Do I need a bassinet seat?

[Helgathehairy]

Flying to NY in 7 weeks. DD will be 9 months.

Should I request a bassinet seat? Not really certain what they are to be honest. Am travelling with DH and PIL so plenty of laps to hold her.

No you don't need one. I hate the bulkhead. Not least because it's next to the toilets.

Basically they sort of screw a box/cot to the wall of the bulkhead and the baby can sleep. The advantage is that it's somewhere to put the baby but it's not that long a flight to NY and you will definitely be fine without it.

I would request one and you don't have to put baby in if you don't want to. It's not a massively long flight but, if LO is sleeping it will be so nice to have somewhere to put them. Being at the front of the section means you have more room at your feet, which I prefer. If LO is happy in their bassinet you also have your hands free to eat (a luxury when travelling with a 9 month old!). I've seen two types of bassinet - the type that look like a low sided box and the type that kind of look like a flat capsule carseat with straps - think the latter was on Virgin. I found hanging a really large muslin up on the aisle side gave baby a bit of privacy from everyone walking/queuing in the aisle.

The chances of her sleeping in it are slim to none but it would be handy to have somewhere to put her down. Extra leg room wouldn't be a bad thing either.

She's a nosy little thing so seeing people walking to/from the loo might actually keep her distracted for a bit!

Will have a think.

Who are you flying with?.

She will likely not fit in a bassinet now; they are mainly for newborns and very young babies. If your child does not have a seat, the crew will give you an extender belt for you both to use for both take off and landing.

I would certainly consider a seat for the flight back to the UK as these are usually overnight flights arriving into the UK early the following morning.

Definitely request one, as she might still get some use out of it. And the extra legroom plus somewhere for her to sit plus being served first during dinner is very useful. But she might be too big or too wriggly. Our twins slept in the bassinets at 7 months, were a bit too wriggly but sort of slept in them at 8 months, but when we next flew again at 11 months they couldn't go in them at all as they kept trying to climb out.

If you are on BA, definitely request a bassinet position seat, and then when you are on board you can request a special toddler seat which fits into the bassinet fixings (it's like a big baby bouncer for kids up to 12.5kg).

Check with the airline what the height/weight limits are for bassinets - my DCs had outgrown them well before six months on the airline we used most often.

If you have several adults to pass her between, you will probably be fine. I flew a lot with 2 DCs as the lone adult and booked them their own seats once they had outgrown the bassinets.

We're flying aer Lingus in/from Ireland. (We live in Ireland)

Major plus point is we go through immigration here rather than in the US.

I would think that 9 months is too big for a bassinet.

The disadvantage of the bulkhead seats is that the arm rests don't move. We found that if we lifted the arm rest up and put a cushion/folded blanket down, dc could sit between us, lie across our laps, etc.

The advantage is the foot room, dcs sat on the floor and played. BUT ds always tried to crawl away!

Unless the flight is very crowded, we found the stewards quickly did some moving so that any spare seat was next to us, which was great.

We had one when flying to Australia with dd1 who was then 10 months. She was too big and nosey to sleep in it but it was handy as a store for some of the huge amount of stuff we took. I are preferred to be next to the loo as we could see when it was free which was handy for nappy changes. Enjoy your trip!

I would, if you don't use it it will give you somewhere to put all her things during the flight. My DD loved sitting watching people in hers at that age, it gave me a change to stretch my legs and not have her sitting on me when she was eating.

I would, if you don't use it it will give you somewhere to put all her things during the flight. My DD loved sitting watching people in hers at that age, it gave me a change to stretch my legs and not have her sitting on me when she was eating.

For those saying dc can sit in it and eat/watch what is going on, they have a weight limit, and it isn't very high.
Love the idea of the BA toddler seat, that would have been useful

Might call Aer Lingus and ask about weight/size limits. DD is pretty big (length and weight wise).

You can also check the plane out on seatguru.com to see if the bassinet seats are in a good row.

On some airlines, none of the armrests come down anyway so it might not be much of a disadvantage to the bassinet row.

If your carseat is IATA approved you can also take that on board (if you buy a plane seat for DD) which makes life a lot easier as babies are generally a lot more content and restful in a car seat.

The Air Lingus weight limit is 22lb. We used a bassinet with them to New York