Airline Travel Cots

mago · Post by **mago** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 12:20 pm

Hi,

Quick question about travel cots for babies on planes.

We are flying to Thailand with a 1 y.o. We have a travel cot booked for him but am wondering if he will be too big to sleep in it?

He is about 73cm tall. Are all airline cots the same size? We are flying with LTU....(mmm

'leisure' airline, not getting my hopes up about the spacious seats)

He has flown before and was well behaved, but this is his 1st long-haul flight. It is overnight, so I am hoping he will be able to sleep for most of the way

Probably should just call the airline....anyway, what were your experiences??

Thanks

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Xochiquetzal · Post by **Xochiquetzal** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:13 pm

You can use them up to 2 years old on most airlines. And I had my daughter in them a day before she turned 2 on a trip from California to Helsinki. She loved it in there.

For when she was one years old and took the same trip, she preferred her more comfortable car seat in the seat next to us:

carolinemaher · Post by **carolinemaher** » Thu Oct 04, 2007 5:08 pm

My daughter fitted comfortably into the travel cot at 15 months, not much room to spare, but she is quite a big girl, and she slept soundly. I also found the car seat a great option for up to 1 year old, especially for take off and landing as they feel all snug in there and hopefully sleep if you try and time it to have a bottle then. Good luck..

mago · Post by **mago** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:27 am

Thanks for the replies....

We have a small car seat and I'm thinking of bringing it. I didn't think we would be able to take it onto the plane though. Does it make a difference that we don't have a seperate seat booked for the little one?

Our seats have already been asigned and we have middle aisle seats at the front of the rows which I guess is the best spot for a family.

We are leaving for good, so are at the maximum limits of baggage already. Do airlines normally count the car seat as a bag or in the baggage weight??

carolinemaher · Post by **carolinemaher** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:40 am

In my experience you are only supposed to take the car seat on the plane if you have booked a seat, the thing is to check at check-in that the plane isn't fully booked then they may block the space out next to you so you can take the car seat on (they usually require the car seat to be put in the window seat). If no space is available just put the car seat through as luggage. I've never had baby-related stuff weighed as extra luggage they have always just put it through for me (I'd say check with your airline). If you have the front row of seats though you should be able to use the bassinet..

Xochiquetzal · Post by **Xochiquetzal** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:48 am

If there is room on the plane, they will give you the seat next to you for it. But it has to be small enough to be secured with the seat belts. The arm rests in the front rows don't lift up, so there's not much wiggle room. If it doesn't fit, they check it into the luggage area, no problem.

Baby car seats and strollers don't count toward the luggage limit. Finnair and SAS will wrap them in plastic for you as well to protect them. Just get there early enough to do so. And definitely do it - they turn black from the conveyer belts otherwise.

With Finnair as your starter airline (regardless of whomever you connect with afterwards), you can check all your luggage in the night before as well as get your seats. This is a HUGE help - there are never any lines the night before and it helps make everything go really smoothly the next morning since you'll already have checked in. And you'll get the best chance of having seats next to you blocked out so you have room with the baby.

The travel cots are for after takeoff and before landing. Tell the stewardess when you get on that you need one and they'll bring it once you are in flight. And, of course, don't forget a bottle and feeding it to the little one so his ears will pop at takeoff.

mago · Post by **mago** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:14 am

Thanks again

We wanted to fly Finnair as they are the only ones with a direct flight to Bangkok, problem is they were more than double the price of what we got.

So it's Lufthansa to Munich and then LTU to Bangkok. Pretty sure that we just check in the once in Helsinki. Baby has 20kg baggage limit with LTU but only 10kg limit on the first leg.....hopefully we get friendly check-in people at the start.

He has done 4 short flights so far and hasn't had any problems on the plane. But every single time he has had a blocked nose the day/night after, will have the salty drops ready......

Flight leaves Munich 1 hr before his normal bedtime, so that works out well.

Can't wait to relax on some nice Thai beaches and go swimming in the ocean with my boy. We are actually returning to his place of conception which is nice and romantic for the parents

Who's jealous??

ElenKa · Post by **ElenKa** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 11:17 am

We personaly don't have much experience in flying. My daughter is just 8 months old and we took only short flight to Moscow - and -longer - to Malaga. But she slept across the two chairs on our flight back.

Xochiquetzal · Post by **Xochiquetzal** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:41 pm

The baggage allowance for the short hauls are almost always waived if you are on a connection route. I've flown on AA from Los Angeles to NYC (short haul) and from there to Helsinki. The weight allowance from NY to LA is small - half of that of a transatlantic. But since my second leg was transatlantic, they waived that and I got the full weight limit for an international flight.

Lufthansa is excellent. You should have no problems with them.

And incidentally, I've hit the weight limit on every single flight I've taken (I always have to weigh my bags the night before at the terminal to move things around to get them exactly to the weight limit. It's a running joke in my family now.

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