When flying to Europe, is it worth an extra $450 round trip to have a separate seat for your baby (20 month old)? We are looking to fly to Venice in May and that's roughly how much we'd save.

Have you checked to see if airplane has bassinet in bulkhead row? I'm not sure what the age/weight limit is to use one but worth a call to airline to ask.

While I have not traveled with an infant, I cannot imagine having an infant sit in my lap for 8-10 hours, especially in coach. The bulkhead option mentioned is good, but I am not sure if they charge extra for those seats since they are almost always "economy plus" type seats. They are pretty cool though if you haven't seen them. After in the air, they come and hook a small bassinet on the wall in front of you for your child to sleep in.

A lot of it is dependent how full the flight is. Many international flights I've been on have had empty seats. In that case you can probably swing a row for you three selecting aisles on a 2-3-2 seating configuration. That has risk though.

If the bulkhead option isn't available and flight is likely full, $450 is worth it unless you sleep holding your kid every night.

We took our then 18 month old as a lap child from DFW to Frankfurt. It was by far the most miserable flight we've ever taken. We tried all sorts of ways to get her comfortable and were pretty much unsuccessful in all of them. She maybe got 2 hours of sleep. The return flight was slightly better as we were able to create a make shift sleeping pad for her at my wife's feet, so she got 4-5 hours that time.

That's quite possibly the worst age to have a lap baby. I'd get the kid a ticket, probably even bring his/her car seat for them to sleep in, or look into the bassinet seat options as mentioned earlier.

Easily worth $450 in my opinion. You can get an inflatable thing to put in the foot space in front of the seat and basically make a bed for your baby.

Like this: https://www.amazon.com/AirGoods-Inflatable-Travel-Airplanes-Flights/dp/B073XLCHH7

I'd pay 45000

ORAggieFan said:

---

A lot of it is dependent how full the flight is. Many international flights I've been on have had empty seats. In that case you can probably swing a row for you three selecting aisles on a 2-3-2 seating configuration. That has risk though.

If the bulkhead option isn't available and flight is likely full, $450 is worth it unless you sleep holding your kid every night.

---

The only thing with this is I don't think you can bring a car seat on in this scenario. Now moving your child to an empty seat or floor - sure. But I think the car seat is only for a reserved seat.

Something like this may be good too. I got something similar but it wasn't as tall for me when I was in the bulkhead row. It made such a huge difference to have my feet propped up. Mine was cylinder shaped - so I could have it taller or shorter depending what side I had it on. I could also hold it in my lap. Best $25 I ever spent.

Deleted my link. Didn't realize it was the same as the poster above linked.

It will be the best $450 you've ever spent.

I've flown Houston to Amsterdam with a 4 month old and buying the extra seat for her + car seat was totally worth it. Not sure if a toddler seat will fit on the plane tough. $450 for the extra room is totally worth it with or without the seat.

Any family to watch your child while you all enjoy your vacation, or are you going over to visit relatives? Overseas travel with infants is really difficult, and the child isn't going to remember any of it at 2 years old.

Spend the $450 and be done with it. Easy.

If you decide NOT to do this, please spend the "savings" on the box set of the first 17 seasons of "Air Crash Investigations".

All it takes is some violent turbulence and that kid is going to be smashed against the roof. And for the love of God, please don't put your child on the floor.

As far as leaving your 20 month old with friends/relatives while you're in Europe. Yeah, I'm sure your friends/relatives would just love that. Plus, modern mothers would never allow that anyway.

Our 5 year old son has flown probably 20 times in his life now and he's had his own seat sitting in his car seat every single time. It's a pain to get in and out of the plane but we've never regretted paying the extra fares when it wasn't necessary. I won't even get into the safety aspect of it but there's also that.

Edit...just saw the turbulence video and this is initially why we started always bringing his car seat. Heck and neck is nothing to mess around with, especially in a developing infant or toddler.

We have an opportunity to fly to Spain next summer, free trip, but flying with a 5 year old and 2 year old for 17+ hours sounds awful!

Where are you flying from that's 17 hours away from Spain?

I'd look into some better connections. Unless you're coming from Australia where it takes 14 + 7 = 21 hours flight time to get there. I've done it twice this year.

As far as traveling with the kids, I guess it all depends on what you're going for and what your goals are. These days, there are so many things to entertain kids with.

Back in my day... we had to entertain ourselves on those long haul flights. It's amazing how many "Kill Hitler" pictures you can draw on a 14 hour flight. These days, you could probably update the game for "Help El Chapo escape from Mexican jail".

Houston to Palma, Spain. There it's 14 hours, one stop (Frankfurt) but returning is 2 stops (Frankfurt + Chi).

Extra seat for sure! Leave the kiddo home if you can. Traveling with a toddler is never fun especially overseas.

We brought ours as a lap child transatlantic, and they were miserable til she wriggled her way to the floor and slept soundly the rest of the trip from there. We definitely should've gotten a separate seat as I'm sure that floor was disgusting.

Bulldog73 said:

---

We brought ours as a lap child transatlantic, and they were miserable til she wriggled her way to the floor and slept soundly the rest of the trip from there. We definitely should've gotten a separate seat as I'm sure that floor was disgusting.

---

But on the positive side, think of all the great immunities she picked up by being exposed to whatever was on the floor

I think i'd pass on a trip to venice if it meant having to take an infant with us on the plane and on the trip. that sounds terrible.

maroon10 said:

---

Houston to Palma, Spain. There it's 14 hours, one stop (Frankfurt) but returning is 2 stops (Frankfurt + Chi).

---

Thanks for clarifying. So, you've got two 9+ hour long haul stretches. From first read, I thought you had a 17 hour long haul like Sydney to Houston.

Funny aside - I've never heard of Palma but, I've had friends going to Mallorca for years. I learned something new. Thanks for that.

2 year old + 5 year old, some educational games, some measure of animation shouldn't be too bad. I recommend trying to get the 4 seats in the middle of the plane assuming it's a 747, 777, A340 or A380.

If it's a 787 with the 3-3-3 you might try dividing and conquering. Try to get two sets of two seat in consecutive rows. Put one kid with each parent and switch when boredom sets in. Plus, these days, you can always get up and go for a walk. If you're in an A380, it might even have a snack bar in the back. Good Luck!

Pay the money. I am a certified cheapass and I say pay the money. If you bring the car seat, look up a YouTube about strapping it to a rolling suitcase while in the airport. Makes all the airport walking much easier.

Also, keep in mind that if you bring a car seat, you'll typically need to put it in the seat that obstructs other's exit the least. For example, let's say you have 3 seats together one side of the aisle, you'll need to put the car seat in the window seat so that it doesn't obstruct exit to the aisle for the other 2 seats. Doing this right the first time may save you a last minute reshuffle after you've boarded.

Assuming your friends have liked it enough to have gone multiple times? Grandparents will be there along with an Aunt and another cousin. We can't decide if it's a trip we'd regret not taking in ten years or if we should just stick to our own summer trip in the Caribbean but on our own dime.

We flew twice transatlantic with twins when they were under 2. First when they were about 7 MO old Houston to London as lap babies with the bulkhead seats with my mother in law. Our flight was canceled with about 3 hours notice and we were rebooked into three random seats scattered around the plane and my FIL who was sitting in business was bumped to a flight the next day.

Me wife and I (who were already at the airport) were able to scramble and get on a connecting IAH->Lga->Manchester flight. We were split up hut the kids largely slept on the first leg. For the lga-man leg her sister and BIL were kn the flight and we were able to pass them around a bit. They were pretty good on the return leg with the bassinets.

We flew to London again with them about a year later. This time we booked 3 of the 4 middle seats for my wife, MIL and son. My daughter was a lap baby and the other seat ended up empty so she got to sit there. They were good on that flight because on the lga->man leg they were super delayed and very over tired. On the return flight with my wife and I (I flew over about a week after them) the flight was almost completely empty and so they roamed a bit around the cabin. Definitely more challenging once they are mobile.

maroon10 said:

---

Assuming your friends have liked it enough to have gone multiple times? Grandparents will be there along with an Aunt and another cousin. We can't decide if it's a trip we'd regret not taking in ten years or if we should just stick to our own summer trip in the Caribbean but on our own dime.

---

Yeah, 100% I'd go and all my friends who have been say it's great. Now, let me qualify those friends.

Group 1 - peers, kids from Saudi Arabia who went to Boarding School there. Basically all they did was get drunk and smoke. School was so easy that their parents thought they were working really hard - "Eddie used to be a C student but now, at Mallorca, he's getting As. Yeah, Adele too."

Group 2 - Germans and Brits love it for vacation but from what I understand, it's mostly Germans who freqent the island.

I think you'd have a real good time and, if the Grandparents are there, you'll definitely get a few nights to go out.

I don't know how it compares price wise but, the Brits and Germans were after cheap and sunny. When I was in Spain a few months ago, my Spanish colleagues were very down on Ibiza where hotels are running $1,000/night and a bottle of water in a club is going for $20. I couldn't believe those prices either but... yeah, apparently it's true.

My daughter is 5, and she's flown from Phoenix to Bangkok and back 5 times (3 flights each way). The first two times she slept in the bulkhead bassinet on the long flights (I think 10kg is the limit), and obviously after she turned 2 she's flown w/ her own seat. We didn't have any issue w/ her as an infant w/out her own seat, but if we didn't have a bulkhead seat it would have been painful.