nikkistothard

Can anyone recommend an airline which is good for travelling with young children and are there any extras you can get when you book which are not advertised?

Aviator

Depends where you are going from and to where and how young the children are. What in particular did you have in mind as good for traveling with children? If it is leg room you want, the scheduled allow more space per passenger.

The only extra you may get is a young flyer pack.

dingbat

Long haul....Air Canada have consistently been the best of late, when travelling with my lot. I haven't flown BA for a while, because their fares are astronomical (is it me, or have they gone up?). I won't do the charter thing with kids, its too cramped, luggage allowance is pitiful and I cannot bear delays/cancellations with young kids in tow. As with all airlines, you get what you pay for. Short haul in Canada, I always use Westjet.

nikkistothard

We are travelling from the UK to Calgary in mid September - the kids will be 6 months and 2 and a haf - with regards to the kids we were looking for airlines which can provide cots/bassinets and also something to keep the older ones amused!

BA does seem to be v expensive and also flight times are not good for young kids

mr.mac

I'd suggest you dont fly on August 15th with Air Transat.....Only b/c I cant stand kids on my flight

clairemarie70

hi, hate to tell u this but i too have flown with very young kids and i got a night time flight..the thing is the older kids are excited so were a pain in the butt...i then have flown in the daytime too and still they are a pain...i dont think it matters who u fly with and the times of the flight..your kids are confined to such a small space for such a long time..it drives them nuts that they cant move...and as much as u try to keep them quite and amused u will always piss people off around u...the staff on board the plane have other passanger to deal with too so dont expect to much help there...when i flew over i just thought well i can only do what i can with my kids dont worry about the other passengers around u kids will always piss people off on a flight, the other passsenger must realise they are very rarely going to get on a flight with no kids...dont worry about it if your lucky they will fall asleep about 10 mins before u land.(this is what my kids did)

Nicola N-A

I don't think it matters which airline you pick - amusing the kids will be down to you. I have learned over the years that for the older kids (ones that can have their own hand luggage) it's a good idea to get new toys that they have never seen before - even small etch a sketch type things, small books, crayons etc - anything to pass the time.

For babies, not much you can do really, although I have found that for ear pressure etc, if you hold off giving them a drink for a while - you can get them to chug away on a bottle for take off and landing which helps with their ears popping!

debbiem

Oh, and check the airline policy about whether they need their own seats and carseats. We flew AC when ours were similar ages and were told our UK car seats were not regulation (fair enough - we left them behind). On the flight we were then told our daughter wasn't old enough to have her own seat, and was too heavy for a bassinet, so she was lap sat for 9 hours with an empty seat next to us and a stewardess loitering to make sure we didn't use it... And don't forget to arrange your car seats if you're picking up a hire car...
and yep, Murphy's Law says they will be awake and stroppy the whole flight even if you fly first class, and will fall asleep twenty minutes before landing and be zonked for the whole of immigration, where they will be a dead weight and render you unable to collect your bags until you have found the pushchair... and then unable to deal with pushchairs and the mountain of baggage...
But, it's only 9 hours (with an hour and a half max to clear immigration), so it'll be over soon enough.
Airline is irrelevant. Timing is everything. Pick your battle!

dingbat

There is a weight limit on the bassinets which are not much bigger than large shoe boxes. I think the weight limit is about 25lbs, but there is no way any of mine would have fit in any of them (BA or AC) at 6mths, due to the miniscule size of the bassinets. The two and a half year old will need an approved car seat for their seat and the attendants can insist on strapping them in for most of the flight. You may get a package of crayons and stuff, but it really is rubbish. I take new toys and bring them out at intervals to break the monotony, along with a portable DVD and new material for them to watch. Valium for me....and off we go.

Nicola N-A

I've never been asked to supply a car seat with any of my children on various flights (not just to and from Canada). I've always been told - under 2, they sit on your lap, no food provided, no seat therefore no baggage allowance. However, once they hit 2, they have to have their own seat on the plane and therefore get a meal and baggage allowance. I'm waiting to book a flight back to the UK - is the car seat requirement something new?

dingbat

No, its been around for years on the scheduled flights for the over two years old. Under two, they are known as "lap children", although I buy seats for mine, unless they are still really tiny. I don't fly charter with kids, it may be different on those flights?

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...ant-child.html

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/child/public/en_gb

Aviator

The car seat has to meet the standards of the country of registration of the aircraft operator, hence AC will require seats that have a CSA approval. Infants have been taken on a fare paying passengers lap for a long time.

When traveling with kids, please make sure that if the pilot visits the cabin and plays nice with the kids, they don't throw up all over him, especially at the beginning of the trip.

debbiem

I'm bringing my children up not to play with aircrew... (ex-RAF)

jwsadler

We flew BA to Vancouver in May this year. Price wasn't too bad (I think £1700 all in for four of us, 2 adults, 1 child, 1 baby), even when booked with only two weeks notice (through airmiles). Dont like Air-Canada due to some bad experiences with them changing the plane so we didn't get the seats we had booked (bulkhead), also films were projected onto screen and so no personal TVs. - Reminded me of travelling (as a child) in the 70's!!!

Because of the baby we got bulkhead seats, which was great! We checked in on line and got boarding passes. Baby went in sky cot and slept - bit like a bouncy chair - and she's a year old (baskets are for 6 months and under)! Video on demand was fantastic with 30+ films to choose from... However, the choice was a little limited for my 6 year-old, but they did have some stuff from boomerang, BBC which kept him happy. Going out we got loads of attention, food from first-clas, etc.

Recommend a cheap portable DVD player or PSP

Also baggage allowance was v. good : 2 * 23kg bags for 3 of us and 1 * 25kg bag for baby. Plus hand luggage (including stroller) Luggage can also include car seat for children - but is not required.

See: https://www.britishairways.com/trave...k/public/en_gb


James.

Oakvillian

Me neither. I've flown with kids of varying ages below and above this mythical 2-year limit, and never once had, or been asked to provide, a car seat for the journey.

If the airline really expects you to use a particular kind of equipment for a flight, they would provide it. Suppose you're travelling from the UK on a vacation visit to Canada. There's no way you'd be able to provide a CSA-approved car seat for the journey. My advice would be not to sweat the car-seat issue, and if you have one to check it as baggage to avoid the inconvenience of lugging it up the aisle of the aircraft. You can't realistically expect either a 6-month-old or a 2-and-a-half-year-old to sit strapped in for the whole journey anyway.

With my guys, they've always been easy sleepers. Nicola N-A's suggestion has worked for us - a few new books (puzzles/colouring as well as reading books), toys (but nothing that makes a noise!!), the favourite teddy bears, etc. Last time I flew transatlantic with my 5-year-old, we took an overnight flight YYZ-LHR, through which he slept from just after takeoff to just before breakfast was served; coming back we had the early-evening departure from Heathrow, he was awake and reading or watching movies for over half the journey, then fell asleep for the last couple of hours and barely woke up to go through passports/baggage claim at Pearson.