Flying BA ET / CE / F with baby advice for others
Sep 18, 2018, 6:22 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
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Posts: 868
Flying BA ET / CE / F with baby advice for others
Having used the forum to look for information about traveling with our baby, I thought it would be helpful to share recent experience with others. We’ve been fortunate to do several flights with baby and this thread is intended to share some tips and photos to help others. We have some more trips coming up and will update the thread when they have completed in coming months.
Brief background – mrs-so3003 and I are both longstanding BA GCH and have travelled a lot to many parts of the world, so we are relatively savvy travellers in the grand scheme of things, albeit every day is a schoolday on flyertalk, and when travelling with a baby! This thread is purely my experience / things I think are correct, but clearly this forum has a wealth of knowledge / experience so please do your own research and don’t rely on this to be ‘fact’!
(As an aside – this isn’t the place for rehearsing old arguments about “children shouldn’t fly”, “children should always be in economy”, “children are always badly behaved” etc so please don’t add that to this thread)
Thread contents:
Generic advice for travelling
So far I’ve found BA ground crew, flight / cabin crew and airports generally to be very good at accommodating travel with young children, so my advice to anyone with an infant / baby / child who is unsure about coping with travel is to go for it!
We find that everything takes 20 times longer than you’d expect, so tight connections don’t really work with babies. They often recognise and react to carer stress, so the less stressed you are the better it is for everyone. Add in more time between your flights than you previous did.
With air pressure changes on ascent / descent, it is said to be common for monstrous nappies to be generated – at a time when the seatbelt signs are on and you can’t change them. A tip for buying some time is to put on two nappies – one that’s their size, and another outside this which is a size bigger. It won’t stop the poo coming but will buy you some extra time before it leaks all the way through!
Feeding is helpful on ascent / descent to assist with ear pressure changes. It’s possible to breast / bottle feed with the infant held securely in the infant seat belt on your lap. Note that it's the descent rather than landing when the air pressure is changing - so as soon as you feel the aircraft dropping (ie long before the "10 minutes to landing" call) start the feed.
On boarding cabin crew will proactively approach you with an infant seat belt. This is easy to use and slots onto your own seatbelt. Cabin crew shouldproactively approach you with an inflatable infant life cot, which should be near your seat at all times in flight. (Consider it to be like an infant lifejacket.) Some crews forget about this in my experience, but you should prompt them before the aircraft pushes back – you’d have no chance having one brought to you at the point of actually needing to use it. No one has ever told us how to use it and writing this thread has prompted me to look into how it works in more detail.
BA give away Skyflyers logbooks for children, which in my opinion are well worth getting. They’re free but some aircraft don’t carry them, and some crew don’t know what they are. I don’t think they’re stocked on BA Cityflyer routes (to/from LCY) but I managed to get one on a domestic flight departing LHR.
If breastfeeding you could ask crew for a pillow to cushion heads etc in event of turbulence. Some crews will also provide water, albeit in our experience it tends to be older female CC who proactively do this, so you may need to ask. Not sure if they give this gratis in Eurotraveller, but in Club Europe it’s never been an issue.
BA’s generic family travel page is here: https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb.../family-travel
Infant Fares:
Infant fares (on lap) are about 10% of adult fare (whether revenue or redemption); if you want a separate seat for infant it’s more expensive but I don’t think quite full fare cost. Infant means under 2 years old on date of outward travel. From day of 2nd birthday your child needs their own seat. Where the whole itinerary is flown before 2nd birthday you don’t need an extra seat. If you fly on or beyond 2nd birthday you need an extra seat. A quirk of this however is that for trips beginning before 2nd birthday, but returning on/after 2nd birthday, you can pay an infant lap 10% fare but from the 2nd birthday date you’ll get a seat for them in the same cabin. This means if 2nd birthday is 10th January, if you depart on 9th January, the whole trip is charged at infant fare, but on your return leg on/after 10th January your child is allocated their own seat by BA.
Luggage:
BA infant luggage details are here: https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...travel/baggage
In addition to your own BA luggage allowance infants on lap can bring 1 carry on bag into cabin (ie feeding / change bag); additionally they can check 1 hold bag, 1 stroller (see below) and 1 car seat (see below). Weight of checked bag may vary from your own (eg 23 vs 32kg). In my experience it’s variable whether the app recognises the extra bag allowance – as GCH we get an extra hold bag regardless, and sometimes just this shows up, whereas others the GCH bag and infant bag both appear on allowance.
Any collapsible stroller (within vague reason!) can travel. If it’s above the specified dimensions you need to check it as hold luggage from the check-in area. Otherwise if it’s within the dimensions you can use it airside in the airport, it gets put into the hold, then returned to either the gate on arrival or baggage carousel. To gate check your stroller you need to get a luggage tag from the check-in desk as you would with hold luggage, and a large orange sign. Without the orange sign your stroller will go to the luggage carousel (as the purpose of the sign is to alert baggage handlers to return it to the gate). Make sure you don’t lose either as you go through the airport – we lost the orange tag once, and the departing gate staff didn’t have any spares. Be aware that the gate return process can take a while – in our experience upwards of 20-30mins in some cases. In our view it’s still worth doing to avoid damage on the carousel (see below), and for a baby seat to use during long immigration waits etc. If you’re in F / CE etc this completely negates any benefit of being first off the aircraft – I’d sit and wait on board a bit longer rather than rushing off to stand waiting outside!
BA stroller dimensions are 117cm x 38cm x 38cm when fully collapsed. (46in x 15in x 15in). https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...travel/baggage
We’ve once travelled with a stroller that was too big. We were still able to check it at the gate, to be returned to the luggage carousel. Large strollers won’t be returned to the gate on arrival. At some airports they can’t / won’t return to the gate, so everything goes to the carousel. Be aware that at airports where the luggage falls down a ramp onto the carousel, there’s a chance of damaging your stroller either as it falls down onto the conveyor belt, or as something else lands on top of it…
We now have travel stroller that cost us about £80-100 – it’s not as good as the full-service (and ironically named) ‘travel system’ we use at home, but for a quick trip here and there it’s a lot easier and does the job. BA managed to break the travel stroller on our last trip, and it’s been replaced by them with another that interestingly doesn’t seem to fit their published dimensions! Hopefully that won’t stop them gate checking it when we next travel.
We invested about £15 in carry bags to put the stroller in (and another for car seat) – these protect them from reappearing filthy at the other end and are well worth the investment. I’ll put a photo below.
We find using a sling to carry baby in the airport makes life a lot easier, particularly when going from the lounge to the gate / boarding etc. The pram is still ‘necessary’ in the airport though as a place to put them down safely when you need to, eg going to toilet etc!
Brief background – mrs-so3003 and I are both longstanding BA GCH and have travelled a lot to many parts of the world, so we are relatively savvy travellers in the grand scheme of things, albeit every day is a schoolday on flyertalk, and when travelling with a baby! This thread is purely my experience / things I think are correct, but clearly this forum has a wealth of knowledge / experience so please do your own research and don’t rely on this to be ‘fact’!
(As an aside – this isn’t the place for rehearsing old arguments about “children shouldn’t fly”, “children should always be in economy”, “children are always badly behaved” etc so please don’t add that to this thread)
Thread contents:
- Generic travel-with-baby advice
- Airport specific comments - GLA, EDI, LCY, LHR, BOS, JFK
- Aircraft specific comments - ET, CE, F (747) including baby seat issues
Generic advice for travelling
So far I’ve found BA ground crew, flight / cabin crew and airports generally to be very good at accommodating travel with young children, so my advice to anyone with an infant / baby / child who is unsure about coping with travel is to go for it!
We find that everything takes 20 times longer than you’d expect, so tight connections don’t really work with babies. They often recognise and react to carer stress, so the less stressed you are the better it is for everyone. Add in more time between your flights than you previous did.
With air pressure changes on ascent / descent, it is said to be common for monstrous nappies to be generated – at a time when the seatbelt signs are on and you can’t change them. A tip for buying some time is to put on two nappies – one that’s their size, and another outside this which is a size bigger. It won’t stop the poo coming but will buy you some extra time before it leaks all the way through!
Feeding is helpful on ascent / descent to assist with ear pressure changes. It’s possible to breast / bottle feed with the infant held securely in the infant seat belt on your lap. Note that it's the descent rather than landing when the air pressure is changing - so as soon as you feel the aircraft dropping (ie long before the "10 minutes to landing" call) start the feed.
On boarding cabin crew will proactively approach you with an infant seat belt. This is easy to use and slots onto your own seatbelt. Cabin crew shouldproactively approach you with an inflatable infant life cot, which should be near your seat at all times in flight. (Consider it to be like an infant lifejacket.) Some crews forget about this in my experience, but you should prompt them before the aircraft pushes back – you’d have no chance having one brought to you at the point of actually needing to use it. No one has ever told us how to use it and writing this thread has prompted me to look into how it works in more detail.
BA give away Skyflyers logbooks for children, which in my opinion are well worth getting. They’re free but some aircraft don’t carry them, and some crew don’t know what they are. I don’t think they’re stocked on BA Cityflyer routes (to/from LCY) but I managed to get one on a domestic flight departing LHR.
If breastfeeding you could ask crew for a pillow to cushion heads etc in event of turbulence. Some crews will also provide water, albeit in our experience it tends to be older female CC who proactively do this, so you may need to ask. Not sure if they give this gratis in Eurotraveller, but in Club Europe it’s never been an issue.
BA’s generic family travel page is here: https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb.../family-travel
Infant Fares:
Infant fares (on lap) are about 10% of adult fare (whether revenue or redemption); if you want a separate seat for infant it’s more expensive but I don’t think quite full fare cost. Infant means under 2 years old on date of outward travel. From day of 2nd birthday your child needs their own seat. Where the whole itinerary is flown before 2nd birthday you don’t need an extra seat. If you fly on or beyond 2nd birthday you need an extra seat. A quirk of this however is that for trips beginning before 2nd birthday, but returning on/after 2nd birthday, you can pay an infant lap 10% fare but from the 2nd birthday date you’ll get a seat for them in the same cabin. This means if 2nd birthday is 10th January, if you depart on 9th January, the whole trip is charged at infant fare, but on your return leg on/after 10th January your child is allocated their own seat by BA.
Luggage:
BA infant luggage details are here: https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...travel/baggage
In addition to your own BA luggage allowance infants on lap can bring 1 carry on bag into cabin (ie feeding / change bag); additionally they can check 1 hold bag, 1 stroller (see below) and 1 car seat (see below). Weight of checked bag may vary from your own (eg 23 vs 32kg). In my experience it’s variable whether the app recognises the extra bag allowance – as GCH we get an extra hold bag regardless, and sometimes just this shows up, whereas others the GCH bag and infant bag both appear on allowance.
Any collapsible stroller (within vague reason!) can travel. If it’s above the specified dimensions you need to check it as hold luggage from the check-in area. Otherwise if it’s within the dimensions you can use it airside in the airport, it gets put into the hold, then returned to either the gate on arrival or baggage carousel. To gate check your stroller you need to get a luggage tag from the check-in desk as you would with hold luggage, and a large orange sign. Without the orange sign your stroller will go to the luggage carousel (as the purpose of the sign is to alert baggage handlers to return it to the gate). Make sure you don’t lose either as you go through the airport – we lost the orange tag once, and the departing gate staff didn’t have any spares. Be aware that the gate return process can take a while – in our experience upwards of 20-30mins in some cases. In our view it’s still worth doing to avoid damage on the carousel (see below), and for a baby seat to use during long immigration waits etc. If you’re in F / CE etc this completely negates any benefit of being first off the aircraft – I’d sit and wait on board a bit longer rather than rushing off to stand waiting outside!
BA stroller dimensions are 117cm x 38cm x 38cm when fully collapsed. (46in x 15in x 15in). https://www.britishairways.com/en-gb...travel/baggage
We’ve once travelled with a stroller that was too big. We were still able to check it at the gate, to be returned to the luggage carousel. Large strollers won’t be returned to the gate on arrival. At some airports they can’t / won’t return to the gate, so everything goes to the carousel. Be aware that at airports where the luggage falls down a ramp onto the carousel, there’s a chance of damaging your stroller either as it falls down onto the conveyor belt, or as something else lands on top of it…
We now have travel stroller that cost us about £80-100 – it’s not as good as the full-service (and ironically named) ‘travel system’ we use at home, but for a quick trip here and there it’s a lot easier and does the job. BA managed to break the travel stroller on our last trip, and it’s been replaced by them with another that interestingly doesn’t seem to fit their published dimensions! Hopefully that won’t stop them gate checking it when we next travel.
We invested about £15 in carry bags to put the stroller in (and another for car seat) – these protect them from reappearing filthy at the other end and are well worth the investment. I’ll put a photo below.
We find using a sling to carry baby in the airport makes life a lot easier, particularly when going from the lounge to the gate / boarding etc. The pram is still ‘necessary’ in the airport though as a place to put them down safely when you need to, eg going to toilet etc!
Last edited by so3003; Sep 18, 2018 at 7:16 am
Sep 18, 2018, 6:23 am
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BD Gold, BAEC Gold, Hilton HHonors
Posts: 868
This is where to leave strollers on the jetway
This is our stroller collapsed and in its bag at the drop off point on jetway (at LHR in this example). Note a) luggage tag and b) orange 'return to gate' tag. Adjacent items not ours!
The stroller before being collapsed down, for comparison
Last edited by so3003; Sep 29, 2018 at 5:00 pm Reason: More photos
Sep 18, 2018, 6:24 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BD Gold, BAEC Gold, Hilton HHonors
Posts: 868
Airport specific comments
GLA
GLA
- GLA has a (relatively) long walk from check-in to BA gates
- BA lounge is easily accessible for stroller and it’s easy to park strollers etc.
- Disabled toilet is easily accessible (next to the podium as you enter the lounge). Baby change is located within the disabled toilet. No baby change facility in the main male / female toilets downstairs.
- Gate checking stroller means leaving just before you enter the jetway from the terminal building. This means you will need to collapse / pack into bag etc in front of other passengers if you haven’t done it before then.
- Unsure if GLA does return of items to the gate – this is a home airport for us, and it’s a short walk from domestic arrivals to luggage reclaim, so we've never bothered asking for gate delivery here
- EDI gates vary depending on aircraft / destination, but LCY and LHR often close to the BA lounge.
- BA lounge is easily accessible for strollers and easy to park strollers etc.
- Toilets are easily accessible with stroller. There is one baby change facility in each of the main male / female toilets (within a cubicle) which are on same level as lounge.
- It’s not possible to have stroller returned to gate at EDI. Arriving domestic flights have fairly short walk to luggage if you get a terminal gate, but you can get a bus gate, especially if late at night. We haven’t yet had this pleasure traveling with baby so can’t comment. I think this would make a sling "required" from a safety and practical perspective
- Outgoing gate checked items are left at a designated point just at the exit to terminal. Unsure about bus gates.
- LCY has (relatively) quite a long walk from arriving to getting to luggage area, including lots of up/downstairs.
- LCY doesn’t return stollers to gate.
- We have only flown into LCY so can’t comment on departing issues.
- LHR gates are potentially very far away from the lounges, particularly if traveling long haul (eg A380 gates are all in C terminal etc).
- There’s a surprisingly good / clean / well equipped baby change facility just before exiting landside from domestic arrivals – it’s on the way into the toilets just at the “no return beyond this door” after collecting baggage.
- Consider using the underground walkway below the level of the transit train to get to B and C gates. We have always used this and enjoy the walk before flying. It’s usually totally deserted too, and the lights etc are nice for baby to look at as you pass through.
- North lounge complex is accessible for stroller, but we tend not to use that so can’t comment on specifics inside the lounge.
- South lounge complex is accessible for stroller using lift to get into it.
- Galleries First has baby change facilities separate from main toilets (near champagne bar)
- GF is relatively easy to park stroller in near seat.
- Galleries Club (unsure about baby change – will check and edit)
- Concorde Room has one baby change / feeding room, situated on the way to the main toilets / cabanas area.
- Most CCR seating is reasonably easy to park stroller next to. CCR dining is a bit of a challenge for a stroller but the staff have always managed to find us a reasonable space to fit into. We usually bring baby onto our lap / sling etc, ie out of stroller when dining there.
- Gate checked items are left in a designated area on jetway, and delivered to the same area for arriving flights. It’s on the jetway and you really can’t miss it!
- The walk from arrivals to luggage isn’t excessive and immigration was very quiet when we passed through.
- Gate checked items are left / returned immediately inside the terminal building. It took a long while to get our stroller back – we were literally first off, but the aircraft had emptied before the stroller appeared.
- JFK has a fairly compact terminal (T7) from which all BA flights depart. It’s easy to get to the gates.
- Galleries Club is accessible for strollers using the lift. There's a baby change in an open area within the female toilets (unsure about male toilets)
- At the time of our visit Galleries First was closed for refurbishment.
- Concorde Room is easily accessible for strollers.
- Concorde Room has no baby change facilities, either in the male/female toilets or in a separate room.
- Staff in CCR proactively offered us the VIP meeting room if we wanted privacy for breastfeeding or changing etc. Note that this has a glass front albeit it's fairly private and difficult to see into from the outside.
- Gate checked items are left in a designated area (similar to LHR) at the top of jetway.
Last edited by so3003; Sep 18, 2018 at 7:09 am
Sep 18, 2018, 6:24 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BD Gold, BAEC Gold, Hilton HHonors
Posts: 868
Aircraft specific comments
Eurotraveller – domestic UK Airbus
Generic advice at top applies. No particular seat preference although should not be in an exit row for obvious reasons! It's easier to breastfeed in an aisle seat as head or legs can overhang the armrest without encroaching on other passengers' space.
Be aware of limited cabin baggage space. You may need to choose between your own cabin bag and your baby change bag being under seat in front if you’re traveling without other adults and tight for space.
Engine noise is substantially louder behind the wings – consider sitting as far forward as you can to avoid this.
Eurotraveller – domestic UK Embraer
Generic advice at top applies. No particular seat preference although should not be in an exit row for obvious reasons! It's easier to breastfeed in an aisle seat as head or legs can overhang the armrest without encroaching on other passengers' space.
Be aware of limited cabin baggage space. You may need to choose between your own cabin bag and your baby change bag being under seat in front if you’re traveling without other adults and tight for space.
Engine noise is substantially louder behind the wings – consider sitting as far forward as you can to avoid this.
Club Europe – domestic UK 767
This lovely aircraft will soon be out of service but for completion advice is still listed
We enjoyed sitting at the front right, ie 2JK. This was visible to cabin crew who were excellent in regard to feeding considerations etc. The only issue here is requiring to put all luggage in overhead lockers or wardrobe – ie you won’t have easy immediate access to baby change bag if you need it.
It's easier to breastfeed in an aisle seat as head or legs can overhang the armrest without encroaching on other passengers' space.
There are bassinet positions but I don’t think they are available for use on a domestic flight.
Club Europe – domestic UK Airbus
Generic advice at top applies.
We prefer sitting in row 1 as despite all hand luggage requiring to go into overhead lockers, there’s more space at the bulkhead.
It's easier to breastfeed in an aisle seat as head or legs can overhang the armrest without encroaching on other passengers' space.
Eurotraveller – domestic UK Airbus
Generic advice at top applies. No particular seat preference although should not be in an exit row for obvious reasons! It's easier to breastfeed in an aisle seat as head or legs can overhang the armrest without encroaching on other passengers' space.
Be aware of limited cabin baggage space. You may need to choose between your own cabin bag and your baby change bag being under seat in front if you’re traveling without other adults and tight for space.
Engine noise is substantially louder behind the wings – consider sitting as far forward as you can to avoid this.
Eurotraveller – domestic UK Embraer
Generic advice at top applies. No particular seat preference although should not be in an exit row for obvious reasons! It's easier to breastfeed in an aisle seat as head or legs can overhang the armrest without encroaching on other passengers' space.
Be aware of limited cabin baggage space. You may need to choose between your own cabin bag and your baby change bag being under seat in front if you’re traveling without other adults and tight for space.
Engine noise is substantially louder behind the wings – consider sitting as far forward as you can to avoid this.
Club Europe – domestic UK 767
This lovely aircraft will soon be out of service but for completion advice is still listed
We enjoyed sitting at the front right, ie 2JK. This was visible to cabin crew who were excellent in regard to feeding considerations etc. The only issue here is requiring to put all luggage in overhead lockers or wardrobe – ie you won’t have easy immediate access to baby change bag if you need it.
It's easier to breastfeed in an aisle seat as head or legs can overhang the armrest without encroaching on other passengers' space.
There are bassinet positions but I don’t think they are available for use on a domestic flight.
Club Europe – domestic UK Airbus
Generic advice at top applies.
We prefer sitting in row 1 as despite all hand luggage requiring to go into overhead lockers, there’s more space at the bulkhead.
It's easier to breastfeed in an aisle seat as head or legs can overhang the armrest without encroaching on other passengers' space.
Last edited by so3003; Sep 18, 2018 at 7:12 am
Sep 18, 2018, 6:38 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: UK
Programs: BD Gold, BAEC Gold, Hilton HHonors
Posts: 868
First – 747
Generic advice at top applies.
One of the two bathrooms in F has a baby change facility (the one without a window). The baby change shelf is very narrow; take minimal luggage into toilet, and have everything out and ready before starting to change.
There is only one seat in the cabin at which a baby seat can be fitted – 5F. Passengers with infants can be seated in other seats too, but they won’t be able to use a baby seat. Note that a bassinet, which is different from a baby seat, cannot be fitted to any First class seat. It is only available in ET, WTP, CW.
You cannot pre-order a baby seat but for practical purposes you will “always” get this in First. They are carried on all long haul aircraft, and given out at boarding on first-come-first-served basis, with priority for premium cabin passengers - and if you're in 5F you're the only F passenger who is able to have one. This means you should ask at boarding for it though, and don’t wait until you’re halfway across the Atlantic!
Baby seat photos are below for information. As a reference our baby was approx. 3 months old, weighed approx. 6kg and was approx 60cm long on the flight when these photos were taken.
The seat comes with a wooden platform, upon which the seat is secured. The crew will install it once airborne. It’s quite technically challenging for crew to install and it fits very tightly into the slots. The babyseat itself is secured to the platform via the red straps. Even as relatively risk averse parents, it looks very safe once installed.
The seat has a 5-point harness making it suitable for infants from birth. Officially it can be used until age 2, but realistically I doubt our baby would fit in it much beyond 1 year! (Although we didn’t see a bassinet, there’s no way our 3 month old would have fitted into it based upon the measurements.)
When the seatbelt signs are on you must take your infant from the baby seat and hold them in their infant seat belt, attached to your seat belt. Obviously this is a safety issue, but it’s really depressing when they’ve just gone to sleep and then it becomes a little bumpy. The seat is removed by crew at the point of preparing cabin for landing, so again you need to have them in your lap for landing.
It’s possible to fully recline your first class seat into bed mode, and to adjust between bed and fully upright etc with the baby seat installed. It’s also possible to open / close / use the table for meals etc. You cannot open (or really see) the TV screen when the seat is installed as the platform position renders it locked into the closed position. This is a real flaw of the F seats in my opinion. It's not physically possible to install the babyseat with the TV open either.
On our flight we had 5F / K, and 5E was also empty. When baby was asleep we used 5K to dine together. There was good visibility of baby from 5K (although not from the buddy seat). Afterwards we were able to use the 5E screen to watch TV from 5F, which obviously relies upon it being empty (!) Note that it's not worth moving seats to watch TV in 5E, as to get back to 5F you need to go all the way around the cabin; it was far easier to stay in 5F and angle 5Es TV to see through the divider. (This also means you can continue watching TV while holding baby on lap during turbulence!)
Some reports say there’s excessive galley noise from row 5 but this honestly wasn’t a problem. We usually sit in row 1 or 2 in F, and didn’t notice a huge difference.
Generic advice at top applies.
One of the two bathrooms in F has a baby change facility (the one without a window). The baby change shelf is very narrow; take minimal luggage into toilet, and have everything out and ready before starting to change.
There is only one seat in the cabin at which a baby seat can be fitted – 5F. Passengers with infants can be seated in other seats too, but they won’t be able to use a baby seat. Note that a bassinet, which is different from a baby seat, cannot be fitted to any First class seat. It is only available in ET, WTP, CW.
You cannot pre-order a baby seat but for practical purposes you will “always” get this in First. They are carried on all long haul aircraft, and given out at boarding on first-come-first-served basis, with priority for premium cabin passengers - and if you're in 5F you're the only F passenger who is able to have one. This means you should ask at boarding for it though, and don’t wait until you’re halfway across the Atlantic!
Baby seat photos are below for information. As a reference our baby was approx. 3 months old, weighed approx. 6kg and was approx 60cm long on the flight when these photos were taken.
The seat comes with a wooden platform, upon which the seat is secured. The crew will install it once airborne. It’s quite technically challenging for crew to install and it fits very tightly into the slots. The babyseat itself is secured to the platform via the red straps. Even as relatively risk averse parents, it looks very safe once installed.
The seat has a 5-point harness making it suitable for infants from birth. Officially it can be used until age 2, but realistically I doubt our baby would fit in it much beyond 1 year! (Although we didn’t see a bassinet, there’s no way our 3 month old would have fitted into it based upon the measurements.)
When the seatbelt signs are on you must take your infant from the baby seat and hold them in their infant seat belt, attached to your seat belt. Obviously this is a safety issue, but it’s really depressing when they’ve just gone to sleep and then it becomes a little bumpy. The seat is removed by crew at the point of preparing cabin for landing, so again you need to have them in your lap for landing.
It’s possible to fully recline your first class seat into bed mode, and to adjust between bed and fully upright etc with the baby seat installed. It’s also possible to open / close / use the table for meals etc. You cannot open (or really see) the TV screen when the seat is installed as the platform position renders it locked into the closed position. This is a real flaw of the F seats in my opinion. It's not physically possible to install the babyseat with the TV open either.
On our flight we had 5F / K, and 5E was also empty. When baby was asleep we used 5K to dine together. There was good visibility of baby from 5K (although not from the buddy seat). Afterwards we were able to use the 5E screen to watch TV from 5F, which obviously relies upon it being empty (!) Note that it's not worth moving seats to watch TV in 5E, as to get back to 5F you need to go all the way around the cabin; it was far easier to stay in 5F and angle 5Es TV to see through the divider. (This also means you can continue watching TV while holding baby on lap during turbulence!)
Some reports say there’s excessive galley noise from row 5 but this honestly wasn’t a problem. We usually sit in row 1 or 2 in F, and didn’t notice a huge difference.
Last edited by so3003; Sep 18, 2018 at 7:25 am
Sep 18, 2018, 11:40 am
#8
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: BAEC GfL
Posts: 334
Thank you we will have a 5-6 month grandchild travelling with us (and the parents) to Buenos Aires next April, its been so long since we travelled with babies this is an excellent reminder of the things we take for granted when travelling on our own.
Sep 30, 2018, 2:02 am
#10
Join Date: May 2009
Location: London
Programs: BA
Posts: 1,408
Lots of helpful info there. Two quick points which I dont think you covered :-
A child under two doesnt count as a guest for lounges, so if only one partner has status you still can enter the lounge network. As soon as they are two this stops, although out stations can sometimes show discretion.
The baby change facilities in T5 outside the lounges are pretty good - theres a large very clean one at gate A1 for example.
A child under two doesnt count as a guest for lounges, so if only one partner has status you still can enter the lounge network. As soon as they are two this stops, although out stations can sometimes show discretion.
The baby change facilities in T5 outside the lounges are pretty good - theres a large very clean one at gate A1 for example.
Sep 30, 2018, 5:01 am
#11
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 740
Also be aware of gate checked buggies. They don't always come back to the gate. Last time i did this we waited for a long time at one of the c gates at t5. I asked the captain who was getting off the plane (passengers were long gone) and after some checking it transpired that it had been sent to the carousel.
If you can avoid using a buggy at the airport you should. Much easier with a carrier.
My daughter didn't last long in the baby seat in the f cabin. She really didn't like it. Not did my wife as she couldn't watch a film.
My daughter's first flight was in CE and we brought out buggy to the gate. The plane wasn't full so the crew invited us to take it onboard. It went into the overhead with no issues.
On the whole flying with babies isn't difficult. When they are two is a different matter.
If you can avoid using a buggy at the airport you should. Much easier with a carrier.
My daughter didn't last long in the baby seat in the f cabin. She really didn't like it. Not did my wife as she couldn't watch a film.
My daughter's first flight was in CE and we brought out buggy to the gate. The plane wasn't full so the crew invited us to take it onboard. It went into the overhead with no issues.
On the whole flying with babies isn't difficult. When they are two is a different matter.
Sep 30, 2018, 5:55 am
#13
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: GLA
Programs: BAEC: Silver. Nothing else as TopCashBack trumps all hotel programs
Posts: 801
Lots of helpful info there. Two quick points which I don’t think you covered :-
A child under two doesn’t count as a guest for lounges, so if only one partner has status you still can enter the lounge network. As soon as they are two this stops, although out stations can sometimes show discretion.
The baby change facilities in T5 outside the lounges are pretty good - there’s a large very clean one at gate A1 for example.
A child under two doesn’t count as a guest for lounges, so if only one partner has status you still can enter the lounge network. As soon as they are two this stops, although out stations can sometimes show discretion.
The baby change facilities in T5 outside the lounges are pretty good - there’s a large very clean one at gate A1 for example.
0-3 years-----Not counted as guest
4 to 17 years-------2x not counted as guest
Last edited by cupsandsaucers; Sep 30, 2018 at 6:01 am
Oct 7, 2018, 10:24 am
#14
Moderator: Qatar Airways
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: LHR/NCE/MIA
Programs: BAEC GfL & GGL, SQ Gold, Amex Centurion, Mucci des Chevaliers des Bons Mots et Qui Savent Moucher
Posts: 8,944
Something I'd like to add to this, is with regards to remote stands at LHR.
The bus drivers are very insistent that all buggies are folded up, prior to boarding the bus. This is, quite simply, not safe, as there are no seat belts. Obviously a fully locked buggy, with baby inside, is the norm on public transport.
M
The bus drivers are very insistent that all buggies are folded up, prior to boarding the bus. This is, quite simply, not safe, as there are no seat belts. Obviously a fully locked buggy, with baby inside, is the norm on public transport.
M