We're flying in economy, and our daughter does not have a seat booked. Does anyone know if she gets a hand luggage allowance? I'm guessing the fact that the ElAl site doesn't say that she does means that she doesn't, but confirmation would be useful.

If it makes a difference, we're flying LTN to TLV, and the plane looks pretty full on the way out.

infant (0-2 yr) baggage allowances:
Up to 10 kg (22 pound)
Baby carriage + carry cot/safety seat

Thanks, I know. I'm asking about hand luggage.

I see many people boarding the plane with:
A very large trolly.
A big laptop bag.
(women have a purse)
A bag from the duty free
Something else very important that they cannot send at the check in.

Then everyone complains that there is no room in the overhead compartments.

I don't think anyone would say anything if you bring along a bag with things for the baby.

ta - I need to remind myself that I'm flying to Israel on ElAl, not Rome on Ryanair...

I can probably offload any excess onto my dad anyway, he'll have his tefillin and not much else, and fortunately is on the same flight as us which makes shlepping bags much easier

Just thought I'd post our experiences with El Al and an infant in economy. They don't provide seat-belt extenders - you just hold the child on your lap. This was absolutely fine with us, as it made for a happier child, but I did wonder what would happen in severe turbulence. They moved us to the bulkhead on the outbound, which was very pleasant, offered us water/blanket/bassinet at the start of the flight, and generally looked after us. Not so much on the return, but that flight was packed. We declined the bassinet because we didn't see that our daughter would stay in it, and the extra space was useful.

Unfortunately we didn't get a bulkhead on the return. The lady in front complained that our daughter was pushing her seat, to which I replied that she had fully reclined her seat after takeoff, and this did make it rather difficult to keep her away, but that we would do our best (actually, I think she may have mistaken the feeling of us getting stuff in and out of the seat pocket). I lost sympathy when I observed said lady resting her knees/feet against the seat in front of her and visibly pushing it!

We asked if we could eat at separate times on the return so one of us could hold the baby while the other ate. No problem.

El Al to/from Luton is great, at least at the times we flew. Short or no security queues, and no traffic. We had lounge access via Priority Pass at both ends, but we didn't really have time to get there, so I didn't check them out (and I think Luton doesn't let kids in...)

Daughter was a dream on the flight. One squeak on the first landing, and that was it. I think she's trying to persuade us to risk taking her business class...

You are joking right...?
Isn't there a bit of a safety issue here? Forget turbulence for a moment, what about any proper emergency situation.
I haven�t had the "pleasure" of taking the little one on an LY flight yet, but done so several times on BA and they would not in a million years allow us to have her sitting on us without an extension seat belt.

On a recent flight to AMS she had just had her 2nd birthday and so it was the first time we had actually purchased a seat for her.
They insisted she had to sit in her own seat for safety reason and would not allow for us to hold her with an extension since she was already two.

They are that strict.


Go for it! ^

Our little one has been a dream on every flight she has been on.
Her first was a Business class flight LHR-TLV-LHR and the crew didn't stop commenting about how wonderful she was.

I know we will pay for this with our next one (please g-d) who will probably be a nightmare!

Nope... We did query it.

I'm less worried about a "proper emergency situation" involving rapid horizontal deceleration (because I view this as a very low probability scenario) than a rapid descent which would potentially make it very difficult to restrain her. I'm aware that an unanticipated 1G descent would make it difficult to hold on to her, and that represents my main concern.


Doesn't everyone do that?

Got a question about the extension seatbelts on BA. Do they require that the child is facing away from you, or is it possible to have the child facing rearwards (i.e. able to feed)?

Jumping into the fray on the seatbelt extender thing. Those are not even allowed in the USA on any flight at all. They just aren't safe.

If you're concerned about turbulence and flying with babies, then buying a seat is the answer.

Works either way.