FlyfromDenver

As the mother of 3 grown children, buy the extra seat. You have no guarantee of a bassinet even as 1Ks. It's a long flight and even in E+, you will have too much stuff to juggle and will be happier with the extra space. I would skip the bulkhead so that you can put the armrests up again for maximum flexibility. On the carseat, no answers but if your baby is happy in it and it's FAA approved, I'd try to use it.

CO DCA

I agree with "flyfromdenver." The safest route is 3 seats together. While I don't doubt that UA will do their best to get you a bassinet assignment, it is still based on best efforts and other passengers they need to accommodate who may have needs that end up trumping yours. There are other things I've seen happen: the bassinet might not be loaded, is broken, isn't up to your standards, etc, etc.

I'd never book seats "hoping" anything. In my years of traveling with a kid, the best thing I ever did was buy the extra seat. Many, many flights to Europe my kid just slept on a blanket on the floor or in the car seat. If you put everyone on the same ticket, you're pretty much assured that you'll have seats together (understanding, yes, that sometimes even that gets screwed up). That gives you much more flexibility than a bassinet.

Aussienarelle

It has been a few years since I used the bassinets on United (my son is 19), but basically the bassinet fits into the holes on the wall of the bulkhead, but note the bassinet is not available during take-off and landing. The bassinet is only available during the flight and if there are turbulence you need to pick up your baby and hold them (which is a good thing as you do not want the baby to be a projectile). I believe you need to call in to book the bassinets and as 1K I would assume no charge to call in the request to ensure it is in the system.

I did use the bassinets many times until he was too big - around 8 months or so, and I always placed a blanket over the bassinet to stop the air blowing on him - doctor's advice to limit the direct recirculated air on him.

I totally agree about getting the extra seat if you can. Also, I would still request the bulkhead seats (and as 1Ks this should be doable) so you can place him on the floor when the baby is awake. This gave my son an opportunity to stretch and play, and the space to do this is not available in the other seating areas. But note, you need to put up a barrier if you have the middle seats as people will try and walk on the baby! Not sure why people think it is fine to use the middle seating area of the bulkhead as a walkway.

Business class on United does not have fastenings for bassinets unlike many other airlines. My son flew in business class once he was out of the bassinet stage and it was very easy for him to sleep as the seats are long enough! :-)

(Also, on doctor's advice baby Panadol 20 minutes before take-off and landing to help with the pain of the change in pressure. Yes, I would also feed him but the tubes in their ears are so small and it is the number one reason babies cry on a plane. Just watched a baby throw up on my LHR-LAX flight as they could not cope with the change in the air pressure. I am not a big one for medications but did this until he was about three.)

Happy travelling and make sure you enroll your child in MP. My 19 year old is at 275k lifetime miles and most of the time I used miles for his flights.

WineCountryUA

The UA bassinets for lie-flat cabins are build-in to the bulkhead seats.


Best BF seats on 772 (with infant) for the sCO aircraft bassinet view

SFO_Runner

Buy your infant a seat

With a 3.5 month old, I'd take the car seat onto the aircraft - it basically doubles as your bassinet at this point.

Alternatively, don't take the car seat onto the aircraft, and make arrangements for the other side: i.e. rental car company provides the car seat, or you check yours in. If you do this, check your stroller as well and Bjorn your little one all the way to the aircraft. For the flight:

• Buy this, put in carry on, inflate - http://www.1stclasskid.com/. Best part? Works great for two year olds as well.
• Then put something like this on top: https://www.amazon.com/BRICA-Fold-Go...dp/B004L2JJ6E/

bluedog423

I recently flew ORD-FCO with a 10-week old and got the bassinet seats. I booked and selected E+ seats and then called United immediately and they moved me very easily to the bulkhead where the bassinet existed both ways. No big deal. Definitely made the flight much easier. The bassinet spanned all the aisle seat and part of the middle seat of the middle section bulkhead. There was still enough leg room for me (at 6'3" who was in the middle seat) and it's pretty high up. Just not as easy to get in/out, but hey, easier than if they're on your lap! And, as stated, can't use it during takeoff and landing and I recall the weight limit being quite low. I'm definitely glad I did that instead of ponying up for a third seat, but I supposed there's some risk involved as it's not 100% guaranteed. You have to ask for it when you get to the gate/get on board. Note that United did charge me 10% of the adult fare for the lap child as per their policy on international flights apparently. And given that I booked fairly last minute on miles, it was more than expected since they based on the revenue ticket at time of booking.

FL390

That actually looks pretty great for everyone. If the baby starts crying you can just close the lid.

mherdeg

OK so here is what I learned about the "close the lid" style bassinet --

We contacted UA in advance to register the fact that we had a lap infant and request a bassinet when flying in J on a BOS-SFO flight operated by a 28J 757-200 (one of the converted UA p.s. planes of the former three cabin era).

United's online description of this equipment doesn't say there is *any* fixed bassinet (they list this as version 2, 28/114, https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...0/default.aspx , and list "-" under fixed bassinets section for the Business cabin).

We assigned ourselves seats 5EF which, based on photos of the cabin, seemed like it might have a bassinet. We weren't sure, thought we would experiment.

At the gate, a few minutes after we requested gate tags for our stroller/car seat, a gate agent paged us. They said they noticed that our PNR included a request for a bassinet and told us that according to the FAs, this equipment *only* has bassinets in J at 5AB. 5A was empty, and they were kind enough to page pax in 5B and ask her to trade for 5E, which she was happy to do. So we ended up with seats that putatively have bassinets.

We boarded early and inspection revealed that there were fixed in-bulkhead bassinets available at both 1AB and 5AB. (There are also compartments in the other bulkhead seats, but whatever is in 1EF and 5EF seems to be equipment or storage; 5EF looks like it's labeled as medical oxygen.)

So here is the deal with the 5AB bassinet:

Yeah, it's like a baby bucket that you can put the baby in, and if they cry you can close the lid

But really, it's like a little recessed storage compartment -- maybe 12 inches deep and kind of oblong in shape -- which you can put a baby into. It's a hard surface. It's not huge -- a little less than a meter across, and at its widest point maybe 18 inches long, tapering to a smaller size on one side. Our baby does fit inside but he fills maybe 75-80% of the available space (he's 3 months old and is at about the 10th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for length among babies of his age and gender).

The FA offered some blankets (both the J blanket and some Y blankets); I ended up trying out a single Y blanket folded over itself and covered with our on-the-go changing pad, which seemed to make a nice, soft, low-suffocation-risk "bed" in the hole. There's a little mesh cover which I at first thought was some kind of baby hammock but it's actually meant to snap in place on top of the baby, kind of like a seat belt. Possible that a sleeping baby in the bassinet with the cover installed is safer for turbulence than a sleeping infant in arms with a parent wearing a seatbelt.

You're meant to keep the cover open while it's in use as a bassinet. The lid stays upright in this position. There's a little mirror on the inside of the lid which you can use to watch the baby; this is good because, sitting down in the J seat, you cannot see into the compartment at all (baby is sort of at the same eye level as the center of the personal IFE screen). Seems secure and basically safe (modulo concerns about suffocation risk with any padding). Logistically, really interesting.

Baby hated it tho.

caiken

... and that's all that really matters ...

azepine00

yep - that's what the lid is for

mherdeg

Here is what we learned about the "fixed wall-mounted" bassinet type on another recent flight.

On the high-density domestic 777-200 equipment, a bassinet is published as being available and in at least one case was actually available on a domestic flight (SFO-BOS). It was possibly missing a part (FAs said that there is sometimes a "duvet" in addition the bassinet). Gate agents were totally unaware that it existed.

Oddly the exact location of the bassinet varies based on which variation of the 777-200 it is. The virtually identical "type 3" and "type 4" 28/336 777-200s have holes in the bulkhead which allow a fixed bassinet at seats 40DE and 40FG respectively. The current fleet mix of type 3 vs. type 4 is about 50%/50% per https://sites.google.com/site/united...fleet-tracking (10 of one type and 9 of the other).

So on the 777-200 it is basically impossible to correctly reserve in advance the bassinet seats in coach because you need to flip a coin to decide whether to get 40DE or 40FG. And you had better hope that no one else is trying to do the same thing.

I can imagine a situation where TWO parties of 2 pax both think they are requesting the seats that have a bassinet and only one of them ends up getting it, randomly, based on which of the 2 equipment types ends up operating the flight.

Looks like this. Worked very well.

Pre-install:


Post-install:




More details:

* We flew SFO-BOS on the high density domestic 777-200, which operates domestic routes like HNL-SFO, SFO-ORD, SFO-BOS (as United Coast), etc. with a 28J/336Y cabin.

* We booked a 2-pax ticket plus a lap infant and asked United Reservations to pre-register our request for a bassinet on this flight. In our ticketed cabin (economy) for our equipment type (high-density 777-200 "version 4", https://www.united.com/web/en-US/con...0/default.aspx ) the bassinets are in seats 40DE, which we pre-reserved. We were told that our request was received although, of course, no guarantees.

* On the day of departure we asked a gate agent about having a bassinet. The GA said that this plane type does not have bassinets loaded for domestic flights. I said this seems odd -- why would UA publish bassinet locations for its high-density domestic subfleet if it only loads bassinets on international flights? -- and she said, yeah, no dice. I asked UA via Twitter whether this is really true and UA also said via Twitter, yes, this is true, we never have bassinets on domestic flights, we'll forward your question about why we publish bassinet locations for domestic equipment to Network Operations.

* On board the aircraft we noticed that there were bassinet holes at 40FG, not the published 40DE. It turned out that we had pre-reserved based on "version 4" but the "version 3" setup is nearly identical and we hadn't noticed (might have happened day of departure).

* After takeoff a flight attendant said "hey I notice you have a lap infant, would you like to use our bassinet?" Turns out that none of the GAs knew there was a bassinet and only one fairly senior FA knew that their plane had one. Pretty cool. Not clear if this special request was printed on the manifest or if this was just a proactive guess from a thoughtful FA.

* The FA pointed out that we were seated in the wrong half of the bulkhead to use the bassinet and volunteered to ask 40FG to swap with us in 40DE, which they were happy to do (and they were not also a couple with an infant expecting a bassinet, so this worked out great…).

* Some time after the meal, we asked about this promised bassinet and the FA said "oh, did no one set that up for you? Let's do it." The FA produced a fixed bassinet from somewhere in the front of the aircraft and 2 FAs set it up against the bulkhead.

* The fixed wall-mounted bassinet says it can accommodate up to 25 lb/12 kg baby. It's got a flexible mesh bottom and opaque plastic walls. It can accommodate a baby about six inches longer than our child and considerably heavier than our child (he is 3 months old and about 10th percentile weight/70th percentile length among US infants of his age and gender).

* Because the bassinet is opaque, you have to lean forward to see someone inside. If you're sitting normally in the seats 40FG, a normal height person will not quite be able to see a baby inside.

* It comes with a cover which you can snap on over the baby; idea is that this might provide some protection against unexpected turbulence. It seems very sturdy but it's definitely unsafe during turbulence even if the cover is snapped on. The guidance is that if the "fasten seatbelt" sign comes on, you should remove the child. I can imagine that this would be uncomfortable on certain flights where it sometimes seems like pilots turn on the seatbelt sign during a small bout of bumps and then leave it on for several hours of travel which end up being completely smooth (passengers often describe this as "the pilot forgot"). And of course the bassinet is deployed only after takeoff / before landing.

* The bassinet apparently also comes with a duvet sometimes, but this was not loaded on the flight. We were provided a domestic blanket to use to line the bottom (which didn't look like it was uncomfortable but might never ever be cleaned.) If you were to let a baby sleep unattended in this bassinet with this setup, this would be structurally similar to having a baby sleep unattended in a crib which has bumpers or loose blankets or other soft swaddling. I think the benefits/risks of that are well described in American pediatric literature and I won't re-discuss.

* The bassinet doesn't ONLY take up space in front of seats 40FG but it's very close. It protrudes a bit on the left into the bulkhead space of the pax in 40E. The pax isn't affected but definitely will see the infant.

* Baby loved it. He slept for 30+ minutes and relaxed/played for another hour or so. Otherwise he was in arms needing to be fed / changed / consoled, but that still freed up some time. And while he was in arms, the bassinet was a fine place to store changing supplies or toys.

A+, fascinating extra piece of flight infrastructure to see that is not normally deployed on the plane, very cool to see.

dkfawme

Hi everyone--we're planning to fly on a United 777-300ER when our daughter is about 11 months old, with her as a lap child. We requested a bassinet. Our daughter is small for her age so should be able to fit--I think. United told me on the phone (after a lot of prodding) that it's 29" long, 11" wide, and works for a baby of up to 22 lbs.

1. I'm concerned about whether the bassinet has any kind of cloth or mesh cover to keep our daughter from climbing out, because she is quite active, or if I can bring something that would serve that purpose. Can anyone who's used one of the bassinets comment on whether it comes with a cover or if there are other useful ways of preventing a baby from climbing out?

2. Any backup suggestions for if she needs to sleep on the floor? We'd need to (a) keep people in the aisle from inadvertently kicking her, (b) keep her from crawling away when she wakes up, and (c) keep our feet up and out of the way.

3. Tell me if I'm just crazy and should get her a seat instead.

Thanks!

FlyfromDenver

phkc070408

Being the OP, read the original post and I will tell you that we got the third seat and it was miles well spent. The seat-belt sign was on for almost 3 straight hours on an NRT-EWR flight. He sat in 8A ( window ) and my wife in 8B ( aisle ). It was secluded enough that my wife was able to change him in his seat. Don't say anything, but she was even able to change him with the seat-belt sign on without any of the FAs noticing that she got out of her seat - not that I would recommend doing this.

Our son was two when we brought him home, (which means we needed a third seat regardless), but he was a young two and was quite interested in the plane and all of the features of it. Also, he wanted to eat when when we ate.

Speaking of eating, what would you do if the seat-belt sign came on in the middle of the main course?

In conclusion, our philosophy was we were flying in J for the comfort. If we were worried about costs too much to get him a seat, we might as well have just gotten a row of Y+ seats. In fact, I can pretty-much guarantee you that three Y+ seats is far better (comfort wise) than 2 J seats. YMMV

choatie88

We used the bassinet in 5AB on EWR-LAX 752 p.s. service today. mherdeg basically covered it, but I'd add that it's really not very long - it's no more than 28" in length. Like baby mherdeg, baby choatie really didn't like it. Perhaps it's just too isolated? We ended up holding her for all but 20 minutes of meal service - she's a calm baby and was generally happy throughout the flight, but would only tolerate the bassinet for about 10 minutes.

The mirror on the lid is useless, with the cabin darkened you can't even tell if there's a baby in there, much less see its mood or if it needs anything. Even with the shades open and well lit, the optical clarity is quite poor and the image is small enough that I doubt you could make out any details.

The FAs were all pretty curious though, they said they'd never seen anyone use the bassinet before.



Do lap infants get credit for lifetime miles? I thought award tickets don't get lifetime miles?