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Special treatment for families on board?

Special treatment for families on board?

Old Apr 26, 2014, 8:47 am
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by lost*in*cyberspace


You can always take a smaller carrier to CDG to get other choices.
Based on what I have read earlier about location, there are also several other viable options besides CDG for that poster. (And train and bus connections can be quite easy as well) France is very well served by a variety of carriers and alliances. I am constantly amazed at the route options I have, and it is frankly quite nice to be able to break out of the *A network and have so much choice.

Sometimes one needs to do research, and stop using the same carrier, especially if that carrier doesn't meet ones needs. And yes, that is on topic, as the topic is what various carriers offer to families. If UA doesn't suit ones needs, then break away from UA and find another option.
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Old Apr 27, 2014, 7:29 am
  #32  
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Originally Posted by vicarious_MR'er
Not speaking for the other poster, but if a person isn't buying their child a seat, it's not a leap to assume that $ is a big motivating factor for these people.
Yes, someone out there can be simultaneously motivated by $ and still pay an extra $30 PP for a better routing, but it's unlikely to find people for whom money is no object AND who take lap infants along for the ride on long-haul.
I think the percentage of people for whom money is no object on commercial aircraft is pretty close to zero. Indeed, if money is no object, then there is no reason to go through the hassle of flying commercial.

I think people who bring lap kids do so for a variety of reasons. We usually buy a seat for our daughter (she has AA status because of it), but it doesn't always make sense. When we adopted her and needed to fly when she was 10 days old, our adoption agent recommended that we not buy her a seat because it's easier to keep her close and away from people who might reach down to touch her. And I am on a trip right now where we chose to bring our daughter as a lap child, because the flight was only an hour long and there are two of us to manage her. We are both very frequent travelers and buy the whole spectrum of fares, we have each had status for many years, and yet we still occasionally choose to take our daughter as a lap child.
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Old Apr 29, 2014, 10:14 am
  #33  
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Originally Posted by vicarious_MR'er
Double-ditto. I'd like to see them do away with the whole bassinet concept altogether. You want to bring a "lap" baby, then it will be a LAP baby.
I agree. Basinettes encroach on the space of other passengers. They might make sense if the baby is traveling with two parents where the basinette is placed in front of both of those parents and no other passengers, but I've seen parents traveling with a lap brat deliberately only take one basinette seat and book a separate aisle seat a few rows back for the other adult (and of course refuse to move when someone sitting at the basinette position notices the traveling companion who seems to be the father and kindly offers to give the parents two seats together with the baby). Maybe in former times babies were more likely to be traveling with both parents and both of the parents either wanted to be seated near the kid or at least both felt responsible to attempt to care for the kid on board to minimize inconvenience to other passengers.
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Old Apr 29, 2014, 4:18 pm
  #34  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
I agree. Basinettes encroach on the space of other passengers. They might make sense if the baby is traveling with two parents where the basinette is placed in front of both of those parents and no other passengers, but I've seen parents traveling with a lap brat deliberately only take one basinette seat and book a separate aisle seat a few rows back for the other adult (and of course refuse to move when someone sitting at the basinette position notices the traveling companion who seems to be the father and kindly offers to give the parents two seats together with the baby). Maybe in former times babies were more likely to be traveling with both parents and both of the parents either wanted to be seated near the kid or at least both felt responsible to attempt to care for the kid on board to minimize inconvenience to other passengers.
The first time I travelled transatlantic with my daughter I was given a bulkhead seat at checkin with a bassinet travelling alone with a 6 month old, at the time of boarding the two seats next to me were empty (I was on the aisle in the middle 4 and there was someone else on the opposite aisle) then a couple asked to move, they'd already passed me and seen I had an infant but asked to move for the extra leg room and then complained about the bassinet (they sat in their own seats for takeoff and landing)
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Old May 2, 2014, 6:58 am
  #35  
 
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It's been decades that bulkhead seats on long flights have offered infant bassinets. I don't know why experienced passengers would be surprised by them, since that's the only place bassinets are available on the planes. It's easy enough to select another seat, or another flight if one isn't available.
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