should i buy a seat for DD or put her on my knee.....1st ever flight with child

[hummingbird123]

I will be flying to spain with 16 mo old DD, good as gold but now walking she does not like to sit still for ONE minute, let alone 1.5 hours, food and books will only work for so long....
I have noticed in Argos they have \link{http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3752908.htm\this new and VERY cheap car seat.....} and i am wondering whether to buy it alongside booking her a seat...bingo she will just sit strapped in all the way as though in a car.....

Half of me wants to buy it, and the other half of me says its just one more thing to carry, one more thing to buy and my parents keep saying why not let her travel like most other babies do (on parents knees....) but i just think this could be disastrous....and me and dh want to do it the easiest way possible.....

any advice please xx

Nahhhh, don't buy it. You will have to lug it round the airports, on the transfers and in the hotel. It will be a faff and you will grow to hate it before you get off the plane

My wise words of advice on flying with little kids: The flight is tedious and hard, don't give yourself one more thing to worry abut. She will be up and down and wanting to run round and you can hold her hand and let her. It's what the rest of the world does.

you will still have to have her on your knee for take off and landing. That car seat won't be accepted I wouldn't think as it doesn't have a 5 point harness. Check with the airline you will be flying with. Most have guidelines.

long haul I'd book an extra seat, but not for spain to be honest. What worked for us was food - a tupperware full of dry cornflakes was a big hit. And walking up and down the aisle holding hands saying hiya - mortifying but yes it has to be done

Agree it is unlikely it would be deemed suitable (although we have used a booster cushion on a plane when we carried it aboard as hand luggage but it didn't really fit in the airline seat) as most would insist it is of a particlaur width and is designed to be restrained securely by just a lap belt as in a car and have an integral harness. If you buy her a seat on the plane she can be belted in anyway with the proper lap belt.

Like Yorkie girl said some airlines don't allow this.

You could get one of these instead
\link{http://www.excite.co.uk/search/web/detail?_f=%2Fsearch%2Fweb%2Fresults%3Fq%3Dflight%2Bvest%26offset%3D0%26o%3D%26c%3Duk%26qs%3D2066&_t=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.familiesonline.co.uk%2Farticle%2Fstatic%2F312%2F&_q=flight+vest\flight vest} . Ihave seen several avaliable on e-bay.

Hmm, I think under 2's have to sit on your lap don't they? Ds3 will be 21 months when we go away and I know we didn't have the option of booking him a seat.

gdg you can book them a seat, but the cabin crew may insist on your having the child on your lap for take off and landing anyway.

Whenever we have taken dd1, when she was under 2 she had to sit on my knee. We were always lucky enought o get a spare seat anyway so she was fine. That was short flights of about an hour.

What about sweets and a jigsaws and stuff hse can do on the tray?

WE travelled extensively through Europe with 2 toodlers, and I wouldn't bother to buy the seat. Just wait until the plane starts moving (or as late as the often NAZI-like air crew will let you) to strap her into the extension belt (they will make you use it for take off and landing anyway because she is under 2), let her play with the emergency procedure card (makes a great noise), pull off the head rest covers, and play peek-a-boo with the surrounding passengers, while she has to be seated, then let her play on the floor, look out the window, walk the aisle, whatever during the middle of the flight. Agree with the have lots of food and drink available readily (ie not in the overhead locker but in the seat pocket) to distract her if she gets cross or gets pressure build up in the ears during take off and landing. It's only a short flight and you probably find that it goes really fast.

A child under 2 can have their own seat but must be on your lap for takeoff/landing/during turbulence. The great thing about the flight vest is the child wears it and it has a loop on the back that the airline seat belt goes through. In this was they aren't totally restricted from moving as they would be with a conventional seat belt but can be contained in their chair. Plus if they fall asleep they won't roll off their seat onto the floor.

Oh Ok, didn't realise

You didn't mention who you're flying with, but if it's one that doesn't do seat allocations, make sure you get there early enough to be pre-boarded and put dd in the seat next to you while everyone else gets on. Often people will see a small child and walk by!!! And then if there's spare seats on the plane you'll have the seat without having paid for it, so that once you're in the air you can have a bit more space. If it's an airline that does do check in, sometime they'll block off the seat next to you if there's spare seats on the plane but you have to ask at check in if they can do that. I hope you have a great trip.

I strongly suspect that Argos seat is supposed to be used with a 3-point belt not a lap belt. When we flew to Malaysia with ds we booked him a seat and strapped him in his Maxi Cosi Priori and he was fine in that for take off, landing and turbulance too (that was with Singapore Airlines), but that was a 13 hour flight. When we go to Dublin (45 mins) we just put him on our laps and we try to book the flight to coincide with his nap time.

Does your dd tend to nod off in the car? You might find that the motion of the plane soothes her. Ds is very wriggly while we are on the ground but once the engines start he usually goes quiet and then falls asleep.

We did a short flight recently to Switzerland with DS on our laps (now 23 months), he's v. wiggly and big, and we had a nightmare in December going to Germany... screaming and tantrum all the way there, although angel on the way back.. We found it was all to do with sleep - if he's had a nap, the flight is fine, if not, it's a disaster. So make sure your DS has had a sleep before you board! Also, lots of food, books, anything that'll keep her amused - maybe new toys? Also, (hope this isn't contraversial) a dose of Medised half an hour to an hour before the flight does wonders...
And def put her on the spare seat next to you when you get on (only if no allocation). Looks even better if you can strap her into the normal seat belt while everyone else gets on! - great tip, we got a seat both ways to Switzerland by doing this, and I think it was the only spare seat on the plane.. Crafty.

am ex cabin crew and an expert on car seats! check in always say to passengers they are ok for them to be then taken of passengers by the crew as they cannot be secured to the seat by the lapbelt. the maxi cosi one is ok and there are a couple of britax ones but the seat has to have a gap under neath seat and mostof them are solid. it also has to have a 5 point harness.

best thing is to do what everyone suggests and hope for empty seat next to you and just have child strapped on your knee for take off and landing best place to sit for this in my experience is by the window so they can see out.

Hadnt even considered seat allocations we are flying with easyjet?!

That'll be a free for all then , but with under5's you can usually board first (and kind of earmark an adjacent spare seat and hope noone decides to sit near you !)

Ours was easyjet - no allocation, and they should let you board first with a small child. Make sure they do, so go to the front at the gate. We nearly lost our chance as they don't always call you up, but sometimes rely on you to go forward.