sakuraboy

Agreed! Flew in C from ORD to FRA on Lufthansa with my wife and nearly 2 year old son and it was a nightmare. All the space meant he could run around and get into everything. He is better in an economy seat with the ipad and some trips up and down the aisle.

COSPILOT

Never used the cares system for our kids, as we always used the same car seat we normally do. I'll add to the choir that recommends choosing 3 E+ seats instead of 2 in F. Now if you were open to 3 F seats, I would change my tune.

Good luck and safe travels.

PVDProf

Yes, do pick a good schedule so you aren't up way to early, or to bed too late. Nap time is harder to work around, and hard to predict months out, but you want to avoid flights that leave an hour after nap time.

We used CARES for a couple trips after the kids moved out of convertible car seats to the five-point backed-boosters (4 or 5 yo). It was credible as a way to get a safer five-point harness for turbulence or slamming on the brakes, but the kids never found it as comfortable; airplane seats aren't really sized for kids and mine were far more comfortable in their regular carseats. I think 18 months is probably too young to consider CARES. One CARES tip: bring a square of rubber non-slip shelving liner, as little kids slide around on leather seats.

trekwars2000

Isn't there a bassinet in the bulkhead in E+ on all long-haul birds? I'd book the two E+ seats and add the lap child and then utilize the free bassinet.

PVDProf

Bassinets are for infants under 22 pounds (~5-6 months). They wouldn't give you one for a toddler, let alone a large toddler.

mduell

On second thought, maybe you do want the 787, despite the tight and lousy seats, so you can get the middle 3 with aisle access for both parents.

TomMM

Well, if you really want to experience that aircraft, fly LAX-MEL.

cova

I agree - do 3 E+ seats - you will be much more comfortable. 2 F seats on a 787 have a little bit of separation on the arm rests. You will be better with the baby in the middle. The J seats are still to narrow for you to use the lie flat feature.

I was on a QF A380 flight and a man had a young child (about 2 years old) as a lap child. I think he thought he could let the baby sleep in the A380 J lounge, but no way did the FA allow that. So he spend most of the flight walking around the cabin with baby in hand.

He would have been much better off with 2 E Plus seats. He never could use the lie flat seat in that position. The baby is less likely to scream if it has its own seat.

tluehr1

Thank you for everyone's opinion on this matter. I'm just going to book (3) Y+ seats and have the baby seat latched in as its a better situation for our baby. I would only carry my baby as a lap child for a very short flight. Anything over 3+ hours seems miserable.

UAORD

^^^This! I've flown domestic several times during our son's first 12 months and a trip to Europe in Biz class when our son was 10 months. The biz seats were a huge waste of miles, spent most of the flights in the galleys trying to get him to fall asleep. Save yourself the stress and get 3 seats in E+ and bring the car seat. Your child should be most comfortable in the child seat. When my son was 18 months, it was like trying to restrain a rabid monkey on our laps. We did a trip to ORD-PHX last year at 18 months. Had two seats for three of us on flight out and three seats on return, outbound was miserable. Bonus of E+ - toddler shouldn't be able to kick seatback in front of them.

belynch

+3. Thought I was a genius by snagging a 764 on IAH - EWR and using RPUs to confirm lie-flats for wife, myself, and lap child. Backfired. My son just wanted to explore in all of his "space." Terrible flight for everyone.

Car-seat and E+ is the way to go.

frankmu

I remember the last time we did a lap child was a Frontier flight, PDX to PHX. My back and shoulders hurt for days afterwards. You made the right choice.

Save up for the overseas trips when your baby is older, and is able to remember them. The memories you will share with your child will last a lifetime.

PVDProf

To put some positive spin on this thread, with everyone in a seat they find somewhat comfortable, I really enjoy flying with my kids. They are interested and excited by the new experience (or, they are proud to be old hands). I have nothing to do BUT pay attention to them, and that's all they want anyhow. As toddlers/preschoolers, we'd spend time looking out the window at the different planes on the tarmac, and the clouds and land below in the air. I'd always buy several new books for our flights, and we'd read stories, play with flap books and stacks of post-it notes, look at Hemispheres and Skymall (RIP) and share stories of real and imagined past airplane trips. We'd slowly eat a snack box. I might ask to borrow a stuffy so we could close our eyes for a while.

They've looked forward to every flight since they were toddlers. Now, they're older and entertain themselves with the versions of Angry Birds and Minecraft on my iPad that only work on airplanes ( ). We've saved our miles, and are finally taking the family to Europe this summer, and all of us are excited for the trip, and the flight!

nautical

my 2 and 4 year old are silver and gold elite, respectively, so have some experience here (we have lived overseas since the oldest was 7 months, so lots of cross the pond travel throughout the year).

get the E+ seats, especially for an under 2. From a comfort perspective alone in business, you have to keep the child outside of your seat belt during taxi, TO, and landing. an 18 month old will be squirming so much, touching everything possible. in the lie flats, you will have a giant immovable arm rest between you, so you can't even place the baby between you.

with E+, you have the benefit of flexible arm rests, a very easy-to-access snack tray, and plenty of leg room. that's a super short flight to even consider lying flat, much less with a baby.

we did it once, on our first move to the UK. 2 J seats with the baby and my wife hated it. she had to share her seat the entire time and there was absolutely no relaxation involved with trying to take care of an over-tired baby.

since then, it's either E+ or the whole family is in J in their own seats (we do 2 and 2). i - and the kids - love flying together now, but it's taken lots of miles to figure out a system that works.

BearX220

Salute to a parent who's done everything right. In the air at least. We raised ours just the same way, and by the time he was eight or nine he (A) knew that getting upgraded was extremely grown-up, manners-dependent stuff, and (B) had a lot of his own complaints about unruly children inflight.