nexes

My wife and I will be flying to Malaysia from New York (NYC to HKG to KUL). We've flown this route about 10 times without a child. And, now we have a new baby, well infant (She's a very good flyer and usually sleep through most flights). I'm trying to figure out the best way of approaching the trip.

1. I know that business class does not allow for car seats. So, I'm wondering what we should do.

2. We will be purchasing the two adult tickets via AA Advantage miles. Does it make sense to purchase the 3rd ticket with AA miles or to buy with dollars through Cathay Pacific?

3. Are we making this all a little too complicated? Instead, should we just purchase one ticket in business and two in economy (this way my wife and I can alternate taking naps with a seat that actually reclines all the way).

4. I know they offer bassinets, but it says that children over 6 months may not be comfortable...

Any suggestions or help would be appreciated! I've searched the web for answers about bassinets etc, and I really can't get many straight answers. I also searched FlyerTalk but could only find a posting from 2015, and I know they've changed some of their seating configurations since then.

Thanks so much!

Arin

Jaimito Cartero

Be careful about the infant ticket, if you only go the lap child route. Many times, if it's a lap child, the 10% charge plus taxes can be a big number.

Some airlines will not let you change cabins during the flight.

neuro0

First, find out how much they charge for infant for a tix in J. Then decide from there...
1. Pay cash for a lap child (likely to be around $800 to $1000), or
2. Pay miles for a seat for the child. Hold him during seatbelt time.
12 months is too big for those bassinet. It is more for 3 months old and under practically speaking.

CX usually don't like people switch seats between different cabins in flight.

cxfan1960

I am uncertain if you can buy lap child tickets if you did award redemption for the adult tickets. Even if you can, it will cost a lot (more than USD1000, perhaps in the range of USD2000) as mentioned by Jaimito Cartero.

No, you cannot swap seats. Only the business passenger can come to economy. The ISM may likely allow you to swap seats once only throughout the flight.

That depends on the size of your baby. I would say 9 months may be the limit for an average infant. You can also consider buying three PEY tickets.

nexes

Thanks for the responses... guess we may all be doing coach.... It seems like ages 6 months - 3 years is a difficult situation for child travel with Cathay Pacific. I definitely want to be able to safely keep our child restrained at times. I guess the only way to do that is in coach. Kind of a bummer car seats don't work with the new business class configuration.

Thanks again all for the info.

xp2000

On switching seats: you can do it once during the flight; in other words, the swapped passenger cannot go back to his/her original seat.
I was told that this is the policy by the gate agent. She said that some ISMs may be more flexible but that the policy is one swap only. Understandable because they don't want a round robin going on.

On the other hand, the cabin will be mostly dark for some of the flight time, you could actually do a "roundtrip" switch if you are discreet.

Why not try PEY alternative? The only issue is the HKG--KUL flight which might not have PEY, but it's a short flight.

G-CIVC

PEY in 32HK with the bassinet ahead sounds like a decent option. But OP wants to grAAb, so PEY is not an option in this case.

nexes

I think Premium Economy is the way we'll try to go. Do you know if you can pay for a PEY upgrade after using AA Advantage miles for a ticket?

Thanks for all the help!

ermen

Why PEY? That seems to be the worst way to go and you have the worst of both worlds. In PE, the seats don't go back all the way, and you will have trouble putting your baby "lie flat" (do the arm rests even come up between seats in PE?). At least for Y, the arm rests come up and you will be able to put the baby flat.

In J, you can lie flat, and perhaps allow the baby to sleep prone on you.

FWIW, I have put my daughter in a bassinet at 1y+. Thing is her legs will come out of the bassinet (but if she is OK sleeping like that, its fine).

QRC3288

ha no. exactly zero swaps are technically allowed.

in addition, technically US rules prohibited crossing cabins on flights that touch US soil, although this has been (quietly) eliminated a few months ago.

i haven't personally witnessed what you're describing, the "one off" permitted swap (while I've seen it denied countless times...both in F and J), but I wouldn't doubt that it has happened before. However, I have seen so many people ask to swap. The answer almost always is "you can swap before the flight departs and not again after that". Translation: you can't swap.

However like anything, YMMV and the ISM has a great degree of discretion. I'm sure this happens from time to time. But it's not policy at all and overall you should absolutely count on NOT being allowed to swap your seat mid-flight. This is not normal at all.

Ausriver

CX doesn't usually allow swap seat (or I guess we talk about sharing a J seat), however, in OP's case. If tell ISM that they want to look over the baby half way each, I'm sure the ISM will allow at least one swap.

BUT, J & Y separation is a very bad idea. Basically each one of you will have 7+ hours very hard time. I personally would prefer the whole family to be together all the time.


I don't understand what the arm rests got anything to do with baby sleeping. You mean the baby take the two adult seats during flight? So where the OP & his wife going to sit, standing during the whole flight?

fakecd

i travelled with my 23mth baby in J before. if u r small u cud technically sleep side by side in a J seat... at 12mth u shud be ok... one way or other sharing seat in J is 100% better than Y or PEY.


i always make sure family is together. in case of an emergency you want to escape together or help ur family out... yes it almost never happens but if that happens and u loose ur kid and wife cuz they were in Y and u were in J, you will never be same

deadinabsentia

Nonsense..

Almost all ISM's are mothers, and certainly don't mind

When our 5 year old was young, we'd take 1 J and 2 PY or Y and swap to on long haul so each only had to do 5-6 hrs with the baby.. then had 5-6 hrs peace.. arrived alive.

Everyone being miserable is a receipt for divorce.

I love my children greatly, but on airplanes young, they are the biggest threat to any marriage.

cyster2007

My wife sleep with my son(23 months old) on the same J seat from JFK to HKG roundtrip, so I suggest you asking CX for the infant ticket price. Back to March, my infant ticket was still 25% of regular adult fare which is $2000, but I heard that they change the rule, now should be 10% of the fare

casbroker

We've traveled 4 times in J to Europe and my wife or I have always slept with our baby on us or next to us. The only distraction for my baby were the lights on the remote control (overstimulation).