Flying QF from LAX-SYD in Y - Small family bulkhead question
 

I am wondering if I should try and get bulkhead seats to hope for a bassinet or keep my somewhat "decent" Y seats?

My wife, 15mo lap child, and I are flying Economy LAX-SYD QF108 on a 747-400 and have seats 70 A&B (in back 2x4x2 config) on our reservation from AA. Flying home MEL-LAX QF93 on an A380-800 seats 72 A&C with middle seat currently open. Our baby has been on about 15 domestic flights but this is the first long haul. I have never flown QF and do not even know how they issue bulkhead seats, I assume I need to ask at check-in. I also don't know if it is possible that the one seat will stay open on the return flight without QF changing our seats that AA requested for our AA award tickets.

Thanks for helping our family trip,
ramosz83

Bassinet seats are given priority to the youngest. Even if you reserve it, you won't know until you get to the airport whether you get that seat or not.

I found with a infant/toddler it was best if the seat I had was closer to the toilets especially flying over night. I spent most of the time in there with the child as she was not willing to sleep and didn't like the dimmed cabin

I too think your first choice should be closer to the the toilets.
1) You can see how big the line is and take advantage of no/short waiting lines,
2) Blocking of the aisle to the toilets due to meal carts is minimised,
3) If one parent has a special meal, served first, it gives time to finish one meal in the time it takes for the cabin crew to work their way down the cabin, to do a parent changeover and still have a hot meal for the other parent.
IME choosing A&C seats does not work if the flight is full or you are in the forward part of the cabin, QF unless you have high status with them, will not block the middle seat just because you have a lap child. (The exception to this was when we flew with SIL and her lap child as there are only 4 oxygen masks above the seats so the middle seat was left vacant for the 2 mothers and 2 infants.)

Great, thanks for the tips, I will shoot for seats by the lavs.

I was able to book seats that would be ideal for the trip. They were booked by AA reservations and are visible through my record locator and I am wondering if it is likely that these ticketed seats will actually be our seats or if Qantas frequently changes seats around before flights? We fly out December and come back in January.

Thanks again for your help,
ramosz83

Flying QF from LAX-SYD in Y - Small family bulkhead question
 

Unless they're bassinet seats it's unlikely they'll change. What seats did you get?

I am probably too late, but there's no way I would take bulkhead seats in your situation. A 15 mo old will be too long and heavy for the bassinet (our 7 month old was a very snug fit) and the arm rests on the seats don't go up (eliminating the option of having the kid lie across your two laps). With a lap child, having an armrest that can be raised between the parents seems to me to be absolutely critical.

There are lavs down the back of the plane and that is exactly where I'd put myself in your situation if I could; in 2 of those 2-across rows right down the back. The tail of the plane can wag around a bit, but the arm rest will rise and there is a bit of space by the window seat for the extra c-r-a-p you will have for the kid. Others may take a different view. I would not count on having an extra seat although that would be ideal if it happened. IME Qantas usually honors seat reservations from AA unless there is an equipment change.

FWIW we have taken our kids to Australia at ages 7 months, 15 months, 3 years, 5 years and 6 years (two kids, not all the same trips obviously), all in coach. We booked a seat for the 15 month old, but not the 7 month old. Have a great trip!

Awesome, thanks for the great reply. Not too late at all. I ended up booking 70 a&b on a 747-400, which is the first of the 2 seat rows in the back. Long haul return I booked 36 j&k upstairs on the a380 which also has just 2 seats in that row near Y+, looks like version 2 of the a380. We are going to New Zealand for most of the trip and the Jetconnect flights on the 73h are 3x3 seats, they put us in a&c with the middle open. The reservation desk did me well, I think they felt bad that the infant fare was $850 and it took an hour to get that figured out.

While there's no extra side space in 36J/K - although there is a side storage bin.

See this threads with photo links on the Australian Frequent Flyer website:

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.c...380-41890.html

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.c...t-img_2881.jpg