londonsmiler

Hi

We are flying first from phx-lhr with a lap infant. It is a night flight so our hope is that the little lad will be asleep for most of it.

I'm aware that the cot position is back in row 5 and that is obviously the sensible choice - especially as all of 5e/f/k are free at the moment so there is the potential to spread out of the cabin doesn't fill up.

However, 1a/k are also free at the moment. We have only had a handful of experiences flying first and this could be our last on the 747 so the idea of having those seats is very tempting.

As a lot of you have a lot more experience with the plane could you share your thoughts as to the suitability of the front row for an infant. Should we start at the back?

Can I help you

How big is you baby and are you happy for it to sleep by your side?

UKtravelbear

Won't they be restricted to seats that have an extra oxygen mask for the lap child

londonsmiler

He's 6 months but a big fella, around the size of the average 9 month year old.

If there's room then co-sleeping wouldn't be a problem.

Can I help you

All seats have an extra mask so no problem.
If he is large it may not be comfortable for him to sleep with you, I would go for 5EF and hope that there are vacant seats.

All She Wrote

To be honest it depends on what you personally want out of your seat. The rules allow you to have either. It's something of a situation unique to you as it really depends how your son is when it comes to flying. As you said you think he can sleep I'd say go for 5E/F, as you'll get a better nights sleep there. If you think he'll require a little more attention, 1A/K will probably be fine too, assuming your preference would be window>aisle.

londonsmiler

Agree with this sentiment, generally he has been very good on planes, but from a small sample size of only 6-7 trips. The white noise seems to settle him well, although we did have a little trouble convincing him to go down on one of trips once asleep he stayed that way.

​​​​​​thanks for all the advice guys, i think we'll probably stay back in row 5 to play it safe.

All She Wrote

Make sure he's listening to it for take off, It's incredibly loud when they bring the gear up at the front!

Pascoe

I am told that the infant seat in the F cabin on the 744 juts out in front of your TV etc and is therefore less well designed than the bulkhead mounted one in J

I would double check that as I haven't flown F with my little one yet.

But with that in mind I would seriously consider NOT taking that row 5 option and taking 1A/K. We did a JNB run in J and my lad (a tad older admittedly) lasted about 2 hours in the baby 'seat' thingy (as he's too old for the bassinet now) before deciding that he didn't want to sleep for 10 hours on his back with a 5 point harness on (he is a bit freer to roll over in his cot and often sleeps on his front).

So I ended up with him on my chest anyway for most of the trip.

So depends on whether I am right about that row 5 setup (can't remember if that's just the 380, or 380 and 744). And also if you think he'll sleep through

HTH

Can I help you

On all aircraft the basinett blocks the tv screens in First.

Eaunoire

Flew F on the 747 yesterday with my 18monther.
We had 4 e/f which worked quite well for a day flight as me and the wife could easily move around to help each other. On the way Home (night flight) we have just switched to 5 f/k window. The foot cubby is a lot more enclosed and there is plenty of space to have them between your legs.

They had Ella’s kitchen tubes onboard, he eats proper food but lapped them up

londonsmiler

Thanks for the extra information all, we experienced this on the flight out but as 5k was free the crew were good enough to let us use that in addition to the 5e/f we had booked.

That's what we'll be hoping for this time as well - flying tonight and 5k is still free.

As are 1a/k which still niggles - I've never been able to get a good view of that route due to it always being occupied and had hopes of additional space etc.

If anyone else is on the phx-lhr tonight feel free to say hello, always nice to meet new people.

dylanks

I would probably have gone with 1A/1K just because there's more space than 5E/F. It looks like there is a pretty high chance of op-ups from CW to F so I'd be surprised if F has an empty seat tonight. It's also a route where they commonly offer paid upgrades in the lounge.

londonsmiler

Oh golly, you're right that overall the plane certainly looks very full based on what I can see from expertflyer seat maps. I have to admit I hadn't considered the chance of op--ups, fit which I now feel silly about especially as there is the smaller J cabin on this aircraft.

I took the longstanding advice to check in and not download boarding passes so still have a chance to change, will debate with family over a fatburger.

Annoyingly it looks like we're delayed which will miss
​​miss the lad's bedtime. Hopefully they still have time to clean the plane

londonsmiler

To conclude the story...

App and website wouldn't allow change out of the cot position "for your safety" and by the time we checked in both 1A and 1K were gone.

Upgrades CW-First were available at check in counters for 709 USD, so not sure whether that was the cause of the additional people in the cabin (the other allocated seats didn't seem to change) or if it was op-ups

Fortunately 5K remained free (along with 4K) so the little man had his own seat again and we didn't even have the cot fitted! After a little bit of grumbling he slept through practically the whole flight - I hope he doesn't come to expect this level of flying.

Thanks again to all those who gave advice, and thanks to the crew who were excellent throughout even with the heating problem on the poor old bird.