Trip Followup Report: PHL-FRA-PHL w/baby

Old May 3, 2005, 8:00 am
  #1  
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
Programs: US Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 49
Trip Followup Report: PHL-FRA-PHL w/baby

Thanks to the helpful suggestions I received on this forum last month, my recent trip from PHL to FRA with my 5-month-old baby went really well. GalleyWench provided good insight into flying with a baby on the Airbus, and others helped, too. My wife and I have determined that we probably have one of the world's best traveling babies! He slept nearly the entire flight over and didn't cry once. We were lucky enough to get all four middle seats of the front bulkhead row in coach (row 8 or 9, I can't remember) on the way over. On the way back we had a window and aisle seat at the bulkhead, since the plane was almost fully booked. Still, with the bassinet attached to the bulkhead we had a fair amount of room. Again, the baby only fussed once or twice, which the people around us complimented at the end of the flight. The bassinets on the Airbus were fairly roomy and easy to use, both on the floor and when attached to the bulkhead. I hope to have a Web page up at some point with photos of the setup and other suggestions for traveling with the baby, and will post the URL when it's done.

We usually fly into MUC, and on this trip I was reminded once again how much I dislike FRA. It's too sprawling, the signage is less than great, and airport personnel are (IMO) much less friendly than at MUC. Unfortunately, US doesn't fly the Airbus into MUC.

We tried a new hotel this go-round, which I can recommend to the group. The Holiday Inn Frankfurt Airport North was really nice. It's about a five-minute ride to the airport (has a shuttle) and is located in a very quiet wooded area (the Frankfurter Wald). Believe it or not, I got a weekend rate of 35 euros for a double room! The hotel seems fairly new, the staff was pleasant and helpful, and the location is very peaceful. There is a good-sized town about five minutes away if you have a car, with plenty of restaurant choices.
BrianW is offline  
Old May 3, 2005, 8:57 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Doylestown, PA, USA
Programs: UA Platinum Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 549
Glad it went well

Thanks for posting the trip report I wondered how it went.

My experience is that 5-8 months is the perfect time to travel with children. A 4 year old is much tougher! Certainly, once they can crawl/walk it's not so easy.

We congratulated ourselves too, after our first child. Then of course the second one came along, we did everything the same, but the kid would scream it's head off (not just on the flight, everywhere). It was like the apple hitting Newton. "Oh, it wasn't us, our first kid was just a freaking angel".

Anyway, I am making the trip over in July with my 3 kids, now 9,7, and 2. The 2 year old will need to be walked up and down the aisles. We are going LH (US points) as I find LH to be so child-friendly (crayons, little games, my kids speak German, and the flight attendants generally go out of their way to be nice to them.. seems that way to me anyway)

Going to MUC from NYC. I much prefer MUC like you do. Except when the escalators used to dump you into passkontrolle and there was no where to go, and the escalators kept pounding the people in there. Scary crowd scene.

I should make a whole different thread about small infants transatlantic vs. small kids-- its a different world..


Cheers!
ytjk is offline  

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