kkjay77

As long as they are on paid ticket (be it cash, miles, vouchers, or whatever), I do not have a problem. What bothers me is the whole concept of lap child thing.

cxfan1960

When posts become more abusive, I suppose it will be locked then.

dannyhk

Well we put our 10 month old daughter in a bassinet and she slept the whole way. I really think the CX guidance about how bassinets are only for babies up to 6 months is way off. Have seen plenty of babies in bassinets on various flights who I'm pretty sure were older than that. And, if you want to fly BA, they have Britax seats (that snap on to the same place as the bassinets) which hold childen up to two years old, so avoiding the whole issue of a lap child until they're old enough that you have to pay for a separate seat anyway.

wandering_fred

jan 88 and jan 89 were very good months.......

The start of biz class RTWs with #1 son born in Oct 87.

As long as you take more interest in the child than the other passsengers (think about why that might happen) and you understand the process of handling air pressure changes (eg in ears) with small children unable to effectively communicate - go for it.


Happy wandering (with children)

Fred

MrsDrD

Adding my 2c: have flown with my son umpteen times in J aged from newborn to now at 4 yrs. Never an issue with other pax in J, and no-one had an issue with my son, either. CX cabin crew have always been superb.

Re the bassinettes: I'm reasonably confident that your 9 month old will do fine in one, especially when placed into it while already sleeping. At that age my son would happily sleep for 5 or 6 hours at a stretch in the CX bassinette. The PP who kindly posted to the link to CX's information has focussed on infant's suggested age and not the actual dimensions and rated weight loading of the bassinette. A 9 month old fits quite comfortably still, unless they are above the 90th percentile for height and weight. It's all up the individual child. My son last napped in a CX bassinette at around 15 months of age (yes, he was premature, so on the small size still at that time.)

When talking with reservations, be prepared to quote your child's current length and weight for the comment fields. They will automatically ask the child's age, and make an assignment priority on that. At that point, volunteer the additional information, e.g. "oh, he is 9 months, but still only 8kg and 68cm long". Usually does the trick.

eamus

Assuming that is true, of course!!

Yes, I was focused on the age of the child, and for their age, our two are pretty big (tall, rather than heavy). I just looked at the dimensions of the QF bassinets versus the CX ones, and the CX ones seem to be larger (5cm/2" longer and 7cm/3" wider). I agree completely that it is a question of the individual child.

MrsDrD

Of course, absolutely. No point trying to fool the airline, it will only backfire on you if your child actually cannot use the bassinette.

One of the curious things about having a premature child, you spend the next two years always knowing exactly how much they weigh and what size they are. I realise most people focus on age. Having become very familiar with the age norms, I'd say that the airlines usually base their age recommendations matched up to weight and size assumptions of well over the 100th %ile! So it becomes a valid point for "average" sized infants to point this out gently to res.

The CX bassinettes are indeed quite generous, and far and away superior to the Qantas ones in size, construction, materials etc. Flew both, and stopped flying QF during that period for exactly that reason - horrid bassinettes.

redesdale

the concept of classes-of-travel isnt egalitarian. when you pay 10x more in first than in coach, you expect certain things, namely, a comfortable and peaceful flight. quiet babies, mellow parents, i've seen plenty, bless them. but, fidgety parents who bounce up and down and thrash around with loads of baby gear, nappy-changing ON THE SEAT (hello e-coli! i sat in front of a couple who did this from LHR-LAX, they spent half the flight milling about in the aisle, over & over bumping against my seat back, once with force enough to catapult me out of a deep sleep for a deep breath of dirty diaper), and sit rooted in their seat as the baby cries full volume, unbothered that their neighbors paid thousands in hopes of a good sleep, sorry, but i feel entitled to a refund after a flight like this. Same goes when i'm in the last row of biz/first and the airline fills the front bulkhead row of coach with crying babies and the noise is piped into my seat through the curtain. I have always thought airlines should offer a cry-friendly baby zone on long haul flights, designate back rows closer to the lavatories & galley and configure them for the purpose.

PhlyingRPh

Excellent idea ^

lakai

Thanks everyone for your replies and experiences. I notice that most young children who misbehave or cry for long periods of time is because the parents do nothing in ways of discipline or comfort them. All the longhauls on cx in business where there were children have been pleasant for me. Never saw a pax with dirty looks or complain.

Although I've been on a few China Airlines Flights where It was like a warzone even when the children were displaying excessive bad behavior. Krobbins put it best for how I feel about this. I honestly would not mind gettting an extra seat if it were possible for us to sit together. I am not exactly the target demographic the designers of economy seat designers thought of, but my wife is a very petite woman and has no problems with economy. She even suggested that I sit in J alone while they sit in Y or something. A sweet suggestion but that is hardly fair to her. I will definitely have to look into my options in J wether it would be bassinet or extra seat.

My son is aprox. 26 in and 17 lbs at the moment. He still fits inside his infant seat and can sleep comfortably in it for as long as we let him. Thanks again for all your input. Much appreciated and relieved that I am in good company.

Flyer_70

I thought of this thread on my last flight - I was in J - bulkhead row with two parents and two kids (one in the bassinet). As well as taking over the entire area, (all the while drinking alcohol) getting up and down into the overhead bins, the older kid kept jabbering on and they did nothing ("quiet voice" would have been acceptable.). As well that kid kept walking into my seat space, bumping me and the parents did nothing about it. I also loved it when the younger baby was pointed in my direction with a hacking cough - ick.

I can name about 20 things those parents SHOULD have done. I think I hate having the parents in F or J more than the kids. (for that matter - no one on the plane deserves that kind of crap).

I wish there was a way one could find out if kids were in seats in your row.. then one could at least try to proactively avoid it. At the very minimum I will be avoiding bulkhead rows with bassinets.

ps: Yes I've seen very well behaved children on planes (y or j for that matter). It's not always bad.. but when it is...

ok. mini rant over.

Unimatrix One

If your child is generally quiet and well-behaved on planes, go for it.

But if your child is often noisy and difficult to control, then please please please do not take him on a plane. To all those who say "children are people too - why shouldn't they fly?" I say, "Would you take a noisy child to a movie theater?" Or, "Would you take a noisy child to a five-star restaurant?" Do everyone a favor and wait until your child is older before you take him on long flights.

Pfaelzer

100% agree.

sjohan01

Ugh. Doesn't sound like fun.

ijgordon

Well, Virgin has the "snooze zone" on shorter red-eye flights, which one would think would provide passengers an environment free from potentially noisy kiddies. Alas, this is not the case.