to be angry at British Airways

[Girrafio]

Shortly to fly long haul (12 hours) with a very active 7 month old (day-time flight) and have been told by customer services that the bulkhead seats have all been assigned. Aren't they meant to be left free until the day for disabled, the elderly, families with kids? How on earth is DS meant to sit quietly on my lap for 12 hours squashed in the back of economy?? He gets fed up if he is confined to the buggy for more than 20 mins if not asleep. It is madness. The infant ticket cost nearly £100 - what was I paying for, if not the privilege of a little extra leg room so the child can at least play at my feet?

Anyone got any experience of this or advice on how to survive a long haul flight with a baby who won't be confined?

Maybe they have all been assigned to others with the same needs. Can you not pre-book your seats?

Maybe they were needed for disabled people.

Maybe consider booking an extra seat for your baby next time.

As you were booking with an infant, you would have had the option to reserve the seats at the time of booking.

People can not book the bulkhead seats until check in, 24 hours before the flight.

That should have say other people can not book the bulkhead seats...

which are the bulk head seats?

The infant ticket cost nearly £100 - what was I paying for

Er... the cost of flying your infant.

For all you know they could already be already assigned to disabled or elderly passengers. If your DS gets bored after twenty mins in his buggy then you have to question the wisdom of taking him on a twelve hour flight in a confined aeroplane, bulkhead seat or not.

IME, this often happens, and then you get a bulkhead seat on the day.

Can you see online if the flight is full? If not, maybe you can move to a quiet row during the flight ...

Sympathies, anyway, flying with a wiggly kid is a giant pain.

Ds was 2 days off one when we flew to Florida. Just try and keep him entertained, well watered and fed.
I put my headphones on him and he watched Mickey mouse for 2 hours.
He is very active, it was hard, but we are doing it again in January, so it can't have been that bad. Dd will be 8 and ds 22 months.

Odd, I do an 11 hour flight with BA regularly, they never let you book the bulkhead seats even at the online check in, we always have to turn up really early for the flight and it's first come first served for the bulkhead.
Seems cheeky to charge you for an infant ticket and then not give you anywhere to actually put your infant. I would call back and see who has the seats, unless it's for a disabled person then that is not right. There are usually at least 14 bulk head seats - 2 rows of 6-8 so this seems very odd

I've just flown long haul with BA. I paid the fee to pre-book our seats and the bulkhead ones were not available for pre-booking (but we did get them when doing online check-in).

When DD was an infant, we were allocated these seats at the time of booking.

There are only so many seats with Sky Cot spaces available. In fact, on our flight I would estimate there were only 10 and 4 of those were premium economy. There isn't anything BA can do if they are already allocated for families travelling with infants.

Entitled much?!

Why did you presume you'd automatically get them? You should have presumed you wouldn't and thought about if you really wanted to do a 10 hour flight with a baby.

They always charge for infants. As infants and their stuff costs money to transport.
Being completely thick here, why are the bulk head seats so wanted by the op.

SoupDragon are you sure bulkhead seats can't be booked til check in? You know that is what I thought, but i could not get a categorical answer from customer services about whether the seats were blocked out or actually assigned to other customers, though they used the word 'assigned' mostly.
I missed the opportunity to select the bulkhead at booking as for all other flights recently the bulkhead was blocked off til the day so I didn't even look this time. Grrr

Honeytea would love to book an extra seat for the baby but that's quite an expense when a bit of extra leg room (which I thought was a given) would suffice. If the other seats are filled with disabled and kids that's fine, but I flew two weeks ago with AA and was stuck at the back of economy with no option of switching seats when every single person in the 3 bulkhead rows were fit and healthy adults. it was a night flight though so much more manageable

BA have rhis wheeze where you get a bulk head seat only if you are prepared to pay £25 per seat per flight.

I had to stump up another £200 so we could sit together as a family.

When I complained BA wheeled out the excuse that they are just catering (and charging) for something that customers want. I asked if I could use the useless avios points to pay, but surprise, surprise the only way to sit together was to stump up the cash.

I did uestion them about the whole safety and risk thing that they spout, but even paying the money there are no guarantees that you will sit where you have paid.

The infant seat usually is 10% of the adult fare plus full taxes and airport duty.

Yes, pretty sure as I tried several times!

Well I am disabled and requested bulkhead seats with Thomson to fly to Lanzarote in July, when we booked in January.

When I boarded outward bound, one side had been given to a disabled man and his family and the other to an able bodied family. I was in tears because I really didn't see how I could go, and had been reassured by the check in girl that I had bulk head seats. The cabin crew were quite arsey when I said I had requested the bulk head, had been assured I had them, and I really did need them. Eventually they asked the other family to move And they did move, but not until they had abused me and called me names!

Because we wanted to avoid this situation on the return journey, we spoke to the UK office and the Rep, and got it in writing that I had bulkhead seats for me and one of my family (as a carer). At the airport we were told I "wasn't disabled enough for a bulkhead seat" so they gave me all of row 3. They were adamant there were 6 more disabled people getting on the plane. When we boarded we found out that they had been sold as extra leg room seats! I was in tears again, not one person would move for me and a carer, and I was left to suffer 4 hours in absolute agony!

To top it all when we got back to the UK the air crew manager said he had put it on the flight report that I was better off where I had sat ! My knees and ankles were swollen and my back was locked. I had to spend 3 days in bed on morphine. Needless to say I have complained in writing to Thomson and am awaiting a response!

If you don't want the baby on your lap then you book the baby a seat. There are no guarantees about anything seatwise. There may be other people on the flight far more in need of the space than you.

Not all bulkhead seats have the emergency exits by them.

Its ok, dh explained it.
OP are you checking in online? If so you may turn up and be able to have them. They have either been given to higher priority customers of blocked until check in.
Yabu to be upset you haven't got something that you are not promised you 100% have.
Traveling with a baby is not easy, but tbh the bulk head doesn't have that much more leg room, so its still uncomfortable.
Fwiw we are booking an extra seat for ds next January. We have had to save extra but it will be worth it.

Passengers with babies and/ or disabled can not sit near an exit. But that's not all bulk head seats.

Long haul if I'm flying alone, I always buy a seat for the babies no matter how young. It's too much to try and hold onto them for the 13 or 14 hours I fly.
If I have family with me we play pass the baby. Only once in many many years of flying I was assigned bulk head seats and given a bassinet for the baby. I prefer non bulkhead, put a car seat next to me with baby in and use the little TV screen in the seat in front of me to pass the time.
If you are really lucky the plane won't be full and the seat next you may be empty, take the car seat on board and use it if the seat id free, much more comfy and clean for baby than some old folding bassinet that they provide.

Bulkhead are different to exit row seats & it's exit row where you need to be able to operate the emergency exit.

Op, you have my sympathies as its crazy they wouldn't automatically sit you where there is a cot. Hopefully it will get sorted on the day -FWIW, I've always been given those seats when we've turned up at the airport even though it did look in advance like we hadn't got them. Good luck

coconutparadise your experience is simply awful. They should be ashamed.

I live abroad and cannot avoid occasional travel. I'd opt for a night flight if there was one.

I definitely think that airlines should try harder to accommodate people with children. It should go without saying that you get a bulkhead seat over an adult with no needs.

Of course I wouldn't want the seat over someone with a greater need. But judging from experience, ordinary adults often get in before those who'd appreciate it most