Australia with 18 month old

[ANM07]

Hoping to go to Australia with my husband and my daughter who will be 18 months by then. She will be still eligible to sit on my lap but wondering if anyone has done this trip with a toddler and whether the recommendation would be to buy 3 economy seats so she has her own or whether we would be better to save up and buy 2 business class seats and have her on lap?

Not looking forward to going all that way with her so would be open to any advice!! Thanks

I have done it many times with my children aged from newborn up to now....aged 9 and 5 and I would never plan such a trip without a seat for the child. It's grueling and there's very little room in those seats.

Get 3 economy....you'll all be together....

I've done the journey twice with small children.

I'd also recommend getting her her own seat. 3 seats in economy mean you should be able to get her to lie down on her seat with her legs on one of you (or similar).

Having her on your lap for all that time would be horrific.

I would recommend avoiding the bulkhead seats (where you can have a bassinet) as the armrests don't go up (the tv screen is stored there as there isn't one in front) so little ones can't lie down.

Thank you that's a great help!

I did the trip to Australia with 20 month old DD on my lap. We had a bulk head seat and a bassinet (on some of the flights, cabin crew on one flight refused cos she was too big). It was a squash in the bassinet, but she was under the weight limit and happy to go in there.

However, if you can afford it, get an extra seat. The final flight home from Dubai to Birmingham was v quiet, so we had a seat for DD. Made it slightly easier. But whatever you do, be prepared for it to be pretty horrific. Take lollipops for takeoff and landing, plenty of books / toys / snacks. I found sticker books and the iPad were the best things. She was a bit too young to manage the headsets on the in flight entertainment, so an iPad loaded up with episodes on in the night garden was a better option.

Having said all that, we had a juice spillage on the final flight which I mopped up with baby wipes and DD then spend a happy hour wandering along the aisle with a wipe cleaning the plane! So the entertainment can come from unlikely sources!