to want all of my dcs to sit with me on a long haul flight.....

[posieparker]

Flying to HK, 12 hours, with my dcs....7,6, 2 and 7mths alone. BA want the two older dcs to sit accross an aisle from me as another booking may require the basinette that the dcs will sit in front of. I have phoned customer relations but can't get anywhere. It means that one of the older dcs will be sat next to a stranger and behind, potentially, a basinette....which really get in the way.
Anyone got any tips how to improve my situation, we're only flying cattle class but we do this once a year and my parents at least three times.
Or does anyone know the number to get further with BA?

OK, so three sit in the bulk head seats with the bassinet, you sit over the aisle with another. When baby isn't in bassinet, it is on your lap.

Problem solved, no?

Btw, your opinion of other travellers leaves alot to be desired!

lol. we booked a bassinet and bulkhead seats travelling with (then) two kids inc ds1 who was 6 months. at boarding we were told he was too heavy to use the bassinet and so he was lap-sat for 9 hours both ways. hope your 7mo isn't a porker lol, twill all have been for naught.

(actually, worse still was flying with only one child at 11 months... work paid for her own seat (in first lol) but we were told at check-in that our uk car seat was illegal to use on the (foreign owned) airline... so she had to be lap-sat for 9 hours whilst we gazed incredulously at the (empty) first class seat next to us.

have never had a problem since, travelling with 3 i don't care any more - have spent way too much time walking screaming whinging babies/ toddlers up and down the aisles for an entire flight that i just mentally block the journey out of my mind-set. much easier.

you will get seats. you will get to your destination, one way or another...

my dcs often sit across the aisle from me now. i have never once fretted about them being sexually assaulted on a plane.

Why is taking (noisy) kids on board a plane selfish?? Is it selfish taking them on a bus or plane?
The last time I checked BA, Ryanair, Sleazyjet, etc, were all still public transport. If someone has trouble travelling with other people or kids they should book a private jet and won't need to complain anymore. (sort of like getting your own car when you don't like to go by bus!)

It is selfish in that it is putting you and your needs above the comfort of other passengers. I have already said that IMO EVERYONE acts selfishly on aeroplanes, parents do it in some ways, single travellers do it in some ways, we all do it!

Put the three kids in the side bulkhead seats with the baby in the basinette. You sit across the aisle or in the aisle seat right behind and use this configuration while the children are sleeping (you'll also know at this point who is in the seat next to you, so can judge whether they pose a risk or not). When kids are awake, 7 yo can go in the single seat and you can sit with the others. Job done .

Am at the way this thread turned!

Across the aisle is fine, surely - you don't even have to raise your voice. Lots of snacks and books and small games, and they'll sleep most of the way, hopefully.

As for sitting next to a paedophile - if nobody can see the seating plan in advance and make sinister arrangements to sit next to children/nubile young ladies/ladyboys/whatever, then what are the chances that your DC are going to be seated next to someone who's up to no good? Sorry, but this really is reading like a DM rant!

Shame your DH can't travel out at the same time, because it would solve all of this. FWIW, I think you're very brave to do a long haul flight with 4 young DC, and I hope it works out for you (without you depriving someone else of a bassinet seat that they need more than your DC, obviously!).

We - DS(7), DP and me, recently went on holiday to Kenya and flew with Kenyan Airways. On the way back we were told that they could only allocate us three separate seats - seats no where near each other, so DS would be out of sight of either me or DP. I pleaded nicely, and asked for at least 2 seats together so that at least one adult could keep an eye on DS. But no I was told - this could not be done. I pointed out that as a responsible parent I could not let him sit away from a responsible adult. But no, they said nothing could be done. By this time I was getting red in the face and extremely angry. The supervisor appears and reiterates what I have been told - there were no other seats available.

I faced a dilemma - make a fuss and reject the seats and demand joint seats on the next flight (meaning we wouldn't be back home & work as we expected) or take the seats. I opted to take the seats, determined that I would just have to stand near DS and keep an eye on him!! I did hurl some abuse at the supervisor - I told her that when I got home I will be posting my story on the internet to show how uncaring Kenyan Airline really was towards children.

It did turn out alright in the end - I asked a nice Kenyan lady who had a seat next to me to swap seats with DS which she did. I was nearly in tears when she agreed, I was so grateful.

It left me a bit shaken to be honest. To this day I can't understand how an airline can ask a mother to sit separately from a little child!!

I wouldn't be travelling Kenyan Airways again!!!

Um, I'm going to sound like such a wally..

What is a basinet seat??

I've only taken one baby (dd when she was 9 months) on a plane and she sat on my lap - no mention of bassinet seats.

AND what is the correct spelling for bassinnett?

And flying long haul with 4 children 4 times a year....

A bassinet is a small bed for babies up to about 12 months that screws into the wall at the front of a section of seats. Usually it fits between two seats, hence they can fit, in typical 3-4-3 configuration, 1 on the left, 2 in the middle, and 1 on the right of plane. Baby is placed into bassinet and hopefully goes to sleep

We also had a 'baby box' which was a cardboard bed that went on the floor under our seats on XL Airways once instead.

It would be my idea of hell sitting with someone else's young children on a long haul flight

Not relevant to the discussion, I know, but re. bassinets: when I was a baby my parents travelled long-haul once and in those days it was a sort of a hammock hanging above their heads!!!! Wonder why that went out of fashion!