havechildwilltravel

That's a good thought - the only issue is returning to the UK you have to offload/customs/immigration at LHR if you arrive in the UK there. Not for the faint hearted unfortunately. MAN is just worlds apart. We will have 2 adults which will help a little.

We could of course just fly DFW to SAT if we end up with some time in each, which would be less painful than driving for sure.

ETA wait wait - of course I can return via somewhere other than LHR e.g. ORD. Not ideal but checking bags through, and dealing with the smaller immigration lines, would be comparative bliss.

Of course, I don't really want BA miles either but it's a very good thought.

wrp96

For ease of flying, definitely look for connections in Europe vs the US on the way to the US and in the US on the way back to Europe. If you can fly into Austin, BA has a flight from LHR which would mean only one connection and clearing US immigration at your final destination instead of in transit.

I know this is sacrilege on FT, but this is not the trip to limit your options based on earning FF miles.

Redhead

I'm actually on a trip with my toddler right now and I'm a single mom so always do it alone. I have a huge and I mean huge padded backpack that is designed to hold the car seat. I have the Graco 35. I bought the bag on Amazon. I put a smaller backpack on my front. The diaper bag hooks to the stroller. I push the stroller one handed and pull the big suitcase. At the gate the stroller (a City Mini) goes into a bag and it and the car seat were gate checked and I carried them plus my wiggling toddler the smaller backpack and diaper bag (a diaper dude messenger style) down the jetway.

It can be done :-)

havechildwilltravel

Husband has pointed out that he can (great sacrifice here) reinstate his expiring United miles with our car rental. Very kind of him. I also realised I have a very old AA account that has some lifetime miles in it (nothing else - I used to fly to Africa on Alliance Air, which no longer exists but which was an SAA venture).

So I think we are good to go, and will try for AUS as our first choice.

mkbkk1

Good luck and safe travels. If you've decided on the CARES then practice/pretend with your toddler and have him sit with it strapped in chair and play pilot etc. If you decide to buy a car seat, you may try contacting hotel mgmt to see if they're willing to hold the delivery in their office for you. By the way, may be worth considering buying a good car seat from U.S. I know in Asia my Britax car seat is so much more expensive then what I paid for in U.S.

rjque

I use CARES, too, but my daughter absolutely will not sleep in it. Maybe she will learn to sleep in it in the future, but for now we just use it for flights where we do not expect her to sleep.

The other issue with CARES is that there is nothing covering the crotch, so it's easy for a squirmy toddler to squirm out of the bottom. Not fun when she's fighting me on it.

havechildwilltravel

Thanks, our CARES arrived, we will practice with it and I'm guessing he can sleep on my lap during quiet periods if any.

DFW at least has a hotel I could try to stay in on arrival and see if they'd hold a package - good thought. We'll arrive way past the toddler's bedtime so a quick check in to a hotel would be a godsend.

havechildwilltravel

OK! So flight booked, and we have been given seats 10D and 10E on BA1397 - these are the seats behind an emergency exit row and the CARES harness instructions say not to use these seats - is this correct?

Then on BA193 we've got 39J and 39K which are two odd offset bulkhead seats (the main bulkhead seats are 40 A through G and there is only one other seat, 39H, in row 39). Again this is the seat in front of the emergency exit row. It looks like a good pair of seats for travel with a toddler as it's near the galley and (one hopes therefore) easy to get a drink when demanded yet again by the toddler, plus nobody behind to annoy by standing up and throwing stuff, or in front by kicking them. However, again, will CARES work on this seat?

BA193 leaves LHR at 11.55 BST and arrives at DFW at 15.50 Central time - I've requested a child meal - but would love to find out the timings of meals (lunch and snack, I'm assuming, plus breakfast on the earlier flight). Toddler is thankfully pretty omnivorous but it would be handy to know what else we're going to need to carry with us e.g. will there be enough at an approximate pre-bed hour or should I carry something substantial as well as the many raisins/cereal bars/rice cakes I'm bound to take.

fredandgingermad

As 39j and 39k have a bassinet in front depending on how many lap infants there are on board you could potentially be moved, although you could potentially have a seat mate with a lap infant

From Ba.com regarding where cares can/can't be used: It can't be used in the same row as the emergency exit or the row in front or behind the emergency exit.

I can't for the life of me remember what BA gives to children for the 'snack' but i'd carry something substansial just in case, the main meal service generally comes approximately 2 hours after takeoff and kids meals are served prior to adult meals

rjque

I never rely on the airline to provide anything for my toddler. You never know when they might decide to serve you, and you don't want to be stuck without enough food if there is a catering error. On domestic flights in the US they occasionally run out of food by the time they get half way through the aircraft, meaning that the back half of the plane doesn't even have the option to buy food. I'd just plan to bring everything you plan to feed your toddler.

havechildwilltravel

fredandginger, that's what I read on the BA site too. So now I'm worried we won't be allowed to use the CARES in that row (but since if we had a lap infant needing a bassinet AND a child using CARES we'd be put there... OK I'm confused!)

If we have a seat mate with a lap infant, we'll be fine as the toddler loves babies. He calls them all by his friend's little sister's name, but that probably won't bother the baby!

I'll try and think of something that will constitute a full meal to him but won't be smelly and squashed by the end of the second flight. I think he'll need another substantial something before the "lunch" arrives too.

havechildwilltravel

A lightbulb went on after writing that - the layout of BA193 looks like it's the seat in front of an exit row, but the colour coding shows it isn't. So we'll be fine there, those are pretty good seats for us in fact. Toddler isn't potty trained but a nappy blowout is still possible so also handy to be near the toilets...

The domestic hop is the row behind emergency exit but I'll flag that up at check-in and at the gate and they can take responsibility for where we sit and use CARES. 8.30 am on a Bank Holiday Monday is not going to be a busy flight.

fredandgingermad

Incidently the child meals on BA are generally pretty good, not entirely sure what they offer as a snack with the drinks run though but think its normally pretzals

havechildwilltravel

Toddler will be very happy then, he loves pretzels but we don't normally give him too much salt!

GalleyWench

CARES or any other CRS can not be used in the exit row, the row in front of or the row behind an exit row. If you have seat assignments in any of those rows you might want to change them.