Is Emirates infant-friendly?
 

I'm planning a SFO-BOM trip with my ~7month old son in about a month (Oct 2009). The Emirates SFO-DXB-BOM flight seem to have the lowest prices but I'm a little concerned about the 15hr SFO-DXB flight. So, a few questions:

- Any experience / insights into if Emirates is infant-friendly? E.g. do they have bassinets? I've read mixed reviews about the FAs in this forum.
- Is this a busy route in October? If it is, is buying business class seat recommended-- but thats 5x the price. One idea was to buy an extra seat (this still works out to be cheaper than business class)?
- Any pointers to business class fares/ promos?

Thanks in advance!!

You should check with Emirates first but as I've experienced, they are too friendly with infants (Hence I avoid the 1st and 2nd seats on long hauls). All the flights I took with Emirates, they had bassinets.

Emirates is very child friendly. You will get the bulkhead seats with bassinets if you ask in advance... as long as this does not happen to you -> http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/emira...-my-seats.html

Thanks for the replies...

Any thoughts on buying business class tickets (~8K for 2 adults) instead of an extra seat (~3K for 3 seats) in economy?

Parents may think they are, not sure about the infants!
 

As I can hear lots of them crying behind me!:rolleyes:

IMO, EK is very child friendly. In fact, my kids virtually grew up on EK, from Bassinets to having to purchase adult fares.

No, that was me. Y makes me sad :p

a 7-month old can sleep thru the flight without much interruptions, they DO provide bassinets, book early and make sure u request for a bassinet, also dxb airport provides free strollers as soon as u arrive at the gate, there is a small playarea in t3 where u can goto and maybe ur kid can unwind after a 15 hr flight.

when ur kid is 18 months and above thats when the mayhem starts -from my own daughter's experience :rolleyes:

the additional 5k is upto ur means, biz class is definitely the way to roll on a 15 hr non stop. but me, my wife & daughter, we have travelled the iah leg in economy and it wasn't unbearable. remember bassinet seats in Y are at the bulkhead, the armrests are not movable so u wont be able to stretch out sideways.

Emirates really seem to go the extra mile with infants. My granddaughter has made 4 flights with no problems. Free cuddly toys, back packs etc are nice touches.

Do they still give out the passports and travel logs that the captains sign for the children? I haven't seen those for a while.

I agree with ASH_AK. If the child is over 18 months purchase a seat. . It is no fun for you or other passengers if your child has no place to sit. If you have an infant the bassinet is fine. Bake sure you infant does not have a cold or ear congestion for ear blockages for infants are painful and noisy and you and your fellow passengers will share the both.
EK is great with children but if the child is not an infant purchase a seat. An extra seat in coach is better than an unhappy child without a seat!

Never knew they did them, daughter and grandaugher are flying over this month so will check.

Thanks...
 

thanks everyone for your inputs --- i've just booked my tickets on EK. I've managed to get bassinets in 3 our of 4 segments... but hopefully the last (15hr) segment also gets a bassinet.

I'll post my experience after the flight...

Good luck with the bassinet on your last sector, hopefully if there is someone without a baby they may shift for you..

There's no guarantees they will though. They may have booked a bulkhead for the extra leg room.

Anyone can book almost any bulkhead seat online, only about half the seats are blocked out in those rows for parents with babies to book offline.

On my last flight with Emirates a woman with a small baby was eventually accomodated in two non-bulkhead seats with no bassinet (baby lying flat on one of the seats). This was after much shuffling around of pax by the FA. Two pax without kids travelling seperately declined to move from the bulkhead row to other seats to free up the bassinet.