CR strategy to Europe with infant

[fletty]

My wife and I are planning on travelling to Europe in Nov-Dec 2025 with an infant (under 1yo). While we'd be happy buying a return PE cash fare, it'd be great to try and get some value out of 400k QF points with SG status.

I'm interested in other AFF'ers experiences travelling with infants in premium cabins and what strategies might work out best given we're based in Brisbane, like aiming for long sectors or preferring more connections. Obviously aware of CR availability and low upgrade chance on these routes. Currently considering:

Long sector
- BNE > xPER > LHR/FCO/CDG cash PE and hope for an upgrade (although not sure on bassinet situation if this occurred)
- BNE > PER cash then PER > LHR/FCO/CDG CR PE return

Connections
- BNE > xSYD > xSIN > LHR cash PE and hope for an upgrade
- BNE > SIN cash fare then SIN > Europe CR in J or PE with QF/EK/BA
- BNE > SIN CR then cash PE to Europe

Any general info or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[philr2000]

Ive done the infant thing to Europe twice now. To be honest the flight is literally a countdown from the minute you walk on, but premium cabins are worth it.

I would look at options out of Asia to Helsinki with Finn Air - the new J/Business class seat is great - and Helsinki connects with all of Europe.

There is also quite a lot of availability out of Asia into Europe on points/CR too (as Finn Air are a OW partner).

My suggestion would be to search the many flights out of Asia first to Helsinki (ie Finn Air flies direct from Tokyo, Seoul, Osaka, HK, Singapore and a few others from memory) - once you find J seats, then check to see what options there are with Qantas to the Asian city (likely to be the bigger challenge). You can also book the Asia > Helsinki > next Euro leg all on CR points too

Also dont bank on the bassinet - its tiny, and very hard for a 1yo to fit into tbh.

 

[Mwenenzi]

If looking at cash tickets look at *other* airlines. Not just QF or just Oneworld or just QF ff partners. From BNE and from Asia (all combinations)
As you note poor CR availability and low upgrade chance on these routes. 2 pax for J award/upgrade makes it 3 times harder [or 4-5-6 times harder]
For fletty_jnr you may have pay 10% of the full retail fare. That can by $$$

Wikipedia for airports gives a guide to airlines/routes [not always up to date]

Brisbane Airport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[tdimdad]

If you are looking at J for long haul, Finnair's lounge seats seem to work really well with an infant because there's plenty of surface area (room) on the seat. You can have them little one playing or napping right next to you. Also, if you lift the leg support up, you have plenty on continuous space available.

 

[sudoer]

If you're planning to book a bassinet and your kid will be close to 1yo, you should research weight limits for each carrier before booking. I assumed this was relatively standard across the industry but it's actually quite variable

AA: 9kg
JL: 10.5kg
QF: 11kg
CX: 12kg
SQ: 14kg
VA: 18kg on the old 777! (RIP)

My little ones first flight will be on JL First in a few months

 

[Seat0B]

My little ones first flight will be on JL First in a few months

Start the way you mean to go on!

 

[fletty]

Thanks all for the great advice. I had forgotten about Finnair and their new J lounge style seat. Our plan would be to visit Scandinavia / Central Europe so flying into Helsinki and nearby would actually be very convenient.

I might look into focussing on flying via SIN or other East Asian countries and trying to snag a reward on one of those sectors. Looking at prices for this year to be honest Finnair seem pretty reasonable for a J return from SIN to HEL anyway.