I have just discovered that my flight to New Zealand on Wednesday doesn’t offer bassinettes for babies (thanks heaps Qantas!) - which means I have to have 5 month old Baby From Mars sitting on my lap for the whole 4 hour flight. No bulkhead seats available either. Any suggestions as to how to manage this? I have a sling which I’ll wear her in if need be to get both hands free, but there is no way to put a tray table down, and I’m flying solo so eating is likely to be an non-starter.
I did that with my kids when they were 3yo and 5mos. It turned out fine, though a bit awkward. I was relieved and grateful that the gentleman in the seat next to me was polite and friendly about the prospect of sitting next to a nursing mother. If he’d been less gracious, the flight would have been more difficult (for both of us).
4 hours from NZ makes you, where, Adelaide? Canberra? Brisbane maybe?
As you board, ask someone in a bulkhead seat if they’ll swap. For a 4 hour flight that shouldn’t be a big deal.
Melbourne to Wellington. Apparently no bulkhead - just a movable curtain that separates the elite from the plebs. The only other suggestion I have had is to see if I can get a seat next to an empty seat - so I’ve tried to prebook a seat at the rear, figuring those would be less popular.
Crap - Qantas not the airline for those with kids!
Any chance they’ll expand to U.S. domestic routes?
Never heard of an airline provided bassinet. Here’s a possibility.
Sorry, new parent here and have yet to fly …
Do people fly with their Dudelings on their lap? What about seat belts? Safety seats? Seems mighty counter-intuitive to make sure there are at least three layers of bubblewrap and foam insulation for when they ride a bike or drive in the car but nothing but a 70s-era daddy grip for flitting about the turbulence-prone skies.
Check online and try to find an empty row, or at least a seat with an empty seat next to it. When you check in, tell the agent your concerns and he/she might help keep the empty seat free.
Eat before getting on the plane and pack snacks you can eat with one hand.
If you really need to, can’t you lay the baby on the floor for a minute or two on a folded airline blanket? just long enough to adjust, eat your snack, or whatever.
I have to second this. Never heard of such a thing. We flew often when our kids were little and it was always on the lap.
If I were you, I wouldn’t sweat it. Definitely, commandeer an extra seat if you’ve got one next to you. Or, if you really don’t want your kid on your lap, book an extra and bring your car seat. Just beware, though – even if you do get an extra seat for a car seat, that’s no guarantee your kid will actually be willing to stay in it without screaming unless the baby’s asleep.
What I would worry about whether your baby sits on your lap, in a swing or a bassinet is the takeoff and landing. Both are very hard on little ears, so make sure the baby has something to suck on – a breast, bottle, pacifier, whatever – or be prepared for lots of screaming. In my experience, landing is usually the worst. Since it’s a new experience, babies can usually be distracted at takeoff, but by the time they land, either they’ve shut down and passed out (probably what you and those seated around you would prefer) or they’re just done with the whole experience and are screaming their heads off unless they’ve got something in their mouth.
Four hours isn’t too bad – what I’ve always found to be hardest is the time before you get on the plane. Since you have to get there so freaking early and there are constant, irregular updates from loudspeakers, it’s hard to get the baby to settle into any decent semblance of a nap until you get on the plane. I think the sling is a good idea wherever your baby sits - they can be very comforting for kids that age and you won’t need a stroller, which can get cumbersome.
I’m probably not the best to reply on relative time spent on the plane since I flew with my 18-month-old on my lap from Newark to India and back (a 13-hour trip there, 17 hours back, with a 10-hour layover and another 3-hour flight). It was not fun, but he was a champ the whole way. I actually wish I had taken him when he was six months or under. By the time he was 18 months, he was able to will himself to stay awake; luckily, most teeny ones haven’t yet developed that ability.
Many do, indeed, fly with infants on their laps, though I think that’s becoming a little less common today, at least in the U.S., as more parents are instead bringing their babies’ car seats on board.
I believe that the airlines require a separate seat (and, thus, a separate ticket) for a child over a particular age.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an “airline-provided bassinet” for an infant flier, at least not here in the U.S…it’s either carry the baby on your lap, or put him or her in the car seat you brought on board, in a separate seat.
At least on the flight I took to India, they had these awesome bulkhead bassinets that snapped right into those notches in the wall on the bulkhead. They were basically little plastic, padded platforms with mesh sides and security straps inside in case of turbulence plus a lip and tab on them to keep them on the bulkhead. The tab went up under the top notch and the lip went on the bottom notch. They were for kids under six months, I think, and the couple seated in the bulkhead had twins. Both kids slept almost 12 hours in those things. I was so jealous! I kept imagining how nice it would’ve been to be able to breastfeed our son, which was like giving him a sedative but he’d already weaned of course, then tuck him in for even a few minutes. He used to sleep so well on planes when he was a baby.
I’m hoping for Canadian ones, too. 
A sleeping infant fits quite nicely into the space under the seat in front of you. Seriously.
Just bring a couple of blankies to make a “nest.”
Yep - flew the same Mel-Wel route on Air New Zealand last month and they had the snap in bassinette (she slept the whole way in it), so I assumed it would be provided on the competing airline as well.
During takeoff and landing they give you a mini belt which loops through yours and around the baby’s waist, but the baby can be lying in your arms or sitting up.
Good advice re the dummy, I’ve just weaned her off hers, but will bring one just in case she needs to suck on something. I’ve tried to book a seat towards the back of the plane figuring they are the less popular seats and may have a free seat nearby.
Other than that, hoping her cute face and sunny personality will win friends and influence people during the trip.
Four hours with one infant on the lap doesn’t sound too bad … I know moms who have schlepped, for example, a 6 year old, 4 year old, and babe-in-arms half-way around the world, by themselves.
Perhaps bassinets are only offered on long-haul, international flights. I am astonished to discover they are not routine - although if there is no bulkhead, there is no place to snap the bassinet into anyway, so it is a moot point.
As for the infant sitting on the parent’s lap - usually there is a second, smaller seatbelt given to you by the airline. The second seatbelt fastens to the first, and is used to strap the baby in. At least that is typical of international flights.
In a 4-hour period I wouldn’t worry much about food - so what if you can’t eat, anything they’ll serve you will be crap anyway - unless you are breast-feeding and really can’t go 4 hours without eating something. If that’s the case, just be sure to prepare some good snacks in an easy-to-open containter and put them in the top of your purse/in your pocket so you can easily grab and gulp even with a baby in your arms. Just before you go to board, be sure to eat something, get a clean diaper on the baby, and go to the bathroom yourself, and there is very little that is going to happen in 4 hours that you can’t easily wait out.
I don’t think foreign common carriers are allowed to carry passengers between points within the U.S. It’s called “cabotage”. In the same way, most cruise lines are foreign-flagged. Suppose you book a cruise from L.A. to Acapulco that stops in San Diego. If you go ashore in SD and fail to return before the ship continues on to Mexico, the shipping line will be fined for violating the cabotage law, and pass that on to you as a surcharge.
I think that “whooshing” sound isn’t a Qantas plane.
This is a situation that calls for one of those cloth baby slings. That way you don’t have to bear the weight of the baby on your arms the entire time.
I’ve only ever seen them on such flights: trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic flights, in my experience. Even here in Canada, where domestic flights can be five hours or more, I’ve never seen an aircraft with bassinets serving a domestic route.