No bassinet available??

[yesterdaysbread]

Hi all,

Travelling for the first time with our son who will be 5 months when we fly - long haul to Mexico stopping over in the US flying with British Airways. When we booked we were offered the cot seat on both outbound and return flights, then after booking it said our requested seats were unavailable for the outbound - however we have ‘confirmed’ the cot seats for our return journey.

I have called BA no less than 4 times trying to sort this and have got a different answer every time (I’m not able to book that seat yet, I need to speak directly to Heathrow about this…)
Spoke to one lady who said she had requested bassinet seats for our booking, was delighted but then checked online and on the seat map they are just regular seats smack bang in the middle of the middle block - not the same as the outbound seats with image of the cot in front although it will be the same plane. I called again later on to check and ended up speaking to the same lady who reassured me that this would be fine for the baby, but unfortunately her accent was a bit tricky to understand and I didn’t fully get everything she was saying.

Can anyone please advise on this? Is it possible that there is some kind of bassinet that can be fitted onto any random seat on a plane? Why would it be that I was able to book the cot seat for one flight and not the other?

Thanks so much for your help! Any other tips for managing long haul with small baby greatly received…

Well someone may have already booked it on the other flight...

Yes it is possibly the case, but they would have had to have booked it at exactly the same moment we did as it was available and the only a minute later it was not. Also if this was the reason, why wouldn’t BA just tell me that someone else had reserved it 🤔

I wouldn't get caught up about it, reality is those things are usually attached to the wall of the toilets, and the baby doesn't really sleep that much due to the curtain constantly opening and closing, the door on the toilet opening and closing, the chain flushing etc. They are only really useful when you're both trying to eat and drink at the same time in which case you'll just take it in turns to hold. Take a sling to wear your baby, or book an extra seat and use a car seat if you really need to guarantee somewhere for your son to be perched. If you're lucky enough to be in business class you will be able to share comfortably.

Experience: long haul to Australia with 6months old child, twice!

BA won't be able to attach the bassinet to a random seat. The bassinet seats are only in certain places on the aircraft. They strap onto a sort of table for safety reasons. You could ask BA to change your flights.

At 5 months your child may be too big for the bassinets as they are less roomy than other airlines. It will be cabin crew discretion I believe.

If other passengers have booked the seats then they won't be available. Mexico is popular with families with small children.

BA may amend your flights for no charge.

Not an expert by any stretch but have flown lots with both BA and other airlines with small children.

@whistleinthewind ahh, thank you so much for sharing your experience! So valuable to hear - now you’ve said that I can imagine that if I get him to sleep, I may just leave him sleeping on me anyway so indeed it may not matter whether we have one or not. Not business class unfortunately, it was my dream but just didn’t have the budget! Thanks again

@Theyweretheworstoftimes thanks so much for your tips. Interesting that he might be too big anyway! As you say, it will be cabin crew discretion so I will relax about it for now and trust that we’ll be ok. It’s not a big deal really but I find it’s so easy to fixate on something if it seems that something will make this unknown travelling easier!!

Don't want to scare you but make sure you get up and move frequently during the flight to avoid a DVT. Years ago I flew back from the USA, DS was comfortably asleep but resting on me so I didn't bother to move as I didn't want to disturb him ... I ended up with a DVT which took a few months to recover from ...

Once I planned a trip to America around a particular airline that had bassinets that went up to larger sizes on the route I wanted, as My baby was 10 months or so. I can’t quite remember the details, it was years ago, I think it was BA. On the way out, at check in they were all booked, so no cots, and on the way back, only bassinets for small babies and none of the bigger cots that
I needed on the flight!
Point is …. Best laid plans ….

Assume it will be bad, then if there is a bassinet and the baby fits then what a nice surprise it will be !

@yesterdaysbread

The more you relax the easier it is. Babies have a way of sending tension if you chill they will too.

Read as many travel with little kids blogs that you can. They are very helpful. Great tips are hidden in these.

Take spare clothes for all of your my kid projectile vomited on landing on one flight also plastic bags for any wet clothes!

Have many baby wipes to hand.

Aircraft toilets are teeny so nappy changes are not the greatest experience.

Ask the crew to serve the meals to you and travel companion separately makes it far easier. If you travel alone, the crew may help you out so you can eat.

Umbrella pushchairs are great for flying with and if you can pick up a buggy bag the ground staff will think it's golf clubs and it won't get trashed. Silver cross do a good bag.

If there are no seats that you want ask the check in desk to bump you to a later flight. I have asked to be bumped a few times and it's been a better experience if the flight is quieter. I've also been given vouchers for food and drink. If they can accommodate you they usually will try too.

I hope that helps and good luck.

long haul to Mexico stopping over in the US flying with British Airways.

That looks like four sectors with two different airlines (I suspect the US/Mexico bit will be with perhaps American Airlines) so I wonder if that’s the reason why there’s some difficulty guaranteeing bassinets, codeshares aren’t as seamless as they are supposed to be.

As others have said at BA bassinets/the supports are provided at the bulkheads.