Psyched

Departure still little way off, but! How does the baby on plane thing work?

Any tips/advice regards the practicalities greatly appreciated, not yet looked at airline info cost etc. Head involved in other things; hope to be departing in 6-8 months or so, making our youngest 18 - 20 months by that time.

Will be flying to BC btw

Thanks

ps. anyone know how i can reduce font of signature, don't seem to have font formatting options available, all rather new!

Psyched

Please ignore my Ps. Signature seems to have shrunken by itself (Preview was regular text size)

Elaine B.

On most airlines if you little one is under 2 you don't have to buy them a seat they can sit on your lap, mind you last time I flew (alone) with my daughter who had just turned 1 and my 5 year old boy I paid for a seat. Also the good thing about getting them a seat is they also get the full baggage allowance. I would also suggest if you can get a night time flight so hopefully the baby will sleep for most of the journey.

Brownstar

Dependant upon the airline, you can book a bulkhead seat and they will provide you with a bassinet cot that fixes to the bulkhead for your baby to sleep in. However if there is any turbulence or during take off and landing you will be required to hold your baby.

Elaine B.

Another good thing to know is that there is no excess baggage charge for bringing you baby's stroller and car seat and most airlines will let you bring the stroller to the door of the plane before they take it off you to put in the hold and they will have it waiting for you when you get off the plane.

Chookie

Our youngest was around 20 months when we flew out to Calgary. We decided to pay for a seat for her because I didn't want her on my lap for the entire flight. It also meant that we had the extra baggage allowance which was useful.

You should be able to keep your pushchair/stroller with you right up to getting on the plane which helps imensely as a way of containing your LO, but we also found it useful for all the coats/handluggage etc (it was seriously overloaded with all the stuff from the 6 of us lol). Be warned that you probably won't have it when you get off the plane though, and will have to pick it up with all the rest of your luggage. That means that you will have to carry both the little one and all the rest of teh stuff you had with you on the plane - sometimes for quite a distance too.

Beyond that, you need to take stuff to keep him/her occupied - books and colouring stuff is good, plus any special "going to sleep" toys or blankies. We also got leappad things for all the rest of the kids to keep them occupied and a "My first leappad" for the youngest (basically a glorified book that reads the story to her)

Not sure what the rules are now wrt snacks and drinks for very young children/babies. When we flew out it was before they tightened everythign up, so we took loads of sweets, cereal bars etc plus milk for the youngest to drink. Snacks are a good way of relieving the boredom, especially if it is tiny packets of things that can be doled out one at a time. And sucking on sweets can help even out the pressure in their ears so that they don't get earache on takeoff etc.

Hobbess

When we travelled with a 4-month old we didn't buy a seat and just about survived. He slept most the way and luckily we got upgraded on the way there so got the blukhead seat and a cot. Worst part of that trip was that we flew through heathrow and so had to transfer terminals. That involved a lot of hiking and carrying baby plus everything else got pretty tiring. Top tip is to fly direct if possible, even if it costs a wee bit more.

Second time with our son he was 13 months and we invested in a seat for him. The car seat we have was airline approved and we also borrowed a car seat bag which meant I could carry it on my back (big help). Leaving Calgary we got no questions about the seat and got it on the plane with zero hassle, on the way back the flight staff were a lot more reticent and it wasn't until we had the seat installed that they finally relaxed. It is at there discretion but no reason for them to say no! Obviously this cost more but was well worth it as he was a lot more active and would have been a big fight to keep him still on our lap, the car seat really helped with that. Other advantage of the seat was that he did get a seperate kids meal, was chicken nuggets and beans (not the best) but good for him to get hot food.

Google travelling with a baby for more advice on food stuffs etc, but generally if it's for a baby they will let most things through.

Psyched

Thanks to all who have responded, its been informative and given us a number of points to consider.

Square

invest in some Crayola Colour Wonder - Toys R U and Argos stock it the coloured pens only draw on the Colour Wonder paper so you don't end up with rainbow striped kids