purplekitty

Hi, any help would be appreciated! We are flying NYC to SYD on Qantas, we (4 adults and one child) have seats and not thinking I booked a lap seat for our infant. Now, weeks later, I realize it's definitely safer to have a seat for infant because of car seat and other reasons, I should have booked the seat.

I called agent and originally we paid $900 just for the fees for infant flying (no seat). If we want to get a seat now, we have to purchase a new seat at $3400 and just hope the airline will refund us the $900 (which I'm not counting on).

Technically infant can fly on lap and we can try to get a bassinet seat but I'm not sure what to do now...pay $3400 (which really is now $4400 because we are not getting a refund most likely) for a seat for infant (5 months old) or just do lap. Is it do-able to not have the seat? Or is it better to bite the bullet and buy the seat? HELP!

I posted this on the main forum and heard that Qantas will try and give us the bulkhead/bassinet if we go early (we called about this and they said they can't reserve it but to just show up early).

Also, how can I look up the flight to see how full it is? It's not until later this year.

Any other pointers, thanks so much!

Dave Noble

Are you looking to do this based on comfort or safety?

If looking at a comfort level, then you just need to determine how much the comfort is worth

If looking at a safety level, I would consider the risks of airline travel in relation to other travel and the small risks versus the cost; if it was viewed as dangerous to have a lap infant, it wouldn't be permitted

As far as whether you would get a refund, this is something that the airline/travel agent can easily determine

TheInvisibleHand

Hi purplekitty,

Speaking as someone with two young children, and a decent disposable income, there is no way I would pay >$3000 so an infant could get their own seat. I say this without the experience of traveling with a lap child all the way to NY (long flight! good luck!), but I have done shorter flights to/from Asia with a little person on my lap.
A few comments/views:
* flying with a five month old isn't going to be much fun (except when they are asleep) irrespective of whether they have a seat or not; I'd be approaching the journey as a 28 hour challenge and accept that there is a limit in what you can do to prevent that.
* if traveling economy, you can raise the arm rests between seats; this can make things a bit squishy but if you and your traveling companions aren't too large there should be enough room for the tike to sit between you at different points during the flight. Is the child traveling with you a sibling and young (<7 yrs)? If so, lifting armrests and sharing space is a real possibility.
* the flight may not be full, and if not, I've found Qantas very good at organising a spare seat when traveling with a lap child (although, this may be a function of FF status)

My thoughts.

Good luck!

AnonymousCoward

You mention this is for a 5 month old infant? If so, get a bassinet assigned. The bub can sit/sleep in the bassinet, with the occasional sitting in your lap or being carried around.

kiwibigdave

I'd be surprised to find that Qantas allocated bassinet seats based on the time you show up at the airport. Much more likely is that those seats will be allocated in advance based on the age of the infants, with the youngest travelling lap-infant being allocated the first available bassinet seat, the next youngest the second, etc etc until all the bassinets are allocated. I don't know how many bassinets are available on your particular aircraft, but I'd have to guess a 5 month old gives you a good chance. Even with that, though, you might ask if splitting your group into pairs gives two of you a better chance at a bulkhead / bassinet seating allocation with the baby.

Otherwise ^ +1 to everything TheInvisibleHand posted.

DCF

Bear in mind that even if you have an airplane-approved car seat, Qantas won't allow your infant to sit in it onboard unless you present to Qantas engineering prior to the date of travel and have the seat assessed and signed off.

purplekitty

Thanks everyone!