Questions about best airline to fly with young kids to Florida & car seats on plane

[vickypd83]

Hi, I'm after some advice and opinions on the best airline to fly long haul to Orlando from London with 2 dc's when they will be aged 5 years and 22 months. We will buy a separate seat for the 22 month old. Is there any discernible difference in the experience between Virgin & British Airways when travelling with small children? In the booking, at airport or on the flight itself? Cost is a factor (& it'll definitely be economy flights!) but not the deciding one as we would definitely pay more to make the journey and flight that bit less stressful/more enjoyable!

I'm also confused about necessity/advantage of taking a car seat for the 20 month old to sit in on the plane, can anyone comment on this?
Thanks for any help!

Regarding car seats, as far as I am aware, 2 year olds can only have their own seat on a plane if a car seat is used.

If a car seat is not used, they must be strapped in using an extra lap belt on a parents knee during times when the seatbelt sign is on.

I think they can sit in an empty seat during other times when the seatbelt sign is off, but for example turbulence could mean quite lengthy periods of not being able to move off your knee. Also, if you want to eat/drink/read a book or whatever, there isn't much room if a toddler is fidgeting on your lap.

If they want to sleep then it's easy to put them in the car seat and strap them in properly then if the seat belt sign goes on they can stay there undisturbed. If they dosed off in an empty seat or on your lap, you would have to disturb them and strap them in appropriately.

For a long haul flight I wouldn't go without one.

That's under 2 year olds *

I would not take a car seat for use on the aircraft because it will in all likelihood not fit the aircraft seat. Also you will have to take this all the way through the airport and such things are heavy to carry.

This is what BA say about seating:-

www.britishairways.com/en-gb/information/family-travel/seating?clickpage=information-en--family-travel--index&kmtag=c&ban=||HC|1x3|LNK1|||||||||L2|||||||

We've just flown with our 14 month old and bought her a seat. You can hire a cares harness from eBay, they are FAA approved (the only harness that is) and can be used during take off and landing etc.

Dd hated hers but hates being strapped in, in general to anything. You can use a car seat but again check that it meets the requirements for flying. I think the Britax Romer Eclipse does, you can also get handy trolleys for them to clip into now so you can wheel them along. I did see someone wheeling their child through the airport with the car seat strapped to this trolley thing

Thank you for the replies, I had seen the BA info but as dc weighs more than 12.5kg the seat isn't an option and the rear facing car seat we use at the moment wouldn't comply so wanted to find out our options. I will look up the cares harness thanks for the recommendation - but like yours my child hates having long periods strapped into anything at the best of times!!

Hi op, not sure if info too late for you, but have flown on both Virgin and BA with small children to Orlando. In our personal experience i would probably choose BA, but only just. Both are very good with children, you get to board first with young children (though this isn't always a good thing!), and all the flight attendants are lovely, i remember one taking our DS who was 14 months off round the plane to keep him entertained. Both airlines do activity packs for kids, though obviously you'll have a ton of your own stuff . The last time we flew Virgin we thought the plane needed attention, it was a bit 'tired'. But both airlines are overall good. We go again next year, enjoy!

My only concern with BA is that they do go on strike intermittently. Other than that, I would go with the cheapest.
Would not take car seat on plane, baby probably won't sit in it and it's unlikely to fit in the overhead locker.