Travel with Children - Extra seat for a toddler?

My wife, I and our just turned three year old daughter were going to Germany this September to visit family. Now, my wife will be 32 weeks pregnant with twins and will not go for sure. If her condition allows, I will be taking our daughter on my own to see her grand parents. I am wondering if people that have traveled before with a child her age advise that I should keep the extra seat? I can see her sleep this way & I guess extra space is always better.

People have been telling me that I am crazy to take her without mommy. I have to admit, I am thinking more about how this is going to work as time gets closer. We took her to Hawaii once and she had the mother of all tantrums. Worst 45 minutes I can remember. All other times she has been ok (not perfect) to travel.

Any advise in general and opinions about the extra chair are much appreciated!

Thanks!

I am moving your thread to the Travel With Children Forum.
Good luck...
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

My wife, I and our just turned three year old daughter were going to Germany this September to visit family. Now, my wife will be 32 weeks pregnant with twins and will not go for sure. If her condition allows, I will be taking our daughter on my own to see her grand parents.You're not really serious about leaving a woman 32 weeks pregnant with twins home on her own are you? :eek:

I can understand why you'd want the 3 yr to get in her visit with the grandparents before you face the challenge of traveling with 3 kids. But reality should intrude here. The 3 yr old is already dealing with major stress with new babies coming into her life, and you're thinking of taking her trans-atlantic without Mom? Anybody else see the meltdown to end all tantrums here?

And about those twins - you've probably heard by now that some OB's consider 32 weeks to be term for twins. Even if Mom is 100% fine when you head off the to airport, there's no guaranteeing labor won't start in the next 24 hours, while you are in Germany.

Giving up a trip stinks; I should know, I had to forfeit a trip to Spain last month because an ER doctor couldn't tell the difference between a sprain and fracture. However, for the sanity of your family and the welfare of your twins, I think this one needs to be postponed a while.

I would happily travel with our three year old daughter solo, but the nature of our relationship makes this possible. She loves mummy but also does weekends with the grandparents without a problem - A couple of months ago I took her to the cottage for a weekend and left our baby with mummy.

Only you know best as to how well she'll do, based on your family dynamic.

As to the third seat, if you can afford it it will of course be useful to have, but keep in mind if the flight is full people will continue to try to poach it.

As a Daddy of a 33 1/2 weeker I'd either move the trip sooner or plan on putting it off for a while. 32 weeks, especially with twins, is at best a gamble.

Twins do come early in pregnancy more often than not..

Having twins is classified more of a high risk pregnancy.. so a careful watch on your wife is in order..

Sooner the better, or wait until after pregnancy.. You already know travelling in the 3rd trimester is not recommended.. as having your wife travel is not realistic..

To my knowledge most airlines are not giving you a choice with a three year old kid. They require you to book a seat for children two year and above.

From the Lufthansa website: "Infants who turn two during the journey will require their own seat; a child fare will be charged for the whole journey."

To my knowledge most airlines are not giving you a choice with a three year old kid. They require you to book a seat for children two year and above.

From the Lufthansa website: "Infants who turn two during the journey will require their own seat; a child fare will be charged for the whole journey."

Maybe I misread OPs original post..

Didn't he want to book a third seat so that his daughter can lay down accross and sleep?

Maybe I misread OPs original post..

Didn't he want to book a third seat so that his daughter can lay down accross and sleep?

Will Lufthansa even block a seat for a no-show passenger like this?

Will Lufthansa even block a seat for a no-show passenger like this?

Good point. This is allowed on U.S. aircraft but we shouldn't assume that foreign companies will comply. I only saw it once in my 13 years of flying, for a woman who had a leg problem and needed to prop it up.

I'm also not keen on this idea of leaving the 3rd trimester pregnant mom but that's automatic for me. One of my kids arrived a full month early and she was a singleton... No warning at all. So much could happen while you're away. What if she's put on bedrest or if he blood pressure goes up? Facing something like that alone would be grim...

I'm also concerned about a big international trip right before getting two new siblings and perhaps not having her mom as available...

Good luck with your decision!

Now, my wife will be 32 weeks pregnant with twins and will not go for sure. If her condition allows, I will be taking our daughter on my own to see her grand parents. I am wondering if people that have traveled before with a child her age advise that I should keep the extra seat? I can see her sleep this way & I guess extra space is always better.

People have been telling me that I am crazy to take her without mommy. I have to admit, I am thinking more about how this is going to work as time gets closer.People might be telling you that you're crazy to take this trip and leave your wife alone while she is 32 weeks pregnant WITH TWINS. Twins are a high-risk pregnancy. I see I'm not alone here with a surprised reaction.

I would hope your parents would understand your postponing this trip to visit them.

Good point. This is allowed on U.S. aircraft but we shouldn't assume that foreign companies will comply. I only saw it once in my 13 years of flying, for a woman who had a leg problem and needed to prop it up.


We actually tried to book a 2nd seat for my pregnant wife on Austrian LHR-VIE and they refused to let us keep the seat at check-in/boarding and the GA tore up the ticket, said they didn't care if we paid for it and issued the seat to someone else (They had MASSIVELY overbooked the flight). You can imagine how close I got to getting myself arrested after the GA pulled that move.

Will Lufthansa even block a seat for a no-show passenger like this?

Good point. This is allowed on U.S. aircraft but we shouldn't assume that foreign companies will comply. I only saw it once in my 13 years of flying, for a woman who had a leg problem and needed to prop it up.

I'm also not keen on this idea of leaving the 3rd trimester pregnant mom but that's automatic for me. One of my kids arrived a full month early and she was a singleton... No warning at all. So much could happen while you're away. What if she's put on bedrest or if he blood pressure goes up? Facing something like that alone would be grim...

I'm also concerned about a big international trip right before getting two new siblings and perhaps not having her mom as available...

Good luck with your decision!

Interesting.. so paying for that extra seat doesn't necessarily guarantee you the seat..

If not honored.. can you ask for a refund?

We actually tried to book a 2nd seat for my pregnant wife on Austrian LHR-VIE and they refused to let us keep the seat at check-in/boarding and the GA tore up the ticket, said they didn't care if we paid for it and issued the seat to someone else (They had MASSIVELY overbooked the flight). You can imagine how close I got to getting myself arrested after the GA pulled that move.

Yeah.. I would be mad as well.. Paying for two economy is cheaper than first class.. and makes sense to do this..

So what happened? Did you get your money back for that seat BP the GA tore up?

We actually tried to book a 2nd seat for my pregnant wife on Austrian LHR-VIE and they refused to let us keep the seat at check-in/boarding and the GA tore up the ticket, said they didn't care if we paid for it and issued the seat to someone else (They had MASSIVELY overbooked the flight). You can imagine how close I got to getting myself arrested after the GA pulled that move

Wow harsh! I'd like to know what happened too.

Different airlines might have different policies. The woman I saw showed me her stubs and she had two tickets with her name on them. A no-show could be refused and a refund would depend on the conditions of the ticket. It might be wiser to get the extra ticket reissued in one of the passengers' names (switching it from the mom's to either the husband's or daughter's) but I'm not sure if that's even possible.

The GA kept insisting that we had not "paid" for the additional seat as it was a mileage seat paid with BMI Miles. It took about a month but the miles were finally refunded minus the booking fee as BMI stated it was Austrian's fault we couldn't use the ticket and not BMI's.

Oh and I forgot the best part. After the agent ripped up the ticket she tried to claim the ticket never existed when I got a supervisor involved. So I pointed out the waste basket behind her desk were the torn up ticket was. She then kept insisting that it was not in there to the supervisor. I asked if they needed my assistance to remove it from the otherwise empty bin so they could see the ticket. They both refused to even look at the basket and we finally had to leave to board the plane. Their behavior was just completely insane.

Oh and I forgot the best part. After the agent ripped up the ticket she tried to claim the ticket never existed when I got a supervisor involved. So I pointed out the waste basket behind her desk were the torn up ticket was. She then kept insisting that it was not in there to the supervisor. I asked if they needed my assistance to remove it from the otherwise empty bin so they could see the ticket. They both refused to even look at the basket and we finally had to leave to board the plane. Their behavior was just completely insane.

The GA kept insisting that we had not "paid" for the additional seat as it was a mileage seat paid with BMI Miles. It took about a month but the miles were finally refunded minus the booking fee as BMI stated it was Austrian's fault we couldn't use the ticket and not BMI's.

Ah ok.. So it was FF redemption ticket..

Glad it was sort of resolved.. and you at least got the points back..

I would still have a beef since they deducted the booking fee.. doesn't seem right..

Ah ok.. So it was FF redemption ticket..

Glad it was sort of resolved.. and you at least got the points back..

I would still have a beef since they deducted the booking fee.. doesn't seem right..

With how far they had overbooked this flight they were just looking to compensate as few people as possible and found us with two seats as an easy target. As or the seat not being "paid" for is BS. BMI would have been compensating Austrian for the seat, either by cash or capacity trade or whatever their deal is. It's not like we were even using miles from their own program at the time which still wouldn't even make their view right.

Second tickets are a bit iffy - if they allow it it is often under some pre-conditions. E.g. you can't claim denied boarding because your wife did fly. But you should not be charged any fee for a forced cancellation of a legit ticket - In a case like this I would complain both to OS for being denied the seat and the treatment - and BMI to request a refund.

Anybody else thinking, what if you can't get the seats together??

Anybody else thinking, what if you can't get the seats together??

Extra seat for carryons?..

However, I don't know if leaving the carryons unattended is a smart thing to do.. gotta keep an eye on the seat and belongings..

I've never felt the need for an extra seat traveling transatlantic with my toddler/preschooler. I'm not sure how helpful it would be.

And I guess if I were the pregnant wife, I'd probably encourage my husband to take our son to see family overseas before the kids arrived, whatever the risk of an early birth. My goodness, that week or so of quiet time would seem like heaven before the storm.

I've never felt the need for an extra seat traveling transatlantic with my toddler/preschooler. I'm not sure how helpful it would be.

And I guess if I were the pregnant wife, I'd probably encourage my husband to take our son to see family overseas before the kids arrived, whatever the risk of an early birth. My goodness, that week or so of quiet time would seem like heaven before the storm.

Both our sons at 1 1/2 years of age are pretty squirmy.. so the extra seat would not be used anyways..

My wife still breast feeds our 1 1/2 year old and basically that helps alot..