she was ok but anything over baby size would be fun There was a 2 year old who flew out next to us and he was a hand full :scared: I would advise using travel medicine to calm her down and make her sleep more.

I would advise a seat for them if you can afford it, forget the car seat, it would be bad enough with the luggage!

Bye
Mark

worzel

3 of us came out with 6 cases at 110kg, so just inside the 40kg each. Two cases were full of vacuum packed duvets (better say doonas now), bedding, pillows, towels, airbeds. They proved invaluable if you are going to end up in an unfurnished property for a while.

We still ended up buying all sorts though. Beach things like an eski we didn't have anyway. A cheap TV and kettle were also needed to get us through. Then there were other things we were going to need like a much bigger fridge and stuff we didn't bring for AQIS reasons like a lawn mower.

Best of all, the boxes this all came in doubled up as a TV stand, coffee table, bookcase and a pair of bedside tables.

fraser

There are four of us, one on an infants ticket, we only had 60k allowance, we were 32k over, but to be honest half the stuff we took in our cases we still haven't used so could have shipped it, would have made for a much easier trip, getting two cabs at a tim e is a pain.

webgum

We didn't have the double allowance, so just had the normal weight. They allowed us extra weight for my daughter's travel cot and didn't include the weight of her car seat (some airlines do, but maybe just for internal flights in Oz, eg Virgin Blue). So we took four suitcases, pram, travel cot and carseat. It nearly bloomin' killed us, we couldn't have carried any more! 90 kilos in total.

When my son was just under 2 we didn't get him a seat and he slept beautifully in the bassinet (with the legs dangling). The annoying thing was having to get him out of it when there was turbulence and for beginning the descent etc.

This time, he was four, and my 19 month old daughter had a seat with the car seat, she was great, slept really well in it, we were really glad we took it. BUT she was used to really long UK journeys travelling at night so was used to sleeping in it. Could make a difference.

We were able to borrow duvets on arrival and our stuff arrived only 4 days after moving into our rental so we were lucky with not needing to buy much extra stuff.

Good luck.

Rich and Angie

Well we flu with SA with 2 hour coconnecting flight at Singapore with a 9year old and a one and a half year old who had the sky cot.
Which i must say was the best thing we've experienced she slept for most of the flight and yes it has securing straps, but the child has to be removed from it in bad turbulence landing and take off.
We also had a luggage problem being over the double allowance by 90kg (2 cases) which we flu over by cargo air for around £100, which arrives the following day. So work out the cost of whats in the cases can you buy it cheaper here or stick it on a cargo flight, its a fraction of the extra luggage allowance offered by SA.
As to catching the connecting flight with heaps of luggage and 2 kids it was ok as SA transfer it to the other plan you just carry the on board luggage. Bit of a pain trytrying manmaneuvero luggage trolleys arrival thou lol, especially when one case was split,
As for SA we thought was the best long hall flight, they really look after you.
Rich