Travel with Baby

I assume she's just bought adult seats, but I honestly don't know. We're
both fairly internet savy, and she does buy the seats online, so maybe she
does specify the girls ages when making the purchase, I just don't know,
and never thought to ask. Both girls do have mileage accounts, but again,
I don't know if their ages are specified anywhere in those accounts
either, or if it would matter. I just always assumed that the price for
the seat was the price for the seat, and the airlines didn't care if it
was a 12 month old butt, a 12 year old butt, or a 40 year old butt. The
seat is still going to the destination, regardless of the age of the
passenger. It never occured to me that they would charge more or less for
older or younger people. It's not like the younger passengers are somehow
getting less service, or taking up less space.

Ada has a BA airmiles account, and she was definitely travelling as a child.
I know each person takes up a seat regardless, which is why it's not 50%
off, but I guess a lot less trips would be made if there wasn't a child
reduction and those seats wouldn't necessarily be filled up by someone else
travelling without children. Buses, trains etc. all have child rates (at
least they do here!), and the same applies about taking up a seat, though
things are a little more flexible there, so it kind of seems logical that
airlines would do the same.

However I just looked at the united website and at no point is there
anywhere to specifiy the age of any of the passengers, and I've worked
through up to the page where you give credit card details and book.

On the other hand a got an itinerary for a 2 week trip from London to New
York, from British Airways, the overall pricing is very good, but the break
down is wierd.

The basic fare is 132 for an adult, 99 for a child, and 13 for an infant
(which fits the 70% for a child and 10% for a lap child). The taxes etc. are
the same for the adult and child, making there final prices similar, 267,
234, but the taxes etc for the infant seem extreme, at 100 pounds, making
the infant far 113, almost half the adult fare! Though overall, 616 for a
round trip from here to New York for 3 is not something I'd sniff at (all
figures pounds by the way).

I guess it really does pay to shop around and go right through the process,
the advertised ticket price may not bare that much resemblance to the final
price with the bizarre "taxes, fees, charges and surcharges" and different
carriers policies on prices for infants, children etc.

I wondered if it was a UK based, US airline difference, so I checked out
nwa.com, an international flight, UK to Seattle, child is charged at about
40% of Adult price!!!! wondering if this was just for international
flights, I picked out new york to seattle, child was 50% of Adult, and
infant in seat was a mere 25% of adult!

So even more reason to shop around, I don't know how much choice of airline
you have on a given route within the US, what we find on domestic flights in
the UK is there might only be one airline on a specific route, but with the
short distances to airports, the airport you fly from and to are quite
flexible, which then gives you a choice of carriers and a choice of prices.

So why exactly did I do this? I guess I wanted to know, I've never made an
internal flight in the US, but it's going to happen at some point, so I want
to know how things work and it seems no rules apply!

Anne

wrote:
Whenever I've actually used that menu (generally on Orbitz, but also on
the American Airlines website), it's always given me the same price for
the 2-12 year old as for me. I *have* had friends get 1/2 price
tickets for toddlers *under* 2 years old, who otherwise could have been
lap babies. I think that was on United, but I'm not positive.


We have always bought seats for our under 2 year old and
have always gotten them half price. Sometimes you have
to call the airline to get it. I know we've gotten half price
on american and united. (these are all within the US)

I'm not sure why they ask the ages for the rest of the
passengers, except that if there is a child travelling
alone, they need to know that. In my experience
we have never gotten a discount for kids over the age
of 2.

To Anne- you usually have a couple of different airlines
to choose from unless you are flying out of or to some
really small airport. be flying another.

Mary W.

Anne Rogers wrote:
I never knew that airlines offered less expensive seats for toddlers. My
mom flies us out to see her periodically, and she always buys the tickets,
so I'll have to mention it to her for next time. Thanks!

you mean you always buy an adult seat for every passenger? I was just
looking on the northwest airlines website, in there search facility, you
specify the number of each type of passenger, on international flights,
child is up to 18 and on domestic, it's up to 12, they also had a separate
box for over 65s. They also had separate boxes for infants in lap and
infants in seat, which I've never seen before, when previously attempting to
search for things, I've added the infant in under the child box, despite it
saying 2-whatever.

Anne

You won't get a child discount from the websites. Travelocity doesn't
care about what age person is in what seat because they've already
bought those seats and are reselling them.

What I do is buy the adult seats online to get the cheapest rate. Then
I call the airline directly to ask if they have reduced fares for
children in seats. We've always flown Alaska with Xander, so in my
experience, they give us the seat at 50% off for under 2. Then
depending on the availability (how full the flight is), we've gotten
25% off for over 2 years old to 5 years old. This is off the price that
we paid for our tickets.

I'm bemoaning the fact that as of 9 days from now we'll be paying full
fare all the time. ;-)

Sharalyn
mom to Alexander James (9/21/01)

We took dd on vacation when she was 13 months old. One thing that we
did that a lot of people do not, but that I do not regret is to buy her
her own seat on the plane. We took her carseat with us (it is a
convertible one--she was old enough to face forward, but light enough
to still be rear-facing at the time), and my husband boarded the planes
first to get set up. We had 3 seats together for every flight (1 stop
each way), so she had both of us next to her for the ride. Since we
were renting a car, it made sense to bring the carseat anyway, or the
rental places charge like $10/day for a carseat (which is almost what a
new one costs after a week).

DD was still bf, and I think she nursed during one of the takeoffs
because she was hungry and fussy. Mostly she slept on the plane both
ways (total of about 2.5 hours in the air). They were still giving out
snacks back then (my last flights they didn't so much as have a little
pack of crackers for you), which she made a huge mess of. But, she was
happy.

For a stroller, we took our $10 umbrella stroller--had she still been
in the travel-system car seat, we would have taken our bigger one.
They let you take the stroller all the way to the door of the plane,
and then they tag it and bring it back to you at the door when you get
off the plane.

My only other advice is to pack *light* for carry ons. Make sure you
can carry everything comfortably. For that first trip we had more
little carry-ons than we should have brought, and the carseat was
awkward to lug around. Recently we flew out of state for a friends'
wedding, and had the system down. We used a wheeled luggage carrier to
help with the carseat, my (now 2-yo) daughter in the umbrella stroller,
and my husband and I each had a single backpack (one with diapers, the
other with our laptop). Given the new security restrictions, there's
not a lot of stuff you can carry on anyway (no fluids, toothpaste,
makeup, diaper cream, etc), which made the decisions that much easier.

Good luck and happy travelling!

..oO rach Oo. wrote:
My husband and I are flying from Toronto to London UK in a month with our
daughter who will be 9 1/2 months old by then. I have read a few things
about travelling with a baby but wondered if anyone had any first hand
advice. We will be taking along her carseat and stroller and have a 5 hour
stop over in Heathrow until we get a flight to Manchester where the
destination is. I think at this time the carseat and stroller will be
checked but maybe I am wrong.

Funny thing is, we are flying Air Canada for extra space compared to Air
Transat.. on Air Transat she would be flying free as she will be sitting in
our lap but with Air Canada they charge $96 for her to fly while sitting on
our laps!

--
.oO rach Oo.

"Elit" wrote and I snipped:
Recently we flew out of state for a friends'
wedding, and had the system down. We used a wheeled luggage carrier to
help with the carseat, my (now 2-yo) daughter in the umbrella stroller,

If you do this again, you should consider checking the stroller (only take
one if you need it at your destination) and wheeling your daughter in the
carseat attached to the luggage carrier. It's one less thing to take
through the airport. We always did this with our two and got lots of
compliments everywhere we went.

-Patty, mom of 1+2

PattyMomVA wrote:
If you do this again, you should consider checking the stroller (only take
one if you need it at your destination) and wheeling your daughter in the
carseat attached to the luggage carrier. It's one less thing to take
through the airport. We always did this with our two and got lots of
compliments everywhere we went.

How do you attach the carseat to the luggage carrier? And do you
always find a luggage carrier at the gate in the layover airport? This
sounds like a great idea; I'm taking Micah to Rochester for Christmas
and DH and I aren't on the same outbound flight, so I've been trying to
figure out how my pregnant self will manage M, the stroller, the
carseat and the backpack on a cross-country layover flight.

Em
mama to Micah, 11/14/04

wrote:
PattyMomVA wrote:
If you do this again, you should consider checking the stroller
(only take one if you need it at your destination) and wheeling your
daughter in the carseat attached to the luggage carrier. It's one
less thing to take through the airport. We always did this with our
two and got lots of compliments everywhere we went.

How do you attach the carseat to the luggage carrier? And do you
always find a luggage carrier at the gate in the layover airport?
This sounds like a great idea; I'm taking Micah to Rochester for
Christmas and DH and I aren't on the same outbound flight, so I've
been trying to figure out how my pregnant self will manage M, the
stroller, the carseat and the backpack on a cross-country layover
flight.

Em
mama to Micah, 11/14/04

I think they are talking about the little folding expanding rolly carts that
you can buy and attach to your luggage with bungee cords. Not the big
airport provided luggage carts.

--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
Taylor Marlys, 1/3/03
Addison Grace, 9/30/04

Check out the family! -- www.MyFamily.com, User ID: Clarkguest1,
Password: Guest Become a member for free - go to Add Member to set up
your own User ID and Password

wrote:
I've been trying to
figure out how my pregnant self will manage M, the stroller, the
carseat and the backpack on a cross-country layover flight.

I flew cross continent several times with toddler Monkey Boy while
pregnant, alone. I never bothered to bring a stroller along and did
not miss it.

I wore a small backpack with the absolute minimum stuff: diaper
change kit, spare clothes for MB, water, snacks. I carried the
carseat hands free by buckling the harness and slipping my arm
through it. On some trips, the earlier ones, I carried MB too some
of the time, on my hip. On the later trips, he was happy to walk.
Such a big boy!

I always bought a seat for MB and his carseat, so both of us could
sleep and I could go to the bathroom alone. I think walking in the
airports helped MB burn off enough energy that he was able to sit
through the flights. I would not risk flying without a paid seat for
MB, because if the flight is full then he would have to sit on my lap
the whole way and that would make both of us miserable. And in
rought air he is much, much safer secured in his carseat. Also, I
have seen flight attendants sometimes refuse to give drinks and
snacks to small children traveling free on a parent's lap.

As others have said, get the child seat fare by telephone directly
from the airline.

"Jamie Clark" wrote and I snipped:
wrote:
PattyMomVA wrote:
If you do this again, you should consider checking the stroller
(only take one if you need it at your destination) and wheeling your
daughter in the carseat attached to the luggage carrier. It's one
less thing to take through the airport. We always did this with our
two and got lots of compliments everywhere we went.

How do you attach the carseat to the luggage carrier? And do you
always find a luggage carrier at the gate in the layover airport?
This sounds like a great idea; I'm taking Micah to Rochester for
Christmas and DH and I aren't on the same outbound flight, so I've
been trying to figure out how my pregnant self will manage M, the
stroller, the carseat and the backpack on a cross-country layover
flight.

I think they are talking about the little folding expanding rolly carts
that you can buy and attach to your luggage with bungee cords. Not the
big airport provided luggage carts.

Yes, that's right. We bought one for $25, but it's a very sturdy one. I
think you can get them for less. Unfold it, raise the handle, strap the
carseat on with the attached cords, and you've got a very useable stroller.
My kids loved going through the airport this way. Note: it's easier to pull
than to push one of these things, just as you would your rolling luggage, so
you do have your child behind you.

We always had a seat on the plane for our kids, so we used the car seat on
the plane and in the car at our destination. My husband devised this
solution so wouldn't have to carry the seat through the airport. We also
always visited family at the other end who had an umbrella stroller we could
use.

Good luck,
-Patty, mom of 1+2

Pologirl wrote:
I wore a small backpack with the absolute minimum stuff: diaper
change kit, spare clothes for MB, water, snacks. I carried the
carseat hands free by buckling the harness and slipping my arm
through it. On some trips, the earlier ones, I carried MB too some
of the time, on my hip. On the later trips, he was happy to walk.
Such a big boy!

I maybe could manage this using M's harness, but considering the
weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth that results from trying to hold
his hand while walking across a parking lot, I can't imagine the
anguish of holding his hand across the airport!! Even with all the
hassle, I *am* looking forward to not having a lap baby at Christmas.
To say it's a PITA is an understatement.

Em
mama to Micah, 11/14/04