My wife and I are planning a trip to Europe this summer. We have an infant who will be 9 months around that time. I gather from the United website that bassinets are available, which they set up in the bulk head. We will need to pay 10% of the price of our tickets for the infant. We plan to use miles.

Here is my question. I've been Gold Elite for a while, but that is expiring soon. The bulkhead seats on the international flight are available, but they are listed as economy plus seats which United would normally charge for.

So my question is, what happens for a non-status person who has an infant, pays that fee, and requests a bassinet. Will United place us in the bulkhead? Will United charge us economy plus seats in addition to the infant charge, or do we get the economy plus seats "free" so to speak as a necessary corollary to having the infant travel with us in the bassinet.

I very much appreciate any information anyone can share.