hungarianhc

Hi There!

We're planning a big trip in September, and part of this trip is LHR-LPA, likely on British Airways. My wife and I will be traveling with our son, who will be almost two years old by then. While he's technically allowed to be a lap child, we're going to get him a seat on all of our flights to make things easier.

That being said, I realize now that business class on this flight is merely economy with the middle seat blocked. What if my wife and I were to book business class seats and then unblock the middle seat for my son when airborne? Has anyone done anything like this? To the flight attendants frown upon it?

If it is indeed frowned upon, then it doesn't make much sense for us to book three business class seats, as we'll have to not use that middle seat and sit farther apart from each other. So then as it pertains to booking economy tickets, I see a few fares, many advertising only "one seat left" at a particular price. As soon as I bump the travelers up to two, the price per ticket nearly doubles. My flight is still six months out. What are my chances of just booking a single ticket and then having that ultra cheap fare come back?

Thanks in advance for all the advice!

Oaxaca

Pretty sure LHR-LPA will be operated by I2 (Iberia Express). My recollection is that they don't have the fold-down tables in the middle seat as with BA (I2 is in the process of changing seats, so what you get will vary). Don't know how the crew would react to putting the infant in the middle seat after takeoff.

As to the prices, very difficult to say whether revenue management would increase he number of seats in the cheaper fare buckets. It's a fairly popular leisure destination from the U.K., albeit that September is not the highest season.

jmd

I can't speak for Iberia Express (although given my experience of Iberia crew I suspect they won't be bothered by anything that doesn't mean extra work for them). However on BA we often travelled in club Europe when our little one was an infant on lap, and the crew never had an issue with him being put in the middle seat, as long as he was securely on a lap for takeoff and landing.

layz

Did they mind you removing the middle seat table (or indeed offer to do it for you), or was this before the new style seats?

shefgab

It does seem that for September all the LHR-LPA are operated by Iberia Express (BA536). Economy fares on most dates at the moment are Ł45 o/w, which is pretty cheap. Maybe it's worth the OP downgrading to Y (LHR-LPA is Ł350 o/w in J), and then buying a 3rd seat, and all the BoB you want + lounge access + bags etc....still works out much cheaper than one J seat

SFU

On BA aircraft I've had the crew proactively remove the middle table once in flight, and on other flights have been told firmly, "It can't be removed".
Travelling with an infant really does highlight service levels. I've had crew see me reach for the nappy bag in the OHL's and by the time I've turned and taken the four steps to the forward lav they're holding the door open and already have the change table down. Others don't interrupt their galley chat with more than a glance. I had the Captain come back once prior to departure at LHR, to apologise and say that our stroller wouldn't be available on arrival as it looked like we would be allocated a stand rather than airbridge. While there's loads of moaning about declining levels of service etc, it's these small positive experiences which keep me loyal to BA.

Oaxaca

Fair points, although one does need to bear in mind for the adults that it's a 4 hour flight and I2 economy has 28 inch seat pitch (there is a bit more legroom on the aircraft with the new slim seats). I2 business class is same as BA at 30 inches, though the bulkheads are slightly less roomy than BA's. Depending on aircraft, there can be as few as 6 seats in I2 business class.

I do the odd flight in business class on I2, but more often these days I take an exit row seat in economy (obviously not an option for the OP with an infant).

jmd

I removed the table - no-one seemed to mind. I can imagine that you might get a jobsworth crew member who would object, but I think you would be very unlucky. After all the table and the empty seat are there for your comfort and that of the person in the other seat. If you are travelling together and want to put the baby in there, it's not as if you're inconveniencing anyone else.

navylad

I2 J is fine in my experience. The I2 crew were really friendly last time I did that route.



No table, no need to remove it, the toddler can sit there no problem, don't pay for a desperate seat, just lap seat and can put them in the empty middle seat.

sph77

I2 middle seats are usually occupied by nothing more than two pillows.

Just to add quickly to the BA experiences, I often travel alone with my 7YO and 4YO in CE. I usually put the 4YO at the window, I take the aisle and 7YO takes the other side of the aisle from me. Divide and conquer! On more than one occasion, CC have proactively asked if I want the table away so we can sit together. The only problem I've had is that quite often, they don't seem to know how to do that! Still, we usually get there in the end.

navylad

Do you know how to do it now? Can you or any of the CC on here share sot aht if anyone wants to it they can help the CC out?

ciscobod

I have travelled with my son and wife 3 times like this now on BA. Not on your route but on a A320 from LGW.


We first decided to do it when he was 14 months old and decided the airport lounge would be a good idea. Turns out it was a god send. So much easier than trying to cram into one of the busy restaurants or standing in queue for ages in the economy bag drop. From start to finish we decided it was the future.


Each time we have done it the BA crew have been brilliant and have encouraged us to remove the table out of the middle seat so we can all have a nicer flight.


From our experience not all the crew can do it but there is usually one of them that know how do it, usually the senior crew member. It's not something I have managed to do by myself as it involves pressing a few buttons at once to remove and I don't trust myself to break something. Once the crew didn't know so they got one of the ground engineers to do it so I would advise asking early just incase they don't know.


As somebody else has mentioned, you just have to have your little one on your knee for take off and landing.


Everytime the crew have been excellent and I have often filled out the compliments online form in the hope they get some kind of recognition for the customer service we have received.


Crew have also been great at filling out his little flyers log book and now he is starting to get older (2.5 years) when the captain comes out he gets really excited...."oooohhhhh" "flyyyyyingggg" "captain daddy" "captain daddy" "captain mummy" etc etc etc. The captain took a few mins and knelt down to speak to him last time which was lovely. It's just brilliant and worth every penny.

hungarianhc

Thank you so much to everyone for the feedback! Very much appreciated. We'll definitely go the route of booking two business class tickets.

corporate-wage-slave

Welcome to Flyertalk ciscobod, apologies for the tardy greeting, not sure what happened there. Thank you so much for making those positive comments. Quite understandably many parents worry about travelling with children, so I'm sure there will be people who will be grateful to read of your experiences. So welcome to the BA forum, it's good to see you here.

[Oh, and side issue: I was talking to an FT lurker last week who lost his log book somehow during house moves and is somewhat annoyed at that. So perhaps you may want to take a photo of it, and get it on the Cloud somewhere],