Hi everyone!

This is my first post here. I know that this topic has been raised before (e.g. here) and I've read an excellent guide here, but I feel like I have a few specific questions, so I've decided to start a new thread.

My wife and I are thinking about flying from the San Francisco Bay Area (SFO or SJC) to Moscow this summer with our son, who will be around 1-year-old by then. This will be our first trip with the baby, and now we are deciding on whether to buy a separate seat for him. My wife prefers keeping him on lap / in a bassinet, while I prefer buying a separate seat for him, so we are looking for some advice. Here are the things we are thinking about:

1. I know that having our son in a separate car seat is safer than having him on lap. However, my wife thinks that he will be sleeping better in a bassinet, and she does not like the idea of keeping him in a car seat for too long. She is afraid that even if we buy a separate seat for him, we'll end up keeping him on our lap or walking around with him most of the time. What is your experience here? Where do babies usually sleep better: in bassinets or in car seats? For how long do you keep your infants in car seats?

2. The only airlines that provide bassinets large enough to fit him (he is 70 cm long at just 6 months now) are Lufthansa and possibly United. However, United have the weight limit (10kg) on their website but not the length limit. Do you know how large United bassinets are?

On top of that, I guess on United we would need to buy Economy Plus seats to get the bulkhead seats that are better suited for bassinets. On Lufthansa, we don't need to pay anything for better seats, but it seems that the bulkhead seats get booked very early. Is there a way to guarantee the bulkhead seats and baby bassinet on Lufthansa?

3. If we end up buying a separate seat, would you recommend installing the car seat with or without its base? The owner's manual does not address this question specifically.

Finally, I guess I should mention that there are no direct flights from SFO/SJC to Moscow, so even if we get bassinets on the transatlantic flights, we would still have to keep our son on lap for the remainder of our trip (e.g. flights from Germany to Moscow). Also the extra price for having a separate seat for our son is not really that big, because we have more options to choose from if we buy him a seat. So the choice is primarily about comfort and safety, not money.

If I have missed anything important, please let me know. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!