Airline Travel with Baby - Booking Babys Flight.
 Taking a holiday after becoming parents is an enviable idea, but for many, airline travel with baby is enough to make us reconsider the rapidly burgeoning benefits of the living room.
Its a challenge, all the things to do and remember – the travel buggy, the right destination, how baby will cope in the air, not to mention the seemingly endless checklist of things to take! The good news is, when it comes to airline travel with baby, we’ve done the hard yards already. The first step in getting yourself off on a fab holiday with baby is booking babys flight.
Booking Baby’s Flight
This is your first opportunity to set things off in the right direction (literally!). Below is a list of useful tips that we found helped lay the foundation to a stress free flight.
- Choose a convenient flight time for you, not your baby. Its amazing how a change of surroundings sends routine out the window. Baby will probably sleep from the motion of the plane at any time – but be prepared for anything.
- Write down EVERYTHING – name of person, booking reference, etc. It makes someone accountable. All your recorded info is really useful as leverage if needed during the check in process!
- Request more room when travelling with baby by booking bulk head seats – some leg room seats are not available with small children for safety reasons.
- Book a specific baby basinett seat. Some airlines won’t allow you book a child basinett-skycot in advance if your baby is over a certain age. You must wait to find out at check in if there are any – allow more time if this is the case.
TOP TIP
Booking airline travel with baby means he/she will be booked on your ticket and any seat allocation will be linked only to YOUR ticket. If you are travelling with other family members, make sure they link all the tickets. This is worth double checking. My hubby and I have been seperated a number of times when I’ve booked the bassinet seat and our tickets were not linked up on the system. Its one of those typical ‘computer says no’ situations where you really should double check that you are all sitting together, twice! |
- Call 24hrs before the flight and confirm all the extra’s you booked for airline travel with baby. Note: booking in online is often not available to families with small children.
- Book food if possible (usually only available if your child has an allocated/paid seat).
- Ask if the airline has a child play area, sometimes available in the lounge, and book this for free if you can (you don’t ask, you don’t get).
- Read all the travelling with children rules and regulations on the airlines website. They should explain clearly the age limits for the safety seat harnesses restrictions and at what age your baby must have its own seat (usually over 2yrs).
- Whilst it is common practice for USA airline travel with baby to allow the use of car seats on board the flight, most UK departing flights DO NOT allow car seats on board – double check with the airline.
Where is the best place to sit inflight with baby?
Consider the following when choosing your seat, given we all have different preferences:
- Bulk head seats(where the skys cots are) have no storage underneath
- Back of plane can be noisy
- Last row seats in each section often don’t recline much or at all
- Leg room seats are not usually for children due to safety
- Toilets can smell on long haul flights
- Huge TV Screens can be right infront of your cot seat, glowing the entire journey
- Front of the plane doesn’t always exit first
- When your baby is at that inbetween age (mobile but not yet officially a toddler) a spare seat if available is the best option – this can only be organised at check-in.
Now that you have the booking sorted, check out our advice on how to get the most out of check-in when flying with baby.
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