Short haul with 10 month old

[SteveJ]

A family member recently asked my advice on this and I was at a loss so thought I’d pose the question here to see what others would do / have done.

Couple travelling with what will be a 10 month old. Options are Club Europe for 2 plus lap infant, or just book 3 seats (2+child) in economy and strap the approved kids car seat into the seat.

Taking (for discussion purposes only) the £1 each Avios redemption option, 2+lap infant in CE = 84k points, 2+child in Economy = 70k points, using LHR to Rome as the example fare.

My thoughts were an actual seat for the child in a row of three in economy would be more comfortable, especially as priority boarding will already be available, rather than faffing with removing the divider in CE? Their first trip with a kid so they don’t plan to be drinking a load of bubbly pre or on flight so I was advising the actual seat is a better shout for a 2-3 hour flight.

Would love to hear others thoughts.

[Thegasman]

From experience, definitely CE. There will either be no table or they can move the table easily to allow them to use child seat in blocked middle seat (or more accurately the kid will be put in window seat for take off & landing.

On paper you can get the same amount of space for less money in ET & I agree the meal/booze is of limited appeal but what I now realise/appreciate is that in CE you have 2-4 cabin crew for 16-40 passengers vs 2 for the remaining 120+. BA’s cabin crew are generally very good with small children so in CE you’ll usually find them happy to hold/make a fuss of a baby whilst you eat/go to toilet/just have a moment to yourself. Getting off first & not having to fight for locker space in immediate vicinity is also a massive advantage. I never thought CE was worth the premium as a solo/couple but absolutely do with small children.

The only other point I’d make is to check the child will still fit in an approved seat at 10 months. Most TUV approved seats are size 0 which many children will outgrow around 9-10 months. The maxi-cosi cabriofix worked well for us.

[can2]

No question about it for me. Club with lap infant or bassinet seat.
One thing I don’t remember was if the short haul Club loo had a baby changing fold up mat thingy.

[can2]

And infants are not supposed to be in a car seat for extended periods of time. It smushes their lungs and has negative impact on their breathing.

[SteveJ]

Getting off first is a great point. I presumed they wouldn’t have to fight over locker space as don’t they let families board first in economy (or is that long haul only?).

Thanks re the car seat will raise this to them.

Some reviews I read was that on short haul BA don’t always pack the bassinet?

[vetjames]

Just book to seats in Economy. Club Europe is naff. BA will often keep the third seat vacant if the flight is not too busy. Wouldn’t bother with the car seat, just use the seat belt extension provided.

[SamG]

The car seat rules are quite restrictive and once you’ve got onboard you can’t put it anywhere else if you want to get them out or lay them down so I wouldn’t recommend that personally

My view is on a short run I’d be happy with 3 seats. On a longer run it’s nice getting a proper meal and having the quieter cabin/more attentive service. The divider isn’t there anymore on some planes or can be taken down by the crew no problems

[TicknBash]

It also depends on the infant and is best to feed the with something on take off and landing to help with the pressure.
We’ve never travelled with a car seat and have always held ours on lap for take off and landing.

For a short haul flight, that’s the first and last half hour on the lap.
I found the third seat helps when they’re older for the extra space and the parents avoiding deep vein thrombosis.

[Calum]

I also wouldn’t recommend taking the car seat – it’s another thing to carry around and as SamG says it then takes up the seat space so reduces your flexibility once airborne. Even if they go for the 3 seats in ET they could just have the infant on the lap for take off and landing and then use the seat as extra space during the flight. And there are no bassinets on short haul.

So either the 2+1 in CE or the 3 in ET will get them the same space wise, so in a way there is not much to choose between the options.

In terms of the other considerations. Yes they’d be able to pre-board although we always prefer to board later with our little ones as the less time being confined to our seats with a wriggling infant the better. In terms of locker space it depends what they’re planning to take as cabin baggage – utilising the space under the seat in front of the infant can be a handy of way of making sure snacks/toys etc are close at hand without reducing your legroom or needing to get up and down to the overhead locker constantly.

Given either option should work well, I’d probably base my decision on what flight times work best and what Avios availability there is there.

[SteveJ]

Thanks all, this is all really useful info. Sounds like the car seat idea should be ditched and I’ll leave it to them to determine how important the meal/more crew and getting off quicker is Vs the saved Avios. Hopefully if they do pick CE they have crew who know how to remove that divider tray.

[Thegasman]

I wouldn’t necessarily ditch the car seat. If they’re hiring a car at destination then taking a car seat will save a significant amount of money vs hiring & be less manky. Something like the cabriofix I mentioned doesn’t need an isofix base.

I’d also strongly consider the time of the flight, it’s very optimistic expecting a 10 month old to sleep on a parent for a significant period so if flight spans nap time the seat will be a godsend. If it’s a quick hop to Amsterdam etc then probably not much benefit, 2 1/2 hours plus then the benefits add up.

[SamG]

cabriofix is no good – it specifically says in the instructions it cannot be used forward facing and BA (and I think all UK airlines) do not allow rear facing seats to be used. I didn’t have a really good hunt around but when I was looking into this I couldn’t see any car seats that were narrow enough and also allowed to be used onboard a flight (as the UK requires babies under 15 months to be rear facing in a car)

But I do agree with the taking a seat if you’re hiring a car – I hadn’t realised it was another one of those things car hire companies love to charge you a fortune on! But personally I’d take it in the hold, most airlines allow multiple baby itens.

[George K]

We did several short-hauls when our little one was at that age. My advice is to stick with economy, and have the baby as a lap infant. There is no reason to pay for an extra seat, and they’ll be doing that in about 14 months’ time anyway, so enjoy the savings that come till their second birthday. Whether they want do go for CE or not is purely a matter of finances/points balance. But again, unless they want to fumble around with balancing a lap infant and a meal table service, I’d lean towards economy.

We never took a car seat on board with us, but rather checked it in alongside other things, considering BA has a very generous baggage allowance when a child is travelling. If they’re only thinking of bringing a car seat for the plane, then just don’t. If there’s going to be driving at the other side, then by all means do so, but no need to bring it in the cabin with them.

We gate-checked our stroller, which we always picked up as soon as we got out of the plane in every airport in Europe… except when returning to Heathrow. Add that to the long list of that airport’s shortcomings.

I know this hasn’t been asked, but for me, if I can impart one piece of advice when travelling in shorthaul with babies is this: Always make sure you pick the flights that are operating during the baby’s ‘business hours’. So no red-eyes, no 5-6am flights, or stuff like that. If you don’t respect their schedule, then it won’t be a surprise when they are tired and emotional on a flight. It makes a bigger difference than you think, and you set them up for life.