mxqth

We intend to fly to Sydney (from Munchen) in a couple of months with our two daughters, 6 and 4 months (now she's 2). If anyone had such experience travelling by plane with a 4-5 months baby please advice. Any tips or suggestions to make the flight bearable are wellcomed.
Thank you.

newstartnz

Ask well in advance for a seat reservation with baby cot in front - it's free of charge and usually situated at the bulkhead. The baby cot is fixed firmly to the inner plane partition in front of the seats and the passengers get a bit more legroom too. A 5 month old baby will fit in easily and makes sleeping arrangements easier for all concerned (except business passengers in the row in front of you!) But be quick to make seat reservation as depending on your plane there may only be 2 or 3 cots available.

If you get the cot reservation, there should be plenty of room for your 2 year old to sleep on the floor so take a big blanket/ sleeping bag to make a little mattress for her and she'll sleep...like a baby.

mxqth

correction
one is 6 years and the other is 2 months (4 months when we will leave)

And thanks for the tip.

pread

Mxqth,

And a tip - babies aren't very good at coping with the changes in cabin pressure, try giving your baby daughter a dummy (if she doesn't normally have one) during take off and landing, or perhaps feed her. The constant swallowing will help.

Btw, are you based, or just flying from München ? We are flying with Emirates from München (we live here too) on September 24th. Our kids will be 4 years and 1 year old when we fly...

mxqth

Thanks for advice,

Also intend to go through Emirates.
We were thinking to give the baby a mild tranquiliser (don't worry I know what I'm doing I am a pharmacist) in case she won't cope very well with the travell.
We're not from Munchen, but from Romania. My wife is of German nationality and has a some relatives there which we intend to visit before taking off. In Munchen we will arive by car (or maybe plane).

kango_jack

Just to let you know we travelled in May with our 11 month old son.
We were really concerned about how he would cope especially as the doctor warned us that a lot of babys suffer with burst ear drums.
As it turned out he was the model baby and slept on every landing and take off, (probably bored). The airline, Singapore, were excellant at looking after us and we had loads of extra leg room for all the nappies, milk, spare clothes etc.
Sky cots were good although annoying that you had to take the baby out during turbulance as it was always when all the babies were asleep.......
Good Luck
Paul, Annie & Jack

Andrew

We flew from Brisbane to Manchester in England for a holiday when our eldest son was
5 months old (and then returned to Brisbane when he was 6 months old). On both
flights he was no trouble whatsoever. At that age he was so interested in what was
going in the plane that he spend most of the time bouncing up and down on my or my
wife's knee whilst he was awake. But actually he slept more than usual (and he really
didn't like sleeping at all).

So for baby, just remember to make sure she is sucking on something when the plane is
going up or down (especially when the plane is going down). Breastfeeding, bottle
feeding or sucking on a dummy are the best things to do. Make sure you book the
bulhead seats specially reserved for families. There aren't many seats available so
they tend to go quickly for busy flights. Reserve one of the baby cots - unless she's
a big baby she should fit easily in the cot. Hopefully it'll go really well.

Have a good flight and welcome to Australia! AndyH.

mxqth <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > We intend to fly to Sydney (from Munchen) in a couple of months with our two
    > daughters, 6 and 4 months (now she's 2). If anyone had such experience travelling
    > by plane with a 4-5 months baby please advice. Any tips or suggestions to make the
    > flight bearable are wellcomed. Thank you.
    >
    >
    >
    > --

Ian Guy

Don't sedate your child, absolutely no need. Have a bottle warmed for both departure
and landing, so the babe can suck to adjust for the cabin pressures. There are
usually 3 skycots per bulkhead (4 on 747's) and they'll be at least 2 bulkheads. The
best bit - the bulkhead seats have the most legroom! Another thing, ask the cabin
crew in advance for your meals - so one can eat whilst the other cares for the child.

We have done the trip with a 6/12 old and later when she was 18 months - much, much
easier at 6 months!! "Andrew" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > We flew from Brisbane to Manchester in England for a holiday when our eldest son
    > was 5 months old (and then returned to Brisbane when he was 6 months old). On both
    > flights he was no trouble whatsoever. At that age he was so interested in what was
    > going in the plane that he spend most of the time bouncing up and down on my or my
    > wife's knee whilst he was awake. But actually he slept more than usual (and he
    > really didn't like sleeping at all).
    >
    > So for baby, just remember to make sure she is sucking on something when the plane
    > is going up or down (especially when the plane is going down). Breastfeeding,
    > bottle feeding or sucking on a dummy are the best things to do. Make sure you book
    > the bulhead seats specially reserved for families. There aren't many seats
    > available so they tend to go quickly for busy flights. Reserve one of the baby cots
    > - unless she's a big baby she should fit easily in the cot. Hopefully it'll go
    > really well.
    >
    > Have a good flight and welcome to Australia! AndyH.
    >
    > mxqth <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
    > > We intend to fly to Sydney (from Munchen) in a couple of months with our two
    > > daughters, 6 and 4 months (now she's 2). If anyone had such experience travelling
    > > by plane with a 4-5 months baby please advice. Any tips or suggestions to make
    > > the flight bearable are wellcomed. Thank you.
    > >
    > >
    > >
    > > --

newstartnz

'There are usually 3 skycots per bulkhead (4 on 747's) and they'll be at least 2 bulkheads. The best bit - the bulkhead seats have the most legroom!'

That is sometimes the problem and the reason you need to reserve your seat days in advance rather than being, say, first in the queue on flight day. Other passengers without kids can reserve these seats too and not all airlines prevent this, so you can end up with Mr and Mrs Urbane Frequent Flier in the comfy bulkhead seats and Mr and Mrs Parent with screaming kids in the ordinary seats unable to use the baby cots.

mxqth

Thanks very much for your replies. I really need to be advised on this matter. I know you won't believe me, but I have never travelled by plane before, so is going to be a whole bunch of new experiences for me.

newstartnz

OK, here's some advice: don't feel nervous about phoning/ emailing the airline now to get those cot seat reservations, no matter how cheap your ticket was. We got the cheapest of the cheap seats on a long haul flight earlier this year and in theory were not allowed to pre-reserve tickets - that was supposedly for APEX fare paying passengers only. But mention the words 'young kids, cot seat' and like a miracle they will bend the rules because it helps everybody - flight attendants, other passengers and you of course - to have your little one sleeping soundly in a baby cot and not screaming away the whole journey.

Ian Guy

Most airlines will favour the family before the leggy; in any case on a B747 the
seats at the back have more legroom, especially when it goes to 2-4-2 "newstartnz"
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > 'There are usually 3 skycots per bulkhead (4 on 747's) and they'll be at least 2
    > bulkheads. The best bit - the bulkhead seats have the most legroom!'
    >
    > That is sometimes the problem and the reason you need to reserve your seat days
    > in advance rather than being, say, first in the queue on flight day. Other
    > passengers without kids can reserve these seats too and not all airlines prevent
    > this, so you can end up with Mr and Mrs Urbane Frequent Flier in the comfy
    > bulkhead seats and Mr and Mrs Parent with screaming kids in the ordinary seats
    > unable to use the baby cots.
    >
    >
    >
    > --

dotty

I remember flying with my kids in those cots, but every time there was turbulence, the airlines are made to get the kids out and into your lap, it was like a comedy show, baby in baby asleep, baby out baby screaming, baby in, so dont wory too much if you dont get one. No airline can let people or kids sleep on the floor tho, it highly dangerous and they are straight onto you. Good luck and pack yourself a clean change of clothes, nothing worse than a kid throwing up on you and having to wear pukey clothes for the rest of the flight.

mxqth

Thanks for the tips. I will try to post details about the trip after it's over.