DO NOT fly British Airways pregnant or with kids

[StilettoMom]

I am 5 months pregnant and I just finished a week long trip to London from Vancouver, Canada, and had the worst possible experience ever on British Airways.

When I got onto the plane, I asked for assistance to put my carry on luggage onto the overhead compartment, but the cabin crew refused to help me. They told me that "health and safety" regulations prohibited them from doing any lifting. I asked them what I was supposed to do with my suitcase, and finally the crew agreed to let me keep it in a closet in between Business and First.

During my flight, I was made to feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable when I had to retrieve an item from my suitcase, as I had to walk through Business class.

When we arrived in London, we had to go down a set of stairs to get on a bus to get tot he terminal. Once again, the crew told me they were unable to assist me with my suitcase, and their solution was to suggest I leave it on the plane and "perhaps" another passenger would bring it down for me. I was told that as a passenger I am not supposed to carry any luggage that I am unable to lift over my head. I ended up struggling with the suitcase myself.

On the way back, thankfully other passengers assisted me with my luggage, but I did notice that the bulkhead seats were not prioritized for pregnant women, or for small children. A friend happened to be on the same flight with his 15 month old, and he was given a bulkhead seat so that his baby could sleep in a bassinet during the flight, but there was a woman 3 rows back with a 21 month old who was forced to keep the hold on her lap the entire flight, even though there were adults sitting in bulkhead seats who would have been more than capable to sit in a regular seat.

Aside from a few exceptions, the staff were rude and totally unhelpful. I was given a dirty look when I walked all the way tot he back of the plane to use the toilet (as the one in the middle was being used), not one made any effort whatsoever to assist in my trip. Plus, despite being at the airport 3 hours early, my suitcase failed to make the flight.

After sharing these thoughts with friends, I have been told my many people that they suffered similar experiences.

I have made several other flights since I have been pregnant, and no one has managed to make me feel as uncomfortable and unwelcome as British AIrways.

Why do you have carry on luggage that you couldn't errr carry?

I'm confused as to why you couldn't carry your own suitcase?

"when we arrived" so presumably you had a partner with you who could have assisted you.

Sorry i think you are being rather precious about it al;

Shame you had such a bad experience, I flew BA several times when pregnant and they couldn't have been more helpful. FWIW they can't put pregnant women in the bulkhead seats by the door as they need people who could open the doors in an emergency, same with parents of young children I believe, it means the seats in the middle of the front are the only ones suitable.

Maybe next time you fly try and keep your hand luggage light and put heavy things in your hold luggage so you can use a trolley?

If we had a 'worst possible experience' competition I think you would come last.

I understand that this must have been hard. I travelled a lot when pregnant and ensured that I had a light carry on case so that I wasn't putting myself at risk - I would recommend this next time.

The bassinets cannot take larger children, sadly it is laps all the way. Yes, travelling with kids is not that comfortable but we get used to it.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem that we can rely on others - sometimes you get wonderful helpful people (crew or/and passengers) sometimes not (and always when you need it most).

did you call ahead for assistance? do you have any condition other than being just five months pregnant? are you a princess?

errr your 5 months pg, not disabled, carry your own suitcase!

We flew BA Longhaul with a 17month old, staff extremely helpful, we had handluggage on board though, not suitcases. We had bulkhead seats assigned on booking, but if you don't do this, someone else will snap them up on check-in if course. And as with nearly all airlines, children under two are on laps as mine was all the way back on a 10hr night flight. Its jyst how it is. I cant see the problem as it was all avoidable in your case. PS also flew 10hrs when pregnant and again, people were really helpful. I was lucky.

I flew Vancouver to London last November when my son was 4 months....and BA were great...in a bassinet all the way he slept right through!
I also wonder what on earth did you have in your hand luggage...next time maybe a purse and a paperback would be better????

I have flown BA longhaul 10 times whilst pregnant this time. 8 of those times in the company of my 2 other DC (4 & 5).

No complaints at all - on four flights we were given the (middle) bulkhead seats, on one occassion (when flying alone) I was given the door bulkhead seat and they made another passenger swap with me for take off and landing. We got an upgrade twice (wohoo!) and generally pretty good service throughout.

But I am sensible. My Dc's are allowed to take one bag of sweets and their nintendo DS and I take my handbag + a small shopper for whatever I buy from WH Smith at the airport. Taking carry on is a fools game if either pregnant or with small DC why on earth any sane person would do it with both is beyond me.

If you want the sort of service you seem to expect then the only way to guarantee it is to fly business or above. Different experience altogether.

No response from the op? Am mustard keen to find out what was in the luggage of doom?

I flew long haul with BA and my 13 week old DD. Staff couldn't have been less helpful and were so rude! Totally agree with the OP, they were dire. Absolutely no help during the flight including when I was getting harrassed by a drunk man who insisted on wanting to "hold the baby". It was snowing when we landed and we got the "stairs" rather than the terminal door. As I stood at the top, with the snow falling and the wind howling, holding a tiny baby and two bags, one of the flight attendants came over and said to me "Be careful you don't slip". No offer of help. Thanks a billion pal.

But no one else seems any better!

WorzselMummage PMSL!

This is your first time, yeah? Becoming a parent is a steep learning curve as you go from the idealism of 'ooh, I'd love a baby' to the reality of having a tantrumming toddler and a baby with reflux. You sound like you're still in the early stages of that curve, don't worry we've all been there.

What do you think women do when they're heavily pregnant with number three, and have to pick up one child from school and lift a heavy toddler out of a cot and a pram out of the car etc. Unless they have a specific medical condition and have been advised not to lift things, they just get on and do it - and a toddler probably weighs more than your carry-on (and is certainly more awkward to carry).

As for the dirty looks, having read 'Airport Babylon' I suspect the crew were just pissed off with you for having made a fuss about the carry-on. They had probably labelled you a 'difficult passenger'.

I wonder if the OP thinks she is the first woman to ever fly whilst pregnant,.

Children under 2 can have their own seat. One just has to pay for it, so if a child was sitting on an adult's lap, it would have been out of choice. Also, there may have been reasons why the people in the bulkhead were given those seats, such as needing leg room etc.

In any case, a 21 month old would not have fit into the BA bassinets and am that a 15 month old would. They are tiny.

Oh and I win the worst flight competition. Travelled with DD (3) and DS (23.5 months) from LA to London via New York. Flight was cancelled so 5 hours at JFK after a 6 hour flight. Then DS caused a security alert as he set off the metal detectors through the x ray machine. Plane then circled at airport in the UK after a 7 hour flight when pilot said the flaps had failed, so diverted to another UK airport. Co pilot came to show us 'crash positions' and DS banged his head on touchdown. Ambulance met plane on arrival. He was fine, but then had a 5 hour coach trip to where we lived.

I win, right?

northern I don't expect we'll ever know

I think this was supposed to be a bitch about BA thread as opposed to a "what sort of loon takes carry on that they are incapable of lifting long haul" thread

Maybe StilettoMom is Mylene Klass aka the first woman on the planet to give birth.

How bloody heavy was your carry-on??
Unless you're too short to actually reach the overhead bin, next time, maybe pack a bit lighter.
Seriously.
Worst possible experience? I don't think so.

are you disabled in some way op?

you should only have luggage you can manage yourself that makes perfect sense

other than that you felt you were given dirty looks surely all a matter of perception

How heavy was this case exactly?. You made this experience harder than it should have been for your own self.

"I was told that as a passenger I am not supposed to carry any luggage that I am unable to lift over my head". Again that is not unreasonable on the part of the airline, if it fell out during the flight you would have certainly known about it. Bags do shift about and can injure people.

Some of what you complain about was also beyond BAs control (the arrival into London for instance that necessitated a bus to the terminal. If you are writing about Heathrow's T5 most of the incoming pax get bussed into the main terminal building so this is not unusual.

Health and safety regs do prevent aircrew from stowing away passengers overhead bags; they were not being totally unreasonable here. Other airlines would have done exactly the same.

I've flown with BA when pregnant, and with young children and had really good experiences.

I think sometimes it depends on who you get on the day and what mood they're in.

Ach, I remember being uber-cautious about lifting things when pg with dd, and then realised that it's all essentially guff as when you have a hefty toddler and are pregnant with another you're lifting a very damn heavy thing with a propensity to boot you in the stomach all the time.

OP, unless you have another condition about which you'd informed them, I'd chalk this up to experience, and perhaps a little overcautiousness on your part.

We went to Italy with dd when she was about 19mo with BA - yes, she sat/slept on my lap or dh's - not really a problem, though it may be a PITA with longhaul, but the staff were really kind to us and her, so it isn't all bad.

we fly to sa regularly

ba have consistently been the best with the children
surprisingly much better than virgin