Is PE worth it? Flight with 17m

[DreamingofSunshine]

I need to fly with my 17m old this winter on an 8-9 hour flight for a big family event.

I can't decide whether it's worth paying for PE and the extra space, or fly in economy and accept the journey won't be much fun.

It's British Airways PE, other choices are Virgin economy (route doesn't have their PE) or possibly Thomas Cook and I think they offer a premium section? Business/upper class are out of reach price wise.

Have you considered paying for a seat for your child? Or are you already?

BA PE isn’t worth it, not when flying with baby, what you’ll get on bassinette seat in economy room wise will be no difference in PE (I.e you’ll get bulkhead) I think I’m right in saying BA PE seat oitch is longer not wider than E.
Also in PE far fewer bassinette seats (often only 1) so if it’s busy and there are kids younger than yours they’ll get these first (they tend to prioritise by age).
Now if you were flying virgin I’d say absolutely donit their PE is so much better!

dragon I did think about that but I need to look at the cost.

Fruitbat DS is already 11kg at 11m so I think he's too big for the bassinet?

If you fly with BA with a baby sharing your seat, you can reserve your seats as soon as you book for all your party all for free. So you can choose a basinette seat if you want, or any other seats. I have just done this for the eight of us and baby grandson.

Buying another seat is the way forward. Having mine on my lap with no escape was just awful (sorry)

Can you book a child's seat online, selecting the 2-11 age then just enter in the age of a younger child?

So with BA you get to pre select your seats in advance with a lap infant at the time of booking. So you can pick any seat you like including the bassinet seat. Yes the bassinets themselves are usually given to the youngest when there are several babies on board but that’s likely irrelevant as unless your 11 month old is tiny, there’s no way he’ll fit in one. BA premium eco is shite, I wouldn’t pay extra for it. I’d go Virgin economy and pay for an extra seat instead. And investigate the possibility of taking DC’s car seat on board.

Call the airline if you want to book a seat for an under 2 year old, I don’t think you can usually do it online

Do you have any airmiles (or avios with anything)? Upgrade to Business from PE is cheap (pay additional taxes if using miles) and usually easy to get as they oversell PE. You do take a slight risk that it's not available but if on a main ish route very likely to be at some stage. The number of avios is easy to find - if you go on BA avios calculator and work out the number of avios each for PE and business, it's the difference between.

I do this a lot on the way home from New York - usually availability and cash cost £40. Also the cash cost of upgrade can be as little as £300 as the cabin is full.

I frequently do both economy and PE and the other thing about PE is the staff ratio and service is so much better. And the seats are wider. Might appreciate that with a baby as the main benefit of economy (empty seats next to you that you can lie down on for a bed) is unlikely to be available or of use on the bulkhead.