baby bassinet onboard flight for 8 month old?
- 10-29-2008, 08:11 AM #9Registered User
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I have flown Qantas numerous times with our daughter who is now over 9 months old, between HK & Melbourne (8 - 9 hours). I found when she was in her younger months, she was always fine in a bassinet. However the last few flights (from around 7 months upwards, approx 8kg+) her length (not weight) seemed to be the issue. Her head and toes touched each end of the bassinet. For this reason she would not sleep in them, and would only sleep on us. I find Qantas are really accommodating. If they know you are travelling with an infant, they seem to do anything possible to make your flight more comfortable. We have been on flights where there is only one seat left on the plan and they have blocked it out next to us so we can use it, even if we do get a bassinet. Qantas' policy is that they always provide a bassinet to the youngest on flight first. So you might miss out if there are younger babies than yours. Personally, we prefer to forgo the bassinet and request for a spare seat if possible, and we have had no problems to date. For this reason, we continue to fly Qantas. (NB - on another note, with Qantas and infants, I recommend requesting for baby food when booking your flights. They will provide you with Hinz jar food in flight. We have been caught out where we were not allowed to take these on board due to the 100ml liquids restrictions, and also did not request them. Thankfully they had some leftover jars, but otherwise our daughter would have gone hungry. Often 50/50 as to whether customs will let you take them through). Good luck - always a challenge travelling with infants!
I have not flown Cathy to date, but heard good reports about them too.
- 10-29-2008, 11:02 AM #10Registered User
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i flew cathay from nyc to HK when our son was 6 months. we flew business, but we were also offered a bassinet. our son was too big and it just sat there - we used it as our catch all in the end. i would agree with all those who say don't use a bassinet, but get the extra chair. we are flying this time from HK to Hawaii on Japan Airlines and have asked for economy and 3 seats so we can make a bed for him and he has room in front to playll
- 10-29-2008, 12:52 PM #11Registered User
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We used Cathay from Singapore, and the weight limit for the bassinet was 20kg... the only problem was the size, so we just used it to sit our baby in it, and let him play, and also feed him. It's always easier anyway to have the bassinet seats as you have more place and have nobody in front of you putting his seat in your face, on all when your little one is sleeping on you !
- 10-29-2008, 01:20 PM #12Registered User
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Also check on the length of bassinets, e.g. United's bassinet are only 24 1/2 inches, KLM 26 inches. My oldest was born 22 inches tall and didn't even fit anymore at 7 months, regardless of her weight. Bassinets are great for children 6 months or under and/or slightly older kids who are really petite, but otherwise, on the long haul I would prefer an extra seat ...
But if you buy a seat, you usually won't get bulk head (they'll keep that for people who do require bassinets) and in the bulk head row the arm rests (or at least not all) will move upwards, so laying down on those seats is usually not an option either.
- 10-29-2008, 02:31 PM #13Registered User
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I just flew Cathay to/from London. I requested a bassinet, but when bubs stretched out she touched either end and woke herself up. So instead we got a 'car' seat, and I put a cushion in the bottom to level it out a bit for sleeping, it worked really well. It also goes in the same place as the bassinet so they are off your lap and no need to buy an extra seat.
- 10-29-2008, 02:46 PM #14Registered User
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I think the Qantas bassinets are longer than the CX bassinets - ours fitted in a Qantas bassinet at about 15 months (admittedly, it was a very tight squeeze and the crew did question his weight, which was below the allowed limit). We flew CX short-haul at a similar time and his feet were hanging over the end - not sure if the CX long haul bassinets are bigger.
Be warned though that if you are travelling to Australia at Christmas the flights are usually very full, and it's unlikely they'll be able to block a spare seat for you. I've flow to Australia numerous times with 1 or 2 kids and only ever had the luxury of a spare seat next to me once.
- 10-29-2008, 02:55 PM #15Registered User
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Thanks all for your replies and tips. We've booked our flights with Qantas, fingers crossed that Finn doesn't get much bigger than 11kg in the next month and a half!
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