Long haul flights with babies and 3 year olds

[ginnycook]

Anyone any advice/experience for me? I am taking my 7 monther and my 3 year old to the US next month on BA. I've booked the bassinet/bulkhead position, but they won't sit us all together, so 2 of the 3 adults will go behind. Whats the bassinet/britex seat like? Does it go on a table? Should I take a pop up cot for the floor area? Any other tips?? Thanks smile

Ginnycook,

I will try to reassure you re the milk formula.

I have taken milk formula into the US in the suitcase with no problems whatsoever. Once you collect you bags from the carousel you will make your way over to Customs - most of the time US customs just consists of handing over the white customs form to the agent present. I've been travelling to the US for the past 20 odd years or so and have only been subjected to a luggage search once (and that was in December 2001) on arrival into the US.

You can lock your suitcases travelling to the US (infact I would advise this). However, on leaving the US I would say you need to leave your bags unlocked until they are x-rayed by the TSA. You should be able to relock the suitcases after this is done - ask the TSA person on duty first though!!!.

(apologies if you are aware of the following already):-
All of the adults in your party will be fingerprinted and photographed on arrival. Ensure that all the forms needed are completed well ahead of time (there will be one white customs form along with the green visa waiver forms. One visa waiver form will have to be completed for each person regardless of age - you as Mum can complete and sign the childrens' forms).

Where are you flying into?

Hi

Thanks for your advice - we're travelling to Boston. Do you know what immigration time is like there? I've put all our passport details into the system in advance so apparently that speeds things up...

Hi there,
we flew to the maldives in april with dd1 (nearly 3) and dd2 who was 8mths it was a 10 hr flight goin and nearly 11 coming back! Going - we didnt have bulkhead and we were in cattle class and very squashed! but we had a night flight and so tried to keep routine as normal as we could. we made a 'nest' on the floor with the blankets provided, changed into pj's, had milk and story and dd1 snuggled up and went to sleep.(thank goodness) it meant that we had the seat between my dh and i for our 8mth old to sleep in which seemed to work.
Coming back - we had a day flight, but we did have a bulkhead seat and a bit of extra space. Quite lucky in that dd2 was quite happy to nap on the floor and dd1 was happy to crawl up the aisle and in the space by the door.

We had snacks a plenty for both as airline food wasnt great, Plenty of drinks to. A change of clothes for everyone so that when we came off the plane we felt a bit fresh, and we all had thickish socks to wear during the flight to keep our feet warm and so we could take our shoes off.

Hope this helps!

Hi Ginnycook,

Doing your API's (adance passenger information) in advance is a good idea as that does help at check in this end.

Time taken to go through Immigration into the US depends on a number of factors; how many staff are working at the time and also the number of other flights arriving at around the same time. The fingerprinting (left index finger first followed by the right one!) and photographing takes only around a minute (as mentioned each adult in your party will have this done).

Might sound a bit silly but where are the bulk head seats on a plane?

We flew to Boston in June and Immigration took around 40 minutes - 2 years before that it took nearly 2 hours so it can vary a lot!
Don't know what you are planning but I would advise carrying the baby in a sling and the 3 year old in a buggy if you're arriving at night after a longish flight. 2 years ago I had to hold my 1 year old while waiting in the immigration queue as ds (then 3 1/2) was asleep in the buggy.
As said before, make sure that you fill in the green visa waiver forms correctly as we saw a number of people being sent back to the end of the queue.

If you use a sling or front carrier then baby can sleep in it thru the flight i have found.

A dvd player if your 3yo is into, it is a good investment,get new dvd's and keep them for the flight, good deals at the airport or on ebay.

Loads of nappies, if baby has 'runny' poo normally, then add a airline sanitory towel into it at boarding and at each change makes a huge difference.

Alco soap, the water free stuff is useful.

It you use dummies then take a small screw lidded tub or small avent bottle with ready made milton in it, to clean them. Milton doesn't need to be rinsed off tho has a minor taste so get them used to it before hand.

Take 50% more formula than you use normally, they will waste some but often want to feed more frequently.

Chat to the head steward on boarding and it most often proves useful for extra pillows/blankets/treats.

Have a good flight and remain calm, ignore grumbles from others tho, a smile and a 'would you like to try' if either children is upset can either shut up the complainer or give you an offer of help/distraction from another passenger.

Pack everything into zippy bags, ie, 1 for each nappy change, saves on nappy sacks & are much better at reducing lingering odours, clean clothes, so that messed up can be exchanged and not mess up the whole bag, feeding spoons and jars in little packs.

marvellous - thank you all again : and for KJG, the bulkheads are the seats at the front of economy, usually in front of the wall separating the two sections where the hosties prepare food etc. They build in the tables that drop down that hold bassinets or special seats.