Flying with a one year old on lap?

[madwoman37573]

DD will have just turned one and it will be a 7 hour flight. It's with Emirates and we have booked her a bassinet which weight limit wise she should still fit (under 11kg). Both me and DH will be taking turns but hoping she will sleep in the bassinet aswell.
Am I being too optimistic?

If you have the bassinet you should be fine. I flew with my twins at 1 year old. One had the bassinet and the other a car seat. Just be warned that you can't use the bassinet when the seatbelt sign is on so if it's bumpy be prepared to have her on your lap. For 7 hours you'll be fine and you'll also have the extra space being by the bulkhead so no one will recline into you.

I'd recommend taking a large, soft pillow with you - I ended up with my 18mo on my lap for a long flight (she didn't like the bassinet...) and a big pillow made it sooo much easier.

Hi madwoman can i ask how you book the bassinet? Did you have to ring up Emirates?

Be prepared that she might be too long and not fit, just did a 9.5 flight with my almost 10 month who didn’t fit in the bassinet. It was awful. Yes I got vommed on. Definitely take a change of clothes. (sorry)

Thanks everyone hadn't thought about whether she might be travel sick oh dear Pillow and change of clothes very good idea I hadn't thought of either.
Yes @ReturnofSaturn as soon as we booked the flights we just rang emirates up. We did book the flights quite a while ago as I know the bassinets are on a first come basis.

Yes definitely take a sling if you have one 1) helps with naps and 2) very helpful for the bit between the plane and baggage reclaim (where you get your buggy back) which is often a long walk.

Mine used to go to sleep the minute the plane had reached cruising height and woke up several hours later, whatever time we were flying - hope yours does too, it made it very easy. No such luck nowadays =)

I was very proud of myself, having taught DD to stand holding a wall whilst I changed her nappy...then she weed all over her trousers and we were only at Heathrow! Definitely team up with another parent if you can.

Another flight the passenger next to me knocked their glass of orange juice over me.

Pack bin liners and a lightweight change of clothing for everybody.

DD refused to sleep in her bassinet (and we were off to Oz) she just sat in it and waved at people in the rows behind, but it made a useful storage area. Get reins for the airport if your DC is an enthusiastic crawler/walker. I used a hip seat a lot (airlines seem to vary about when/where you hand over a pushchair).

There was a former air hostess that had a really useful blog about all this...that was 9 years ago, though.

We're doing 5 hours with a will be 20 month old on lap. It's a night flight and he is a tummy only sleeper so I've been panicking a bit but think I'll take a pillow and hopefully he will sleep.

I've done 5 hours with a 4 month old which was easy, and 10 hours with a 23 month old alone, and that one was the easiest as there was a spare seat both legs and they slept most of the journey. I'm kind of panicking about not having a seat this time but I've priced it up and it's unaffordable. I'm flying with Thomas cook who don't see to have bassinets after much googling.

I think this must be the updated version of the blog (best to skim-read)
flyingwithchildren.blogspot.co.uk/

I've only flown Thomas Cook once and, thinking back, there did seem to be young children amongst the standard seats. Atticuss I would set my alarm for the time that online check-in opens to ensure you all sit together (or pay extra and choose seats).