Travel with Baby

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.

..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.

I've flown a *ton* with Micah, and when he was that age (not walking
yet), I thought it was easiest to just use a sling in the airport,
checking the stroller and carseat. In the US, anyway, you have to
de-sling the baby to go through security, which is a bit of a PITA, but
oh well.

I brought a change of clothes for him on the plane, as well as a spit
cloth. I also wore layered clothing myself, which came in handy on
many flights. Are you still nursing? That was a godsend; I
plopped him on whenever he started getting fussy (and my boobs felt
like they were about 3 feet long by the end of the trip to Hawaii...).
I had a very long layover on that trip, and I was flying solo with
Micah; I found an out-of-the-way corner and sat down with him for a few
hours. I even changed his diaper there, to avoid the hassle of lugging
him to a dirty bathroom. It'll be alot easier for you with your
husband there!

Personally, I think it's best to wait until the last minute to get on
the plane (unless you're stressed about finding overhead bin space).
Be prepared to do lots of aisle-walking. And you do what you can to
keep baby happy, but don't worry about everyone else on the plane
hating you if she cries. They'll either be sympathetic because they
remember their own baby-traveling days, or they'll be cranks and
hopefully you'll never see them again. I've been very lucky on all
my flights -- everyone's been understanding and people have even tried
to help entertain Micah.

Good luck and have a great trip!!

Em
mama to Micah, 11/14/04

wrote:

Personally, I think it's best to wait until the last minute to get on
the plane (unless you're stressed about finding overhead bin space).

If there's two of you, it's worth asking the gate staff if one of you
can go on with the pre-boarding to set everything up while the other one
waits fo the end of the line to bring the baby on, straight into the
prepared seat with all the bags stowed and organised.
--
Dave
mail da (without the space)
http://www.llondel.org
So many gadgets, so little time

".oO rach Oo." wrote in message
...
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.

probably, arriving in the UK is not like arriving in the US when you have to
collect everything and clear customs, but you could try "gate checking" the
stroller, though sometimes they are still funny about giving it to you at
the other end, but if you stand your ground at the gate and demand it, they
should get it for you, after all, if it were a wheelchair they'd have to,
we've never not got one returned at this stage, though it wasn't always done
automatically.

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!

it's fairly usual for there to be a 10% charge for an infant, so it seems
unusual to me that there was an option of her flying free, she should get a
small baggage allowance and they will warm bottles and baby food, so it's
doesn't seem unreasonable to pay a nominal charge, which is what 10% usually
is, though once the 10% for our DS was over 500 pounds, glad we weren't
paying for that one!

Anne

If there's two of you, it's worth asking the gate staff if one of you
can go on with the pre-boarding to set everything up while the other one
waits fo the end of the line to bring the baby on, straight into the
prepared seat with all the bags stowed and organised.

why even ask, you usually get individual bording cards, they won't know if
just one shows up with the correct card!

Anne

Just a comment: It takes about 2-3 hours to drive to Manchester from
Heathrow. If you are hiring a car in the UK, it might be easier to hire
from Heathrow, rather than messing about with a transfer up to Manchester.

Suzanne

".oO rach Oo." wrote in message
...
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.

Just a comment: It takes about 2-3 hours to drive to Manchester from
Heathrow. If you are hiring a car in the UK, it might be easier to hire
from Heathrow, rather than messing about with a transfer up to Manchester.

I've lived most of my life in Manchester and never flown to Heathrow to fly
further afield, I've always gone by train, or hire car, but I know the
country, might be a bit daunting to land at Heathrow, then face the long
drive to Manchester, 2-3hrs is very optimistic for the drive, more like 3-4
and 5 on a bad day.

Anne

"Anne Rogers" wrote in message
...

Just a comment: It takes about 2-3 hours to drive to Manchester from
Heathrow. If you are hiring a car in the UK, it might be easier to hire
from Heathrow, rather than messing about with a transfer up to
Manchester.

I've lived most of my life in Manchester and never flown to Heathrow to
fly further afield, I've always gone by train, or hire car, but I know the
country, might be a bit daunting to land at Heathrow, then face the long
drive to Manchester, 2-3hrs is very optimistic for the drive, more like
3-4 and 5 on a bad day.

I don't think most UK people would fly Heathrow to Manchester unless they
had a schedual/business etc. But if you've already flown into there then it
is a bit different really. Personally I'd train-I regularly train up to
Preston from Surrey and it's fairly quick, easy and if you book in advance
with a family railcard very cheap! (I think I paid about £1:50 per child
last time)
Debbie

Anne Rogers wrote:
".oO rach Oo." wrote in
message ...
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.

probably, arriving in the UK is not like arriving in the US when you
have to collect everything and clear customs, but you could try "gate
checking" the stroller, though sometimes they are still funny about
giving it to you at the other end, but if you stand your ground at
the gate and demand it, they should get it for you, after all, if it
were a wheelchair they'd have to, we've never not got one returned at
this stage, though it wasn't always done automatically.

We fly a few times a year and we've always gate checked our strollers, and
never had a problem getting them back after the flight. We've never even
had to ask for it, as it's always brought up by a worker bee.

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!

it's fairly usual for there to be a 10% charge for an infant, so it
seems unusual to me that there was an option of her flying free, she
should get a small baggage allowance and they will warm bottles and
baby food, so it's doesn't seem unreasonable to pay a nominal charge,
which is what 10% usually is, though once the 10% for our DS was over
500 pounds, glad we weren't paying for that one!

Anne

Maybe it's different in the UK, but here, a "babe in arms" doesn't cost
extra. They do not get a baggage allowance, nor do the flight attendants
routinely heat up bottles or baby food. I've never thought to ask, but I'm
not sure how they would. On most flights I've been on in the past few years
they wouldn't have a microwave or way to heat something up. I've flown on
Delta and United, which are two of the major carriers, but perhaps some
smaller airlines do offer more services.

Now, if you wanted to buy a seat for your child, you'd pay full fare and get
all the perks that go with that, including the baggage allowance, as well as
meals if offered.
--

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

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your own User ID and Password

probably, arriving in the UK is not like arriving in the US when you
have to collect everything and clear customs, but you could try "gate
checking" the stroller, though sometimes they are still funny about
giving it to you at the other end, but if you stand your ground at
the gate and demand it, they should get it for you, after all, if it
were a wheelchair they'd have to, we've never not got one returned at
this stage, though it wasn't always done automatically.

We fly a few times a year and we've always gate checked our strollers, and
never had a problem getting them back after the flight. We've never even
had to ask for it, as it's always brought up by a worker bee.

though have you got it back in between, when making a connection, though I
suppose you could purposely make sure it's not been checked through to the
final destination, so there was no red herring about it being given back to
you. I think what standard procedure is very much depends on the airline,
Korean Air, it was brought to us, no problem when arriving in Seoul, it was
brought to us arriving back at Heathrow, but much more slowly, by which
stage we had asked, so I don't know whether it would have made it if we
hadn't. Flying on a short haul chartered flight we've been on the tarmac and
asked someone to get it and been told no and just wondered around and asked
someone else, don't know if this is a feature of small airports, charter
flights or what, but my mum says it is normal to not get it back on these,
judging by the number that appear on the carousel!

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!

it's fairly usual for there to be a 10% charge for an infant, so it
seems unusual to me that there was an option of her flying free, she
should get a small baggage allowance and they will warm bottles and
baby food, so it's doesn't seem unreasonable to pay a nominal charge,
which is what 10% usually is, though once the 10% for our DS was over
500 pounds, glad we weren't paying for that one!

Anne

Maybe it's different in the UK, but here, a "babe in arms" doesn't cost
extra. They do not get a baggage allowance, nor do the flight attendants
routinely heat up bottles or baby food. I've never thought to ask, but
I'm not sure how they would. On most flights I've been on in the past few
years they wouldn't have a microwave or way to heat something up. I've
flown on Delta and United, which are two of the major carriers, but
perhaps some smaller airlines do offer more services.

Now, if you wanted to buy a seat for your child, you'd pay full fare and
get all the perks that go with that, including the baggage allowance, as
well as meals if offered.

We've always paid and that's been on carriers of several different
nationalities, Cypriot, Korean, Irish etc on flight sizes ranging from
80seats to a 747. I think when they do heat stuff, they heat it in a bowl of
warm water, I've never actually used such a service. Maybe it is just
American airlines that don't charge, is Air Transat US based, or Canadian?
Do US airlines offer child rates for seats? I know a child takes up a full
seat, but mostly we can get a child seat for about 70% of the full seat
price.

Anne