Babies, buggies, carseats & planes

[katiegolightly]

Hi all, we have booked 2 trips and our baby is arriving 5 ish weeks. The first is a flight to France (our wedding in fact!) when she will be 4 months, and the second a flight to South Africa to stay with DPs family, when she will be 7 months.

We'll have travel cots at each, but I'm wondering what I need to wrestle with for the plane each time. Do I take the baby on the plane in my arms/sling or in a carseat/carrycot? What should I put in the hold? Is it worth getting an insured travel case for my Uppababy for these sort of trips?

I've hired a carseat in France (and could do the same in SA) but wonder if it will be helpful to take the carrycot / buggy on either trip for daytime napping/getting about. I'm not sure what she'll be needing at 7 months.

I guess I can figure some of this out nearer the time but does anyone have any tips and do I need to book any of these bits of kit onto the flight? I don't want to be ridiculously laden if I don't need to be. I don't want an expensive buggy/car seat bashed to death in the hold either, but I'm also a little wary of hiring one that I don't know much about the use of. Both flights are BA.

If you are hiring car seat from big hire co they are usually fine (certainly in France). Not sure about South Africa but imagine same.

If you do take it , wrap it up - we used one of those hippo bag skip things and tied it round it.

You have two choices with buggy- put it in bag and drop it at check in. We always did this as less faff taking it through security ( we had a sling). Bag good for keeping buggy safe . Or dump bag/buggy at door of plane.

Sling necessary as most of time you won't get buggy back until luggage area. Also If baby happy you can leave it in sling.

I think you can take car seat and buggy on BA. A cot as well will probably count as additional luggage ( can't remember off hand what baby luggage allowance was for BA but wasn't much).

Took dd1 to both places before she was 1 and was fine.

Oh and by 7 months I would think buggy fine for being out and about . That said we took our buggy and sling on holiday when dd1 was 9 months. We didn't use the buggy once... (both my kids are sling monkeys)

A sling is great for longhaul flights as if baby wont settle in the cot then you can have baby sleep on you in the sling and you can actually drift of knowing that you wont drop baby.
BA have two types of cot, a lie down plastic box bassinet, or a Britax seat that reclines or sits up. Ask the crew when you get on for the one you prefer, there are usually many more seats than bassinets, but the seats are much more practical for feeding and babies seem used to a carseat type setting more than a plastic box.
I have rented carseats in S.A and they were perfectly fine but not a brand or style I had heard of and not the best quality. If you can bring your own you can bring it on board but NOT use it in flight. If I were you I would bring your pram with the carseat adaptors through the airport and if you want o bring your seatunit for the pram check it in with your luggage (wrap in binliners and label clearly with your name and flight, it will be tagged just like a suitcase but its always good to label it clearly!!)
If you have a lot of luggage that is not fragile pack your seatunit or pram full for checkin, esp if you are bringing a lot of shopping back. If you are bringing nappies etc stuff it in the pram. Prams are not weighed at checkin so is great for packing! Just use sturdy binliners and packing tape for protection and pack well!
Bring some babyblankets and muslins to line the bassinet in flight so baby feels nicely at home, and bring a small hot water bottle for yourself as I always get really cold during longhaul flights. The crew will fill it up with boiling water onboard and you will be snug as a bug. A travel pillow or two, esp if you have to hold baby, you will need to prop your arm up or it will get painful.....
Have fun, its not as bad as you think! x

We have now done 5 trips to the UK from France with BA with DS who is now 10 months.

I always take our Maxi-Cosi Cabriofix car seat with us, putting it in the hold protected by a Kiddiecare Car Seat Travel Bag. We've had no problems so far. The cost of hiring a car seat at the rental companies can be quite expensive over several days (equal to the cost of buying a new car seat expensive) and it can be worth accepting that you might get a bit of wear and tear to the seat, but the money you save by not hiring a car seat can go towards buying a new one if necessary.

We have a compact, lie-flat, suitable for new born, cheap pushchair for travel. This means DS has somewhere for naps when we are out and about. It's a Petite Star Zia. At the gate we take the wheels off and put it in the travel bag (this is a faff, so I would like one that goes in the bag without taking wheels off). Personally I like to keep the pushchair with me until the gate so that you have somewhere for baby to sleep that's not in the sling so you have a bit more freedom. I'm thinking particularly about the situation with a long flight delay. But then my DS doesn't like to sleep in the sling. A pushchair is also useful for putting coats and bags on when walking through the airport. I see on Kiddicare that the Uppababy travel bag is nearly £70. Perhaps you could buy a pushchair for only a little bit more than this that you wouldn't worry about getting bashed in the hold. Plus if it's a compact pushchair then you might be able to take it on board.

BA allow infants one checked bag, plus a car seat, plus a push chair. You don't need to pre-book these things since they come automatically with the infant ticket.

For a weekend away pre-DS we were hand-luggage only. Now it's not unusual for us to check in 5 or 6 items.

Thanks all, this is useful stuff. And I'm hoping by the time we've figured out how the baby works this will all be a little more intuitive too!

BizzeeBee - good tip about the Travel Bag. I had a look at that and wonder what you think of the size (as we've also gone for the cabriofix). Some of the reviews say its a little large and needs stuffing up with other bits and bobs, has this been a hassle with the carseat rattling around in there?

I'm quite tempted by the Uppababy travel bag. £70 is fairly dear but it gets great reviews and means the insurance is easy and covered by Uppababy in the bag should there be any issues. But I guess we see how we get on with the buggy and if a smaller collapsible one for travel could be a better investment.

I hope I have a sling monkey too, Gigondas!

Thanks for your help everyone.

Yes the travel bag is large for the seat, but I haven't found it to be a problem. I just make sure the harness is done up before putting the seat in the bag so the plastic clasp doesn't get broken.

Thanks BizzeeBee

Please keep in mind one thing about taking your own car seat abroad. You must check that it is legal to use it in the country you are travelling to. For instance, UK car seats are not legal in Australia. If you are in an accident your insurance could be invalidated so please take care.