Here is what we learned about the "fixed wall-mounted" bassinet type on another recent flight.

On the high-density domestic 777-200 equipment, a bassinet is published as being available and in at least one case was actually available on a domestic flight (SFO-BOS). It was possibly missing a part (FAs said that there is sometimes a "duvet" in addition the bassinet). Gate agents were totally unaware that it existed.

Oddly the exact location of the bassinet varies based on which variation of the 777-200 it is. The virtually identical "type 3" and "type 4" 28/336 777-200s have holes in the bulkhead which allow a fixed bassinet at seats 40DE and 40FG respectively. The current fleet mix of type 3 vs. type 4 is about 50%/50% per https://sites.google.com/site/united...fleet-tracking (10 of one type and 9 of the other).

So on the 777-200 it is basically impossible to correctly reserve in advance the bassinet seats in coach because you need to flip a coin to decide whether to get 40DE or 40FG. And you had better hope that no one else is trying to do the same thing.

I can imagine a situation where TWO parties of 2 pax both think they are requesting the seats that have a bassinet and only one of them ends up getting it, randomly, based on which of the 2 equipment types ends up operating the flight.

Looks like this. Worked very well.

Pre-install:


Post-install:




More details:

* We flew SFO-BOS on the high density domestic 777-200, which operates domestic routes like HNL-SFO, SFO-ORD, SFO-BOS (as United Coast), etc. with a 28J/336Y cabin.

* We booked a 2-pax ticket plus a lap infant and asked United Reservations to pre-register our request for a bassinet on this flight. In our ticketed cabin (economy) for our equipment type (high-density 777-200 "version 4", https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...0/default.aspx ) the bassinets are in seats 40DE, which we pre-reserved. We were told that our request was received although, of course, no guarantees.

* On the day of departure we asked a gate agent about having a bassinet. The GA said that this plane type does not have bassinets loaded for domestic flights. I said this seems odd -- why would UA publish bassinet locations for its high-density domestic subfleet if it only loads bassinets on international flights? -- and she said, yeah, no dice. I asked UA via Twitter whether this is really true and UA also said via Twitter, yes, this is true, we never have bassinets on domestic flights, we'll forward your question about why we publish bassinet locations for domestic equipment to Network Operations.

* On board the aircraft we noticed that there were bassinet holes at 40FG, not the published 40DE. It turned out that we had pre-reserved based on "version 4" but the "version 3" setup is nearly identical and we hadn't noticed (might have happened day of departure).

* After takeoff a flight attendant said "hey I notice you have a lap infant, would you like to use our bassinet?" Turns out that none of the GAs knew there was a bassinet and only one fairly senior FA knew that their plane had one. Pretty cool. Not clear if this special request was printed on the manifest or if this was just a proactive guess from a thoughtful FA.

* The FA pointed out that we were seated in the wrong half of the bulkhead to use the bassinet and volunteered to ask 40FG to swap with us in 40DE, which they were happy to do (and they were not also a couple with an infant expecting a bassinet, so this worked out great…).

* Some time after the meal, we asked about this promised bassinet and the FA said "oh, did no one set that up for you? Let's do it." The FA produced a fixed bassinet from somewhere in the front of the aircraft and 2 FAs set it up against the bulkhead.

* The fixed wall-mounted bassinet says it can accommodate up to 25 lb/12 kg baby. It's got a flexible mesh bottom and opaque plastic walls. It can accommodate a baby about six inches longer than our child and considerably heavier than our child (he is 3 months old and about 10th percentile weight/70th percentile length among US infants of his age and gender).

* Because the bassinet is opaque, you have to lean forward to see someone inside. If you're sitting normally in the seats 40FG, a normal height person will not quite be able to see a baby inside.

* It comes with a cover which you can snap on over the baby; idea is that this might provide some protection against unexpected turbulence. It seems very sturdy but it's definitely unsafe during turbulence even if the cover is snapped on. The guidance is that if the "fasten seatbelt" sign comes on, you should remove the child. I can imagine that this would be uncomfortable on certain flights where it sometimes seems like pilots turn on the seatbelt sign during a small bout of bumps and then leave it on for several hours of travel which end up being completely smooth (passengers often describe this as "the pilot forgot"). And of course the bassinet is deployed only after takeoff / before landing.

* The bassinet apparently also comes with a duvet sometimes, but this was not loaded on the flight. We were provided a domestic blanket to use to line the bottom (which didn't look like it was uncomfortable but might never ever be cleaned.) If you were to let a baby sleep unattended in this bassinet with this setup, this would be structurally similar to having a baby sleep unattended in a crib which has bumpers or loose blankets or other soft swaddling. I think the benefits/risks of that are well described in American pediatric literature and I won't re-discuss.

* The bassinet doesn't ONLY take up space in front of seats 40FG but it's very close. It protrudes a bit on the left into the bulkhead space of the pax in 40E. The pax isn't affected but definitely will see the infant.

* Baby loved it. He slept for 30+ minutes and relaxed/played for another hour or so. Otherwise he was in arms needing to be fed / changed / consoled, but that still freed up some time. And while he was in arms, the bassinet was a fine place to store changing supplies or toys.

A+, fascinating extra piece of flight infrastructure to see that is not normally deployed on the plane, very cool to see.