fredandgingermad

VS is one of them, I've definitely seen them on other carriers particuarly where the bassinet is one that accomodates older infants

expatboy

We've found this issue too with the added complication that we are a familoy of 6 . From where we are (BNE) we need to transit somewhere on the way back to LHR so have the luxury of choosing carriers (up to a point) - SQ, QF and BA all have J cabin layouts that work with young kids, i.e. not herringbone, whereas CX (and EK up to a point) don't.

Without knowing where the OP is flying from and to it's hard to advise on choice of carrier with regard to cabin layouts etc.

Congrats to the OP, and as all the other posters have said the fact you're concerned about the effect/impact on your fellow pax means you're one step ahead of the majority. We always found that it was way easier to keep the kids happy in J because of the increased space and better service. Happy parents help to keep happy kids!

KiteM

What do you mean?
I refer to infant in lap.

Happens to me twice with Swissair.
When seat belt sign was on FA always come to ask us to take out the baby from the bassinet (that was fixed with 2 holds)

BalbC

Thanks.

It's an unfortunate consequence that as seats get better and more private for individual travellers, the layouts get worse for couples and families.
^ agree with you about J travel being sensible with kids, flexible service especially makes thing much easier with young kids. Premium economy can also work well with blocks of seats, though not with the leg room of old style J seats.

That wasn't directed at you, but at fredandgingermad, who already answered on this. (some carriers, including VS, have better built basinets with proper seat restraints. Thought it would be useful to collect the information on this).

KiteM

I'm sorry if it seams I was rude..... It's due to the fact I'm not English mother tongue. ^

I was just asking what is not allowed in US... As you quoted my post I supposed you said it's not allowed in US to take out the baby from the bassinet

BalbC

Ahh. You didn't seem rude at all.
I'm sure on most carriers you have to take them out when the seat belt sign comes on. But the strap across means that if there is sudden turbulence before the seatbelt light comes on, then baby doesn't fly out and hit the ceiling, as might happen if baby was just sleeping on the floor. However, it seems that some carriers have a restraint system, so that you can leave your baby in the bassinet during turbulence, which seems safer and sensible.

What people said isn't allowed in US (and Japan, and probably other countries as well) is having babies secured with a lap belt attached to the parents lap belt; in those countries, babies must be held on the lap only.

stephem

We flew on CX earlier this week in J w our 18 month old and it worked out really well, despite my trepidation about not being able to use something like a CARES harness.

We had a seat for him and confirmed with the crew that as long as the seat belt sign was off, he could be in his seat without a restraint on. The only restraint allowed in J on CX is their special design infant seat, which we didnt want to use because it is small and doesnt recline. We have a CARES but that is not allowed in CX J.

In the end, the flight was so incredibly smooth, 12.5 hours without a single bump over the far north Pacific. So outside of takeoff and landing, the seat belt sign never went on. It was a day time flight, so we expected my son to be up a fair amount in the first half of the flight, but he finally gave in and crashed out with about 6+ hours to go. We laid him out on his seat and he slept the entire second half of the flight.

All worked out well, but honestly cannot wait until he is over 2 and we can just belt him in.

Eclipsepearl

I wouldn't trust a bassinet during turbulence. It's not really a safety restraint and the belt is usually just a zip-up cover.

If you leave the baby in it for turbulence, I recommend that you stay with the baby (never leave a baby alone in a bassinet anyway) and keep your hand on him or her. This was the advantage of the car seat. I just kept sleeping knowing my child was strapped in, usually asleep and I didn't have to disturb them.

What people said isn't allowed in US (and Japan, and probably other countries as well) is having babies secured with a lap belt attached to the parents lap belt; in those countries, babies must be held on the lap only.

Exactly. It's dangerous for a lap baby to be attached to an adult, since the adult is bigger. It's called the "human air bag" theory. In accidents, while it was impossible to hold a lap baby, sometimes they were rescued afterwards. A baby was thrown in an overhead bin during the Sioux City incident and survived. Strapped to you, they don't have a prayer. So on Canadian and U.S. companies, no belly belt!

Other countries require them to prevent the lap baby from being thrown and hurting someone else. Makes sense. They figure if you're saving money by flying with a lap baby, you shouldn't be putting other passengers at risk.

Luckily, commercial air travel is safe and the vast majority of lap babies arrive at their destinations just fine.

Be aware that all these airline-provided bassinets and restraints will be doled out per each airline's criteria. Some will go to frequent flyers, some will go youngest to oldest, some by order of check-in, etc. They have really different rules in this regard so don't completely count on being able to use any of them.

BeatCal

Well
I personally think that suits, and people of a different race and gender than me should be banned from first. That makes just as much sense as banning kids

BeatCal

yep. You can leave your kid in your lap, but not your purse. "Vast Majority" is the key word. The "vast majority" of people in autos who don't use a seat belt are safe too.

Ask an experienced FA how many kids she has seen go flying when the plane hits turbulence. By the laws of physics, it is impossible to hold them. That is why every pediatric medical association is pushing to ban the lap child

lost*in*cyberspace

^

Just once, I would like this poster to provide a link to a reliable source for these "statistics."

BeatCal

Is there a link
Go to congressional records
Ask a pediatric surgeon in Atlanta, Chicago, la, ny
Ask flight attendants
I testified to the five I have seen - not to what others have seen

rjque

Still no data to back up your claims, just some anecdotes. If we relied on anecdotes rather than data, plastic spoons would be illegal because prison guards would testify that they have seen people killed with them.

fredandgingermad

I've met far more cabin crew and frequent fliers who don't understand why you would want to have a car seat on board, because unless they spent the entire journey sitting strapped into their car seat they'd be on your lap!

Plus information for use of car seats on planes is generally only given in relation to Economy, if you only fly in Business/First there are no guarantees you'd actually be able to secure or even use the car seat at all

Then add people like myself who aren't allowed to drive for medical reasons so wouldn't have need to even own a car seat especially if you're only taking a couple of flights a year

stephem

We flew EY J CMB-AUH, EY F AUH-JFK and then AA F JFK-LAX last week and couldnt use CARES for my 18 month old (who had own seats). The CMB-AUH segment was pretty much all lap time. For the AUH-JFK segment, I will say this, the EY pilot turned the seat belt sign on maybe once or twice, so we were able to let my son just sleep in his suite for long periods of time. It was a long daytime flight and they had a good forecast for light winds, so we really lucked out. The few times we hit something where the seatbelt sign was switched on, my son was awake and we just buckled him onto our lap.
AA was the new Airbus 320 with the CX-style seat, so no CARES there either. They were a bit more trigger happy with the seatbelt sign, so we tended to lie down and let my son sleep next to us. On the US carrierss, they dont require you to use that lap belt, so it was enough to have an arm around him during turbulence.
Aside from the lap infant seating issues, holy cow that was painful! We left Colombo at 4:30AM Colombo time and arrived in LAX at 10pm PST. I think with lay overs we were at about 27 hours CMB-LAX. My 4 and 5 year olds were champs, so hopefully a couple more of these with my little one and he'll be assimilated ;-) But not sure I would recommend this for anyone else!