We are back, and I have lots of pictures and stories from our trip for the blog but I haven't had time to download them. Many people have asked me what it was like traveling with a baby, so I thought I'd jot my thoughts down while they were fresh. All in all, Dylan did great and we didn't have any major problems. When we bought our tickets, I just assumed Dylan would be a "lap baby" (the price of the ticket is about one tenth of an adult seat and the baby sits on a parent's lap) because I didn't know of the possibility of buying a full price ticket for him and bringing his car seat on board. I later found out that the safest way for a baby to fly is in his car seat and that while airlines sell tickets for "lap babies," flight crews consider them a hazard.
It is now recommended in the U.S. and in most of the world for a baby to have his own seat. Of course, Italy is behind the curve on this. In fact, Alitalia does not allow you to bring a car seat on board and requires all children under the age of two to sit on a parent's lap. So had I bought Dylan a full price seat, he would have had to sit on my lap after all as we flew out on Alitalia. That would have been a mess. On our outbound flight, Dylan sat on Cristiano's lap. Right before take-off, the steward brought a small seat belt to loop around Dylan and an infant life vest and flotation device (eek!). Once we reached cruising altitude, two flight attendants brought the bassinet and hooked it on to the wall (we were in bulkhead seats and had called the airline repeatedly to make sure we'd be there and would have access to a bassinet). Dylan slept on take-off and landing, which I was told is very common as babies find the hum of the airplane relaxing. He didn't sleep much in the bassinet and we mainly used it as a place to sit him with his toys while we ate our meals. Most bassinets go up to about 25 pounds, and at 19 pounds, he was already almost too big for it. Alitalia had no changing stations in their bathrooms so we had to change him in the back of the plane where there were empty seats. Had there not been empty seats, I'm not sure what we would have done.
The flight back to Italy was on Delta. Right before take-off, I flagged down the steward to ask when he'd be bringing the baby seat belt. He wrinkled up his nose and said, "We don't do that." The subtext was "That is bad/dangerous/an out-of-date practice." I mentioned that we'd been given one on Alitalia and he shrugged and walked away. Not having something to restrain Dylan with felt a little precarious, especially when the flight got turbulent. We will definitely be buying him his own seat next time and bringing his car seat on board (meaning we won't fly Alitalia). We also had a bassinet on the way back but found that it wasn't very useful as Dylan was almost too big for it and because it was placed right under the large movie screen and the flickering of the bright screen right in his face kept him awake. He spent most of the time sleeping on his nonni who were seated in another, darker part of the plane. The other thing to take into consideration with the bulkhead seats is that you can't keep your bags in front of you so you spend a lot of time getting up and down to get things. Fortunately, Delta had changing stations in their bathrooms, and while it was a tight squeeze, it was much easier than trying to change a squirming baby on airplane seats.
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2 comments:
interesting about the seat belts. While i have always thought they were totally USELESS for babies (not to mention how much they squirm and wriggle in them after hte age of 1!!) , practically ALL the airines i have flown on have insisted we use them. That would be BA, Alitalia, Lufthansa, Qantas, Emirates, Singapore, Air malta, Air NZ and probably a few others i can't remember. I guess i haven't flown on any american airliens lately. But good to hear the stupid lap belts are GONE!!!
Other thing i am surprised at is Dylan 'sleeping in his bassinet for take off and landing'. ALL the flights i've been on they take the cot down for that!! Most annoying.
I've paid for seats before and actually thought it was a waste of money. S never used it as she was either sitting or sleeping in the cot or wanting to play on my knee. The only time it was worthwhile was the 26hr flight to australia when i flew alone with her at 1 year old and i had a place to put her food tray while i was eating my meal!! I guess the extra baggage allowance would be good, but travelling alone i was in no position to carry even more stuff (plus baby!).
Vanessa
I should have specified - Dylan slept on Cristiano's lap during take-off and landing. The bassinet wasn't there for those times. As per lap babies, I didn't know much about the options until I did some research right before leaving and found a bunch of American forum entries. It seems like the standard over there is to buy a seat and put the baby in his car seat where he will supposedly be "more comfortable" and not have the urge to get up and around. There were a lot of complaints about Alitalia too from people who bought separate seats for their babies, brought the car seat on board only to be told that the baby had to stay on the parent's lap. So total waste of money. From the American side, people have gotten pretty sanctimonious about having the kid in a car seat on a plane, calling lap babies "missiles," etc. etc. I'm just thinking that by the next time we fly (next year), he will be way too big for a bassinet. And walking. I'd hope he'd feel familiar in his car seat and it would keep him calm and restrained. Wishful thinking? :) Will call you this week! Want to catch up.
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