Miss TomCat Flies First

[blackcat20]

No photos of the Flagship lounge as I don't like taking photos of other passengers. A decent selection of self pour drinks (though champagne has been downgraded), a taco station and very good assortment of buffet food. The short rib was particularly good. Again huge kudos to the staff who came past to chat to the Miss, especially when she was having a bit of a moment.

Shower facilities are very good; you swap your boarding pass for a key.

 

[blackcat20]

Our flight to Chicago was scheduled for 5pm but was progressively delayed, finally departing at 7pm. We had a Dreamliner with proper lie flat J seats.

We boarded with group 1 and settled in quickly. Miss was getting cranky so I fed her while we waited. PDB of water or juice served. And they don't do infant seatbelts! You're instructed to just hold on tight

Drinks and hot nuts were served after takeoff, followed by a meal (beef short ribs with Mac n cheese for me), followed by a cookie. The crew helped out by serving us one at a time so one could eat while the other held the baby.





I fed Miss TC again and she slept through the remainder of the flight, disembarkation, and baggage collection.

 

[JohnM]

Exactly the same meal for me this afternoon on a B787 DFW-ANC, except with the addition of a shrimp and coleslaw starter.

I was also horrified to see a woman across the aisle from me this morning MIA-DFW not having an infant belt.

 

[kookaburra75]

So she might be the only person I know to make QF LTP

Not on my dollar

You do know your lot in life now is to wrap yourself firmly around her little finger

 

[blackcat20]

I was also horrified to see a woman across the aisle from me this morning MIA-DFW not having an infant belt.

Seems it's not a thing here. For landing I tucked her under the shoulder sash belt for some security.

 

[OZDUCK]

Seems it's not a thing here. For landing I tucked her under the shoulder sash belt for some security.

I am pretty sure that an "infant belt" is illegal for U.S airlines (I assume that this would be the same as a belly belt?) -

F. CRS Performance in Passenger Seats. In 1994, the FAA issued a study entitled “The Performance of Child Restraint Devices in Transport Airplane Seats.” The research for the study, conducted by the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI), involved dynamic impact tests with a variety of CRSs installed in transport category aircraft passenger seats.

The FAA used the results of this study as the basis for prohibiting the use of the following devices during ground movement, takeoff, and landing. The CAMI study revealed the following observations:

1) Belly Belts. These devices attach the child to the accompanying adult. An abdominal belt attached to the adult’s seatbelt restrains the child. During dynamic testing, the forward flailing of the adult and the child resulted in severe body impacts against the forward seat. The child Anthropomorphic Test Dummy (ATD) moved forward to impact the forward row seat back, followed by the adult ATD torso striking the child ATD. Then, the adult ATD torso continued to move forward after contact with the child ATD, crushing the child ATD against the seat back.
2) Harness Restraints. The devices that CAMI tested consisted of a torso harness for the child ATD placed in its own seat with the airplane seatbelt routed through a loop of webbing attached to the back of the harness. During dynamic testing, the devices allowed excessive forward body excursion, resulting in the test dummy sliding off the front of the seat with a high likelihood of the child’s entire body impacting the back of the seat directly in front of him or her. Then, elasticity in the webbing of the harness and seatbelts pulled the ATD rearward and this rebound acceleration presented further risk of injury.

 

[Dr_Goz]

Seems it's not a thing here. For landing I tucked her under the shoulder sash belt for some security.

Yup, Not a thing in the USA which is extremely weird to get used to. On our first flight there, we were a little concerned when the aircraft was well on the way to the runway and nobody had come over and given us a seat belt or the briefing.

The Sheridan baby blankets are very nice. If you manage to keep one, you are saving $90

Sheridan Pembrooke Baby Pram Blanket

Shop our Sheridan Pembrooke Baby Pram Blanket in marl. Sign in for free shipping Australia-wide.

www.sheridan.com.au

 

[blackcat20]

Another warm day ahead of us today. Forecasting of 34C. Sun is up not long after 5am. Miss TC has done very well with the time zone change and has continued to sleep through the night.

 

[blackcat20]

We shipped off to Virginia for the weekend; flying into Richmond then driving to Williamsburg. We checked in at Flagship check-in and moved through security quickly, heading to the Flagship lounge. The entrance is shared with the admirals club which makes accessing it slow compared with DFW. Food was similar quality, with lamb racks being the highlight.

The flight was uneventful, baggage claim quick, and collecting the car from hertz super easy; we were able to pick any car from the gold section.

 

[blackcat20]

It has been hot hot HOT here in Williamsburg. 38 degrees and blazing sun. We've spent most of the time catching up with family (or in my case meeting the family).

Miss TV has had her first and second experiences in a swimming pool which she really enjoyed. And today we wandered around colonial Williamsburg.

 

[blackcat20]

Sunday night dinner called for bbq, and reviews suggested Old City BBQ was the place to go. They weren't wrong.

TV got the meat sampler and I had the three meats tray. Options were pulled pork, pulled chicken, brisket, pork belly and two types of ribs.

 

[blackcat20]

Flight back to ord was uneventful, just a little delayed. Miss TC slept from boarding to baggage claim

On the way home we stopped at Carnitas Don Alfredo for tacos; they make their tortillas fresh in store.

 

[blackcat20]

Yesterday we went to the Morton Arboretum. They have a troll hunt, and a Lego exhibition. Lots of lovely things to see.

 

[blackcat20]

Lazy Thursday night dinner and wine:

 

[blackcat20]

Today we headed into the city to catch up with @gwilli1. The train is an easy way to access the city from the suburbs, but they are not pram friendly. They have steps, and the wheelchair/pram spots were already full so we had to fold the pram and hold Miss TC for the trip.

First stop when we arrived in the city was Cloud Gate. Crazy busy but it is peak summer, and around 30 degrees today.

 

[blackcat20]

From there we headed to Giordanos for lunch. It was super busy so we put our name on the list as requiring a table for three plus pram. They asked if we could leave the pram and we explained that Miss TC needed it. So we waited almost half an hour for our table, and went up when called. Immediately we were told we'd need to leave the pram. We explained again that we needed it, as a four month old cannot sit up. They resisted. Apparently having a pram by the table was a fire hazard. I suggested they remove a chair from the table and I could slot the pram in. They finally relented

Then we waited ages to have our order taken, which is incredibly unusual in a US restaurant. Finally we got drinks and our pizza.





Only after we'd finished the pizza did our salad turn up. Our waiter was surprised and apologetic that it was late. Fortunately it was tasty.

 

[blackcat20]

After lunch we headed to a tiki bar that we like, only to find that they are over 21 only. So we left Miss TC outside kidding instead we went for a walk and came across The Smith.



I wish we'd had time to work through the impressive coughtail menu, but alas I had a train to catch and the boys had a baseball game to attend. The French 75 Slushy was delicious!


Then it was back to union station to catch a train back to the suburbs. I beelined for the accessible carriage, only to find five of the seats were occupied by bicycles, two by cyclists, one by a woman and the other by an office chair she was transporting. I asked if someone could move so I could sit with the pram; the boys and their bikes remained in their seats while the woman with the chair moved over to make room.

For my efforts I had to endure the ramblings of a Trump supporter the whole way home...

 

[travelislife]

I was also horrified to see a woman across the aisle from me this morning MIA-DFW not having an infant belt.

The infant belt is actually useless if you think about. I doubt it would do anything to restrain in an impact and possibly cause more damage. And if you did manage to survive you would be in a tangle of belts to try and get out. And you wouldn’t have your hands available to assist.

It is one of those ‘safety’ items that doesn’t make sense/follow common sense. I.e. You aren’t allowed to have them strapped in tight to your body in a baby bjorn or similar which would leave both hands free in an emergency and be infinitely more ‘safe’.

 

[QF WP]

Lazy Thursday night dinner and wine:
View attachment 178533


View attachment 178534

As soon as I saw the bottle, I thought it was going to be a WA wine as the local paper in Spokane is "The Spokesman". Napa...nice

 

[travelislife]

I am pretty sure that an "infant belt" is illegal for U.S airlines (I assume that this would be the same as a belly belt?) -

F. CRS Performance in Passenger Seats. In 1994, the FAA issued a study entitled “The Performance of Child Restraint Devices in Transport Airplane Seats.” The research for the study, conducted by the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI), involved dynamic impact tests with a variety of CRSs installed in transport category aircraft passenger seats.

The FAA used the results of this study as the basis for prohibiting the use of the following devices during ground movement, takeoff, and landing. The CAMI study revealed the following observations:

1) Belly Belts. These devices attach the child to the accompanying adult. An abdominal belt attached to the adult’s seatbelt restrains the child. During dynamic testing, the forward flailing of the adult and the child resulted in severe body impacts against the forward seat. The child Anthropomorphic Test Dummy (ATD) moved forward to impact the forward row seat back, followed by the adult ATD torso striking the child ATD. Then, the adult ATD torso continued to move forward after contact with the child ATD, crushing the child ATD against the seat back.
2) Harness Restraints. The devices that CAMI tested consisted of a torso harness for the child ATD placed in its own seat with the airplane seatbelt routed through a loop of webbing attached to the back of the harness. During dynamic testing, the devices allowed excessive forward body excursion, resulting in the test dummy sliding off the front of the seat with a high likelihood of the child’s entire body impacting the back of the seat directly in front of him or her. Then, elasticity in the webbing of the harness and seatbelts pulled the ATD rearward and this rebound acceleration presented further risk of injury.

So why hasn't CASA followed suit? Done their own tests....?