Hello All,

I would appreciate your expert feedback.

In late August I will be flying with my wife to Philadelphia to meet my family in the suburbs there (Bucks County) - and friends - for a couple of weeks. I am looking at tickets now (between JPY 150k - 180k or so, cheapest airlines being US Airways, Delta, American, United, ANA in order of increasing cost) and wonder if anyone has any general comments or advice on airline, timing, transit airport, or anything else. The kicker is that we will be traveling with our 1yo daughter - on lap - for the first time ever.

Any thoughts or opinions appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

WP

They all have the same prices. The question is if the particular airline has availability on your travel dates in the lowest booking class, and certain days of the week might be ~$100 more expensive.

In Japan summer is September so if you leave after Sep 1 then the rock bottom price on UA is $1264. In August you will pay in the $1500s.

The weather starts to get nicer in the US in early September in Philly while it is still muggy summer in Japan. That's when I would go.

You could consider flying to EWR and then taking ground transport to the Philly area if you want avoid connecting in the US, which can be unpleasant. I would advise against connecting in IAD.

DEN might be a good option since they do not have much international traffic. There is NRT-DEN on UA and I think they generally don't have very full planes on that route. This could also be more comfortable if the plane is not very full, although I have heard that the config in economy on the UA 787 is not very nice. You will also avoid thunderstorm delays via DEN, which are common on the East coast in the summer.

gnaget,

Thanks very much. That all sounds like great advice. Can I ask why you would avoid IAD for transfer?

Also, where do you recommend checking prices? At the moment I am looking at expedia.co.jp, which may not be optimal.

WP

Last summer when based in Japan I had a business trip in upstate NY so I flew via IAD. At that time of year it lands close to peak European arrivals. I think my flight was just a little bit late. I am sure that immigration was really busy but whisked through using Global Entry. But then I hit the transit security; probably 30+ minute wait and I am sure foreign visitors had waited already more than an hour for immigration. It was hot (weak AC) and many passengers with really bad BO. TSA was making everybody go through body scanners. I think that I flew United First but that was not good enough; United was only letting people with Global Services jump the queue. Then I got into an altercation with a TSA goon; always happens when try to put me through the body scanner.

I should have gone to the main terminal. One has that option if there is no checked luggage.

Good airports for transit are SEA, LAX (with UA), SFO (with UA) and probably DEN. But flying a transcon to PHL is not that attractive. I would go to EWR and travel by car or train if I had a child with me.

p.s. Check the airline websites directly. Matrix.itasoftware.com is a good tool for multiple airlines. You can get a 5 day free trial at Expertflyer.com and check the actual fares for the market. They will be quoted without tax and fuel surcharge.

With a baby, you DEFINITELY want to fly a Japanese airline. The flight attendants care about small kids, the planes are cleaner and it's easier to get a bulkhead bassinet. JAL will even lend you a baby seat if you book a seat for the little one.

When I drag the family to the east coast, we often book an overnight connection at ORD and crash at the airport Hilton. 12 hours in a metal tube trying to calm a baby can be exhausting and it is nice to be able to recharge completely before finishing the journey.

gnaget, joejones,

Thank you for your thoughts.

I would like to go ANA to Newark and drive from there. Unfortunately the only flight between NRT and EWR seems to be operated by UAL. There is a code share for ANA on this flight but I guess the level of service would be closer to UAL's usual service rather than ANA's i.e. not great. But still considering going this route.

How does one arrange a "bulkhead bassinet"? Is it worth it and can it be arranged ahead of time, or do you have to wait and see on the day of the flight?

WP

If it's a United Airlines plane, the service will be entirely UAL's usual service. The fact that it's a codeshare will have no bearing on what you experience. To arrange a bulkhead bassinnet, United advises customers to call ahead:
http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...s/default.aspx

IIWY, I'd make the call before buying any tickets. You might look for some advice on this topic on the United Airlines forum ... I have no experience of trying to arrange this myself, but I would certainly heed Joe's advice that it's easier to get a bulkhead bassinet with a Japanese airline. The number of bulkhead seats is limited and I guess UAL doesn't give as much love to parents as JAL and ANA do. (AFAICT, UAL is all out of love for any customers, actually).

BTW - Welcome to Flyertalk withpickles. (Are you with Pickles? If so, please give him my regards).

It's been a couple years since the last time I did bassinet. Back then I was flying almost exclusively Star Alliance. I distinctly remember doing bulkhead-attaching bassinet with AC and NH, and things working out pretty well. On the other hand, I think I may have done bulkhead-attaching bassinet on UA's 777 but the "bassinet" on a UA 747 flight was actually just a padded duffel bag type thing you lay on the floor. That was never going to work, so we just had the baby on the lap the whole flight. You should definitely call ahead, ask all the questions, and see if they can secure you the bulkhead seat... they may not show as being available on the website's seatmap, but they actually might be in reality. I vaguely recall being told by NH that they could not 100% guarantee the bassinet until the day of travel... but we always got it in the end. Thing you do have to consider, though, is that different kids have different dispositions and levels of challenges. A bassinet may be more conducive to one child than another. If you're flying in a plane with 3-3-3 config, it may even be worth considering just sucking it up and buying a seat for the baby so that you have the peace of mind of owning an entire row to yourself (especially if you've got a fussy baby). Of note, I'm pretty sure the bassinet can only attach to the center bulkhead, so you'd probably have to take two seats in the middle section of, say, a 777 that's 2-5-2.

Agree with joejones about flying with a Jpn airline. The level of service and concern that NH FA's show towards families with kids is far beyond anything you'd get with a US airline. I'd imagine JAL is similar to NH in that regard.

If you're flying to PA, you should try to transit on/near the East Coast and leave as little travel as possible on the US-domestic portion. Believe me, that'll make it so much easier when traveling with little ones.

LOL!

UA has bassinets that hook into the bulkheads, but they are poor quality compared to JL and NH (made out of some kind of rubbery/plasticky material and padded with an airline blanket, whereas the JL/NH type is upholstered). The Japanese carriers actually block people from selecting the bulkhead seats unless they are traveling with infants, whereas UA gives those seats to anyone and you can often only get the seats in the middle (thus requiring you to trip over whoever nabbed the aisle seat every time you need to take the baby to the lav, which will be often). I took our baby on UA once, and all I can say is, fool me twice, shame on me...

I have flown tpac on both JL and NH with a lap infant and the service/amenity offering is broadly similar between the two. They are both really good with kids, offering toys, special meals, diapers, etc. The main service distinctions I have noticed: (1) JL provides child seats, and (2) NH has a "special services" check-in counter at NRT which you can use when traveling with small children -- they let you sit down while they check passports, issue boarding passes, etc. Note that in coach, JL is now generally a better bet for comfort, as NH is installing narrower seats on some aircraft.

Downside: not quite as many options to get to PHL on Japanese airlines. You could take either with a connection to a domestic partner at ORD, or fly into JFK and take some kind of ground transportation from there (this might actually be less hassle than dealing with a domestic connection). With JL you could also fly into BOS and connect from there on US. Although there are other options through the West Coast I would NOT recommend them in general, as that routing takes several hours longer, and you would have to spend a lot more time in an inferior domestic seat with inferior domestic service...

I have heard rumors in other threads that AA or JL might start a NRT-PHL nonstop soon. It will definitely not be soon enough to help you with your upcoming flight, though.