Best transatlantic carrier when traveling with kids
Feb 24th 2011, 7:59 pm
#31
Just Joined
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 16
Re: Best transatlantic carrier when traveling with kids
Ok so I have a fair bit of experience of several of the main transatlantic routes and have flown with pretty much all of the major carriers. But our move there in a few months will be the first time we will have flown with a child (toddler age). I must admit I'm not a huge fan of the US carriers and I tend to lean towards Virgin Atlantic rather than BA.
I've started looking into who we might use when we move. Our flight costs will be reimbursed as part of of our moving expenses and we will have to book them. I'm assuming given the financial climate we'll be in cattle class (at a push Premium Economy or similar) but on the plus side our toddler will have his own seat even though he will be under 2. We won't be looking to take a car seat on board. At first glance Virgin Atlantic do look attractive as they will provide some kind of special infant/child seat on all of their aircraft.
Does anyone have any experience/tips they'd like to share?
Thanks
I've started looking into who we might use when we move. Our flight costs will be reimbursed as part of of our moving expenses and we will have to book them. I'm assuming given the financial climate we'll be in cattle class (at a push Premium Economy or similar) but on the plus side our toddler will have his own seat even though he will be under 2. We won't be looking to take a car seat on board. At first glance Virgin Atlantic do look attractive as they will provide some kind of special infant/child seat on all of their aircraft.
Does anyone have any experience/tips they'd like to share?
Thanks
We flew economy to the US at Christmas, with BA. My children are 1 and 5. We managed to get bulk head seats, which are only issued at check in, in the section closest to the front of the plane in economy. I'm not sure if it was actually premium economy, but we didn't pay for premium economy.
It was great, because there was enough leg room that I couldn't actually touch the wall in front when I stretched my legs out, so the kids could move about easily and play on the floor a little bit, when the seatbelt sign was off.
The best thing for the Holly, the 1 year old was there was a fold down shelf thing on the wall and they fixed a baby seat, with seat belt, on it! It was like a bouncy chair that babies have, but more upright, and not bouncy. Holly is usually fine in the car, because once she's strapped in it, she knows that she's not going to be getting out any time soon. So I think she thought the same thing on the plane!
Also there was loads of room under the seat on the shelf bit to put stuff! Wipes, food, toys etc! It was lovely to have somewhere to put her so I could actually eat my meal without having it spilled all over me! I'm not sure what the weight limit was, maybe you could find out. Customer service was pretty good, and they didn't lose our luggage. Flight was on time. American Airlines on the other hand which was the return flight..... TERRIBLE!!! Every time we have flown with them in the past 5 years or so, our flights have been delayed. Not good especially when travelling with children.
1. Couldn't get the fuel tank open, so had to get off and change to a different flight after waiting for quite about 4 hours on the plane. (4 hours sat on the runway after a 4 hour drive, 3 hours in airport, 8 hour flight and about 3 hours in the airport and about 3 1/2 hour flight after it finally took off followed by an hour drive with two little kids, not fun!)
2. Couldn't get the hold open so nearly missed connecting flight waiting for my pushchair! Left the push chair in the end.
3. A problem of some kind with the plane had to wait for a spare part to be flown in and the plane to be repaired! While we were sat on it for hours and hours.
4. Over the weight limit so had to decide who they were going to take off the plane, and then had to find their bags and remove them.
5. Mechanical failure with plane combined with snow problems. I guess that by the time a working plane would get there it was likely the airport we were supposed to be connecting at would probably have been closed because of a snow storm. We didn't fly that day, had to go back at 4am the following day.
6. Their flights are always overbooked so they are always asking for people who would like to fly the following day.
There were other problems on other occasions, but these are the ones that annoyed me the most. I also find the cabin crew often are kind of rude and unhelpful. I think we had 1 flight when the crew were really nice and funny.
Feb 24th 2011, 8:55 pm
#32
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2011
Location: WA state
Posts: 3,062
Re: Best transatlantic carrier when traveling with kids
ALWAYS get direct flights if you have young children.
I flew economy return trips twice with my daughter (at 4 and 8 months) on BA and it was a breeze. Had the front row seat with the table and baby carrier on it. They stowed our push chair at the front of the plane and gave it to us when we were getting off (naturally we were the last people off the plane). Despite it being a 10ish hour flight, my daughter was pretty well behaved on all four flights. Barely cried at all, although at 8 months she wanted to walk/crawl everywhere.
I flew economy return trips twice with my daughter (at 4 and 8 months) on BA and it was a breeze. Had the front row seat with the table and baby carrier on it. They stowed our push chair at the front of the plane and gave it to us when we were getting off (naturally we were the last people off the plane). Despite it being a 10ish hour flight, my daughter was pretty well behaved on all four flights. Barely cried at all, although at 8 months she wanted to walk/crawl everywhere.
Feb 25th 2011, 3:28 am
#33
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2003
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 974
Re: Best transatlantic carrier when traveling with kids
Good experience with BA. Bad experience with AA
We flew economy to the US at Christmas, with BA. My children are 1 and 5. We managed to get bulk head seats, which are only issued at check in, in the section closest to the front of the plane in economy. I'm not sure if it was actually premium economy, but we didn't pay for premium economy.
It was great, because there was enough leg room that I couldn't actually touch the wall in front when I stretched my legs out, so the kids could move about easily and play on the floor a little bit, when the seatbelt sign was off.
The best thing for the Holly, the 1 year old was there was a fold down shelf thing on the wall and they fixed a baby seat, with seat belt, on it! It was like a bouncy chair that babies have, but more upright, and not bouncy. Holly is usually fine in the car, because once she's strapped in it, she knows that she's not going to be getting out any time soon. So I think she thought the same thing on the plane! Also there was loads of room under the seat on the shelf bit to put stuff! Wipes, food, toys etc! It was lovely to have somewhere to put her so I could actually eat my meal without having it spilled all over me! I'm not sure what the weight limit was, maybe you could find out. Customer service was pretty good, and they didn't lose our luggage. Flight was on time.
American Airlines on the other hand which was the return flight..... TERRIBLE!!! Every time we have flown with them in the past 5 years or so, our flights have been delayed. Not good especially when travelling with children.
1. Couldn't get the fuel tank open, so had to get off and change to a different flight after waiting for quite about 4 hours on the plane. (4 hours sat on the runway after a 4 hour drive, 3 hours in airport, 8 hour flight and about 3 hours in the airport and about 3 1/2 hour flight after it finally took off followed by an hour drive with two little kids, not fun!)
2. Couldn't get the hold open so nearly missed connecting flight waiting for my pushchair! Left the push chair in the end.
3. A problem of some kind with the plane had to wait for a spare part to be flown in and the plane to be repaired! While we were sat on it for hours and hours.
4. Over the weight limit so had to decide who they were going to take off the plane, and then had to find their bags and remove them.
5. Mechanical failure with plane combined with snow problems. I guess that by the time a working plane would get there it was likely the airport we were supposed to be connecting at would probably have been closed because of a snow storm. We didn't fly that day, had to go back at 4am the following day.
6. Their flights are always overbooked so they are always asking for people who would like to fly the following day.
There were other problems on other occasions, but these are the ones that annoyed me the most. I also find the cabin crew often are kind of rude and unhelpful. I think we had 1 flight when the crew were really nice and funny.
We flew economy to the US at Christmas, with BA. My children are 1 and 5. We managed to get bulk head seats, which are only issued at check in, in the section closest to the front of the plane in economy. I'm not sure if it was actually premium economy, but we didn't pay for premium economy.
It was great, because there was enough leg room that I couldn't actually touch the wall in front when I stretched my legs out, so the kids could move about easily and play on the floor a little bit, when the seatbelt sign was off.
The best thing for the Holly, the 1 year old was there was a fold down shelf thing on the wall and they fixed a baby seat, with seat belt, on it! It was like a bouncy chair that babies have, but more upright, and not bouncy. Holly is usually fine in the car, because once she's strapped in it, she knows that she's not going to be getting out any time soon. So I think she thought the same thing on the plane!
Also there was loads of room under the seat on the shelf bit to put stuff! Wipes, food, toys etc! It was lovely to have somewhere to put her so I could actually eat my meal without having it spilled all over me! I'm not sure what the weight limit was, maybe you could find out. Customer service was pretty good, and they didn't lose our luggage. Flight was on time. American Airlines on the other hand which was the return flight..... TERRIBLE!!! Every time we have flown with them in the past 5 years or so, our flights have been delayed. Not good especially when travelling with children.
1. Couldn't get the fuel tank open, so had to get off and change to a different flight after waiting for quite about 4 hours on the plane. (4 hours sat on the runway after a 4 hour drive, 3 hours in airport, 8 hour flight and about 3 hours in the airport and about 3 1/2 hour flight after it finally took off followed by an hour drive with two little kids, not fun!)
2. Couldn't get the hold open so nearly missed connecting flight waiting for my pushchair! Left the push chair in the end.
3. A problem of some kind with the plane had to wait for a spare part to be flown in and the plane to be repaired! While we were sat on it for hours and hours.
4. Over the weight limit so had to decide who they were going to take off the plane, and then had to find their bags and remove them.
5. Mechanical failure with plane combined with snow problems. I guess that by the time a working plane would get there it was likely the airport we were supposed to be connecting at would probably have been closed because of a snow storm. We didn't fly that day, had to go back at 4am the following day.
6. Their flights are always overbooked so they are always asking for people who would like to fly the following day.
There were other problems on other occasions, but these are the ones that annoyed me the most. I also find the cabin crew often are kind of rude and unhelpful. I think we had 1 flight when the crew were really nice and funny.
We also took a 6-month and then later a 4-year old and a 2-year old to Europe and AA cabin staff were excellent, as were the ground staff in Paris who whisked us past the line for immigration both times.
- Tim
Feb 25th 2011, 4:44 pm
#34
Just Joined
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 16
Re: Best transatlantic carrier when traveling with kids
We must just be terribly unlucky then! The only reason that we keep flying with them is that they usually are a bit cheaper, but last time I swore it was the last!
