Travelling with a baby in Business Class

[Joy6328]

+1 the baby bjorn here too. Absolute godsend - 2 free hands, plus comforting for bub, you can control who touches them abd you don't need to wrangle a pram through security and passport control.
You can also borrow an airport pram if you really need one.
Check as much as possible and take the essentials on board. Best part of travelling with a baby is your luggage keeps getting lighter with all the consumables!
Lots of spare clothes, wraps, a sleeping bag if you use one. Comforting toys and new toys for awake time. Feeding on take off and landing - plus extra due to dehydration.
3-6m is a great age to travel

 

[jamesatfish]

I'm going to take a 22 month old to ZQN Nov/Dec, we'll see how the 3 hour flight goes! I will need all the tips in the world lol.

We're in the middle of a US / Europe trip with our 2.5yr old daughter at the moment, and we've found that the CARES harness we bought her is great both for safety as well as helping her understand when she needs to be seated during the flight. She's old enough to understand the seatbelt sign but having the chest straps from the CARES harness helps her stay seated quietly. It has been compatible with every seat we've flown so far other than BA New F.

Be sure to take plenty of favourite toys & books - drawing / sticker books are a favourite for our daughter and are great for keeping her entertained. Don't rely on getting anything from the airline in terms of entertainment - on our first domestic flight of this trip QF had a great kid's play pack ready for our daughter when she boarded, but there was nothing offered on any of the subsequent flights including the long-haul QF sectors to the US.

As others have said, don't get stressed about what others might think, even in premium cabins. Aside from the general 'you've as much right to the seat as they do' theories (especially when your child is over 2 and in their own seat), children seem good at picking up on the mood of their parents so if you can keep calm and enjoy the trip there's a better chance your child will do the same.

 

[Dalescott]

Was travelling Economy to US a few years ago, and sat next to a lady with a very lovely baby girl. Chatted for a while, and after we were fed (like animals in a zoo). I had a sleep, on waking found baby still awake, and mother looking very uncomfortable. FA's were most unhelpful, can I hold her I asked, yes was the reply. With baby in my arms, mother excused herself and went to the toilet. When she returned, I was chatting to a 3 older ladies, and they all loved the little lady. Little lady was the star of the cabin, and mother had a wonderful flight. My wife travelled back and forwards to Australia and UK for a number of years with our then young daughters from the ages of 3months up. She found some older people more than willing to help out.
If you start a conversation with some other older ladies, I think you will have no problems with you your little bundle of joy. As to the other passsengers, if their not happy, let them hold the baby, and see if they can do a better job, they can also change the nappies.
You paid for the seat, If they don't like it, tell them to harden the F!?!?!? up.

 

[laffer]

Can I just say thanks to the OP and all who have contributed to this thread. As someone who is about to embark on a trip with a very young infant (6 months) the hints and tips in this thread are wonderful. Thanks for being so positive! It really helps put someones mind at rest. Hopefully my little fella enjoys the confines of J and keeps it down!

 

[ashleyn]

Was travelling Economy to US a few years ago, and sat next to a lady with a very lovely baby girl. Chatted for a while, and after we were fed (like animals in a zoo). I had a sleep, on waking found baby still awake, and mother looking very uncomfortable. FA's were most unhelpful, can I hold her I asked, yes was the reply. With baby in my arms, mother excused herself and went to the toilet. When she returned, I was chatting to a 3 older ladies, and they all loved the little lady. Little lady was the star of the cabin, and mother had a wonderful flight. My wife travelled back and forwards to Australia and UK for a number of years with our then young daughters from the ages of 3months up. She found some older people more than willing to help out.
If you start a conversation with some other older ladies, I think you will have no problems with you your little bundle of joy. As to the other passsengers, if their not happy, let them hold the baby, and see if they can do a better job, they can also change the nappies.
You paid for the seat, If they don't like it, tell them to harden the F!?!?!? up.

You probably went a bit too far with this one Dalescott. "As to the other passengers, if their not happy, let them hold the baby, and see if they can do a better job, they can also change the nappies." Tolerance and understanding are one thing, let it stop there.

 

[here2go]

+1 to the Baby Bjorn. It is fantastic. When older they get older, a leash backpack is really handy - you can get funky animal ones from Toys R Us. My son likes his backpack monkey leash a lot! Very handy in crowded places. You will get strange looks, but peace of mind is everything.

One thing I would also add when travelling is look at whether you take a pram or backpack. We've weighed up options of pram or Macpac for Miss Here2go for trip to the Alps and Finland later this year, and we've gone with the backpack so Miss Here2go who will be 15 months can see everything at our level, plus our hands are free to look after bags on the train, and chase a 3 year old. It will also be easier in the snow. I know you are flying QF, so they'll make you check everything in, but with SQ we've found they'll take pram or baby backpack at the gate to the hold, so you can use the pram in the airport and if you've got a stopover there too.

 

[kingbaz]

Don't worry about what others think. You paid for the ticket!

This is the unfortunate attitude that those of us with no kids have to endure from those with kids.
You will find that as long as you are conscious of your child making noise then the other passengers should have no complaints.

It's the ones that sit there watching the movie while their kids are running around, kicking chairs or screaming are the parents people get pissed off with. If we see a parent making their best attempt to diffuse a situation with their child I have no problem and nor should anyone else.

Have a great trip and good luck!

 

[get me outta here]

When my nbaby was 3 mo old we went to lots of places Moscow where they helpfully gave us a drawer out of the chest of drewers for her to sleep in. We encouraged lots of sucking on take off and landing to keep the ears 'equalised'.

We made up a sort of a safe toy on some sort of tassle like rope (obvously all baby safe), that she could hold and fiddle with. We collected a wide range of interesting do dads that had all sorts of bits and pieces to play with and suck. It had bits of velvet, little quiet rattly things - about a dozen things in all that she'd never seen before. It kept her entertained for a surprising amount of time.

 

[JWTravelPlans]

If you are travelling from Sydney to London in mid-December in Business Class, I apologise. I will be that unfortunate father sat there with a baby in the bassinet praying and hoping that everything is going to be OK, that the baby doesnt make too much noise and trying to avoid all the horror looks from the other passengers!

Our son is due in early September and we are flying to London in mid-December to introduce him to the UK-based family. Flying J there and back, QF from SYD-HKG, one night layover, then CX from HKG-LHR. On the way back we have BA from LHR-FRA and then QF straight through from FRA-SYD via SIN.

This is our first child and I have read lots of advice on various sites, including this one, on the best way to approach a longhaul flight when in Y. However, struggling to find anything regarding J travel. We have heard and seen that 3-6 months is the best time to travel with a child as generally all they do is sleep, feed and **** - sometimes altogether. We have managed to secure bassinet seats on all flights so the current thinking is not to bring on board a capsule/car seat. Obviously will be bringing a few change of outfits for both us and the baby as well as plenty of nappies and cleaning wipes, lotions etc. We very much welcome any other advice.

Once we land at Heathrow, we will be picking up a hire car. This is another area that's causing us some concern; it would appear as though you can specify that a baby seat is required on the booking form but there are no details on what is provided. We will have our own Maxi-Cosi capsule and would prefer to plug that straight into fitted base in the rental car - but I assume that is wishful thinking? Again, if anyone has any experience in this area, it would be very much welcomed.

Thanks for any advice forthcoming - and apologies once again if you happen to be on the same flight as us.

Hi, We have taken our 8 & 11 year old children on many overseas trips since they were 6 weeks old and have found no problems with passengers or crew so long as you are reasonably considerate with everyone. My best advice with a baby is to be prepared, in fact over prepared so you don't have to stress about anything once you are on your way.

Make some check lists of everything that you need so you don't leave essential items behind. I have a free travel with baby checklist you can print off on juliewarnertravelplans.com and other travel with kids tips you can take a look at.

Definitely make sure you have a feed ready for takeoff & landing as the pressure really makes kids ears uncomfortable - hence the crying! Or if a dummy sucker that will work as well.

If bottle feeding, get the milk warmed in advance of feed time as nothing worse than a hungry, distressed baby having to wait for the milk to heat up. Also, if formula feeding then get one of those containers that portion out the formula for you to just empty into the bottles & have extra formula with you just in case. Bring an extra couple of sterilised bottles of water as you never know when delays can occur and you don't want to be out of supplies (we once had a 12 hour delay with 3 hours stuck on the tarmac at the end of a flight).

Agree that a baby carrier makes life much easier freeing up your hands for airports.

Car Seats - you should be fine in the UK with getting a suitable car seat from major rental companies. Just ensure that it is rear facing and double check that a few times before you leave home. We had an instance in the USA with a 3 month old and the only car seats the company had whwn we arrived was forward facing. We had to tuck in blankets and wraps around our daughters head and body with one of us sitting in the back to ensure she was secure for the few days we had that car.

I think you would be very lucky for them to have a matching base for you to slot your carrier in from Australia. (You could always check in your complete unit)

It is very true that this is a perfect age for travelling long distance as others have mentioned. You will be fine and if you get them used to it from the outset you will have no problems as they get older. Our 8 & 11 year olds have now been to 25 & 27 countries and we very rarely have had any issues.

Hope all goes well.

Happy Travels

 

[here2go]

Car Seats - you should be fine in the UK with getting a suitable car seat from major rental companies. Just ensure that it is rear facing and double check that a few times before you leave home. We had an instance in the USA with a 3 month old and the only car seats the company had whwn we arrived was forward facing. We had to tuck in blankets and wraps around our daughters head and body with one of us sitting in the back to ensure she was secure for the few days we had that car.

Agree with baby seats - get one from the hire car company for ease. Australia has a very awkward system for attaching seats that virtually nobody else in the world uses. I know people who move here on posting with kids who are very unimpressed with the Australian system on top of having to replace all the kit. Unless you can use the system used in England with what you've got, don't bother bringing it.

 

[morgs]

Mmmmm, I can feel your stress. We are just back from Europe with our 4 month old. We went return Business Class CGK(SQ)/SIN(QF)/LHR(EI)/ORK, and we were very anxious prior, and had exactly the same questions/issues you are asking about. Just take the time to notice the dirty looks when you board, then the "wow he/she was a delight" we you land! Here's what we did:
1. The Baby Bjorn was great - highly recommended, and gives you hands free access to things - On one leg our little fella was asleep in it for take off (with the additional seat belt attached), on another leg, they made us take him out (and he woke up, arrggh).
2. We took a stroller that has a maxi-cosi plug in to the plane door every time, and picked it up on landing - no problem and recommended if you have a bit longer for connections and/or some trekking between terminals (you know who you are LHR). Make sure you tell them that you want to collect it when you get off the plane. On our last leg we forgot, and found it was checked through.
3. The little fella slept the best he ever has - make sure you have booked a bassinet seat (you say you have), this is THE most important thing. We slept the best in 3 months also! The bassinet has this weird webbing cover over it for safety - kinda like a webbing seat belt. They say you should take the baby out when the seat belt sign is on - we never did, and they didn't make us.

Agree with all the other points - just try and not stress about it.



*Edit* Didn't mention that the little fella slept 6 hours, woke for a hour for a feed, then slept another 5 hours. The big guy a few rows away snoring was more of a problem!

 

[jenib]

This is the unfortunate attitude that those of us with no kids have to endure from those with kids.
You will find that as long as you are conscious of your child making noise then the other passengers should have no complaints.

It's the ones that sit there watching the movie while their kids are running around, kicking chairs or screaming are the parents people get pissed off with. If we see a parent making their best attempt to diffuse a situation with their child I have no problem and nor should anyone else.

Have a great trip and good luck!

I don't mind if a child or baby is crying - the only time I had a problem with a baby flying in J was when the father was very inconsiderate. I was in 12K, mum and bub in 11 JK and father in 12 J. Father was so hyped that he was constantly (all night!) jumping (literally) up and down, dancing around the aisle, knocking the seat in front, standing and talking over the seat, and even when watching movies was drumming along with music. I figure he must have been either high on fatherhood, high on something else or had some sort of ADHD. Every time he moved the 12 JK seats moved. Sigh.

The bottom line for me is everyone needs to be considerate to the extent they can. We all know babies cry and I am ok with that - it is when the parents are not considerate that I care.

 

[TheRiddler]

Well the big trip is now just a couple of days away so getting nervous. If you're on QF127 on Wednesday, sorry!

Mrs Riddler appears to be trying her best to maximise the baggage limits if the piles of packing are anything to go by! Unfortunately not able to maximise the full QF Plat allowance as our onward connection is on CX so have to stick to their 30kg limits. Same on the way back, first leg is on BA and have to stick to their 3 x 23kg limits.

QF have also advised us that as our pram bears more resemblance to a 4WD truck than a stroller, we will have to deposit at check in rather than at the gate. As we no longer have the box it came in, am thinking a purchase of a large roll of bubble wrap might be in order today. Can also recall seeing baggage coming off that appears to be contained in very large, oversize, thick clear, plastic bags. Does anyone know if these are available at SYD?

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and comments, will post a review on the experience when we get back.

 

[GCC]

Came to this late, but to add to earlier comments I'm sure you will be fine.

The first trip our daughter took at 5 months was with solo Mrs G in J to the UK, where I joined them, then to London, a week in Rome, and back to Sydney via Singapore in J.

And my first post on AFF was much the same as yours - tricks for traveling from SYD - LHR with a baby.

Three months later baby was heading back to Europe in J, again solo with Mrs G. Since then, Fiji, Europe again, South Africa, Vanuatu. Loves flying.

Flying J with a baby is great, as you get far more support and service from the FA's. As others have said, all most other travelers ask is that you manage your children and do your best to control them. After the initial "oh no a baby" facial expression from your fellow J travelers, the reality is that both pax and FA's are more relaxed than they are crammed back in Y, and the whole experience is not difficult.

One tip I always thought was great - dress as cute as possible. (The baby that is)

Re the pram, they do have the plastic wrapping. When you check in at the QF Sydney F counter they usually have a porter who will take the pram over to oversize luggage.

Can you get a cover for it? We have a Mountain Buggy and bought a separate cover for traveling. Very handy as airlines count the bag as a pram so doesn't affect your baggage allowance, but there is room to stuff in plenty of toys etc etc as well as the pram.

Happy travels.

 

[simongr]

One tip I always thought was great - dress as cute as possible. (The baby that is)

Yep the supersuit certainly worked by babygr - not so sure for boygr next year - I might go chinos and a polo shirt (mini me) for smart cuteness (him not me)

Can you get a cover for it? We have a Mountain Buggy and bought a separate cover for traveling. Very handy as airlines count the bag as a pram so doesn't affect your baggage allowance, but there is room to stuff in plenty of toys etc etc as well as the pram.

Happy travels.

I was almost caught out by this - the QF staffer counted the bugaboo bag as an item and that took us 4 kilos over the theoretical allowance. She didnt charge us for it and if she did I would have pointed out the stroller is free - maybe take a print out of that with you.

One tip is pack less than you think you need. We took a mini inflatable bath and a high chair - we didnt use either. The hardest things we found in the UK were heating solid food in hotels and finding mothers and baby rooms for feeding times - certainly not as prevalent in London as Sydney.

 

[Mumfreqflyer]

Ive done heaps of travel this year with my daughter who just turned 1 (16 flights and counting).

I hvd always taken my pram away with me. Have a Bugaboo with the passed wheeled bag but i bought a second pram for travelling, a city mini and this fits jn the bugaboo bag. At least its padded and my pram has never been damaged. Yes its big and bulky but piece of mind and its on wheels anyway!

Otherwise while you are o/s maybe check at tbe yoyo pram (google it) selling in aus early next year i think but available everywhere else. Its similar to a bugaboo bee by looks but folds up small enough you can take it to the gate and onboard! I just wish i has known about this pram earlier this year!!!

Good lick for the flight and really it doesnt mattef what other passengers think arous you! I find after our trips in business people are quick to judge and stare that a baby is in the pointy end but always commented on how 'quiet' my daughter was and 'oh we didnt hear a peep out of her!'

 

[here2go]

QF have also advised us that as our pram bears more resemblance to a 4WD truck than a stroller, we will have to deposit at check in rather than at the gate. As we no longer have the box it came in, am thinking a purchase of a large roll of bubble wrap might be in order today. Can also recall seeing baggage coming off that appears to be contained in very large, oversize, thick clear, plastic bags. Does anyone know if these are available at SYD?

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and comments, will post a review on the experience when we get back.

For our Baby Jogger City, my wife grabbed two whopping big pieces of heavy fabric, sewed them together to make a "Bag", with handle that was then tied off. We'd also remove the wheels to make the pram just that little bit smaller. Dit dicky, but all contained.
HOWEVER, I would only recommend this for a real youngen. Miss Here2go, who is almost 15 months, will be travelling in a MacPac around Bavaria, Austria and Finland at the end of the week. Really comfy, she can see the shenanigans of the markets, meanwhile I've got two free hands to deal with bags (we're taking three, one of which will be couriered to the resort and back), and Mrs Here2go is assigned to Master Here2go (aka 3yr 10mth mummy's boy) keeps up. If proverbial hits the fan, Mrs Here2go can take the MacPac, and I'll take Master on my shoulders. SQ have confirmed the backpack can be taken to the gate.

 

[here2go]

Rather than starting up a new thread, noting this is close to a parenting thread as I would expect on AFF, I'll stick with this one.
I've got a 17 hour stopover in SIN on Saturday (0600-2300) en route to MUC with MI/SQ and was of the understanding that we could drop the baby backpack at the gate in DRW, collect it in SIN, drop off again at gate, then collect in MUC. My wife believes this to not be the case. ie once we drop off the bag in DRW, we won't see it again until MUC.
Can anybody clarify this?

 

[here2go]

Rather than starting up a new thread, noting this is close to a parenting thread as I would expect on AFF, I'll stick with this one.
I've got a 17 hour stopover in SIN on Saturday (0600-2300) en route to MUC with MI/SQ and was of the understanding that we could drop the baby backpack at the gate in DRW, collect it in SIN, drop off again at gate, then collect in MUC. My wife believes this to not be the case. ie once we drop off the bag in DRW, we won't see it again until MUC.
Can anybody clarify this?

I've printed this tweet off - hopefully Menzies Aviation, or whoever to MI/SQ checkin in DRW will acknowledge the power of Twitter.