Flying Aus - UK w/ newborn baby - airlines/experiences?

Hi all,

DH and I will be flying one way to England when our baby is 6 - 8 weeks old and we're starting to look into buying our tickets etc.

I've heard such mixed things about airlines and I'm SO confused! The cheapest ticket we can find (and money is a big issue for us seeing as we're moving to the UK so shipping over a houseful of stuff which = expensive!) is with Malaysia Airlines but I'm hearing really mixed things about them when it comes to flying with babies. Things like people booking bassinetts and then showing up to check in only to find that they've got no bassinett and the parents have been separated. That said, I've heard the same about Qantas repeatedly too. Regardless, I know damn well I couldn't cope with that. I'm not a good flyer at the best of times! I hate it and so my usual tactic for making it through a flight in one piece is to knock myself out on something that will make me sleep and wake up at the other end... can't do that this time even IF DH is next to me! :)

I would love to hear from anyone that has travelled overseas with a very young baby. What airline did you fly with and how did you find them? Were they able to meet your requests? (ie provide an airline bassinett and seat you and your DH/DP together?). Were you allowed to take your pram right up to the boarding gate or did you have to hand it over upon check in? If so, were you able to get a 'loaner' or did you have to carry bubs plus everything else the whole way? How were the nappy changing facilities on the plane?

So many questions! lol

Seriously though, anything anyone could tell me in relation to this sort of thing - and anything else I might not have thought of - would be really useful. Most likely we'll be flying out of Brisbane and we plan to have a two night stop over as a mini holiday on the way before we have to move in with the in-laws for a month or two!

I'm not too worried about the move or the flight itself, I'm just anxious about finding a flight we can afford that will provide us with a good service with a baby.

Thanks in advance!

I am heading over to the UK in a couple of weeks and we have booked with Emirates because I hear good things about them. Etihad are also very good (have friends who have travelled with them and got excellent service - one of the air stewardesses took their baby for 2 hours so they could have a sleep!!!!!!!).

There is also Singapore airlines who are excellent but they can be slightly more expensive. Are you just booking one way tickets?

We fly long haul a lot (being from the UK) and I have to say that Emirates and Singapore are my favourites. Although this will be the first time I have travelled long haul with little one, I don't recall ever being on a flight where I've heard babies crying or anything like that which suggests to me how well they are looked after on the flights (does that make sense?).

I hope you get something that suits you!
Sue xxxx

ps, sorry I wasn't able to answer some of your other questions, I too would like to hear the experiences of others! x

hi Yarrawin, I have flown between Melbourne & UK a few times with my girls (I think we've been on 20 planes so far since DD1 was born!!) Flying before they're 6 mths old is the easiest time i've found (before the mess of solids).

My first point would be - are you Australian or British? I ask because I would make sure all your paperwork is in order for your baby to fly before you book a ticket. I have found it can take up to 2 weeks to get a birth certificate from VIC registry and then (as i'm British) between 4 weeks (just last month) and 10 weeks (18 months ago) for the British Passport to arrive. The experience in 2008 was extremely stressful as the passport arrived only 36 hrs before we were due to travel and then i had to rush to get a visa stamp. British passports are now made in NZ rather than Australia (streamlining or cost cutting).

if you are Australian, i think the passports only take a couple of weeks to arrive?

So your questions:

What airline did you fly with and how did you find them? Malaysian - very pleasant. Etihad - cheaper and ok. Quick transit time. Emirates - ok - but bassinette fell off the wall WITH MY BABY IN IT!! This was the stewardess's error as she didn't clip it properly. Despite weeks of chasing up and emails, we got nowhere with our complaint. my baby was ok as i caught the bassinette before she fell to the ground but it could have been awful. Qantas- treat families poorly. I was on a flight with 6 babies and no bassinettes were in use because the FREQUENT FLYERS WERE SAT IN THOSE SEATS!! I will never travel with Qantas again on principle. The crew refused to even ask the passengers if they would move for a baby. i didn't mind for us, but was upset for the very new parents i saw with a 4 week old.

Generally i would say after all our flights, it is more to do with my preparation for the flight than the airline - they are all pretty much the same.

Were they able to meet your requests? (ie provide an airline bassinett and seat you and your DH/DP together?) yes. Despite saying nothing is guaranteed before the flight leaves, if you get there at least 3 hrs before departure and check in early, we have not had a problem.

Were you allowed to take your pram right up to the boarding gate or did you have to hand it over upon check in? yes, we bought a very cheap stroller just for this purpose. Bigger prams (e.g. p&t) have to be handed in. Have taken it right up to the boarding gate and got it when hopped off the plane. i would recommend a sling though if you are a sling wearer. 6-8 week babies generally don't want to be put down and love being held - i found my Hug a bub a godsend both for the flight and in transit. If you go with Emirates, they have 'loaner' prams in Dubai. As far as i know no other airport does this.

How were the nappy changing facilities on the plane? I generally change babies nappies on the floor by my feet in the bassinette aisle - there's enough room to do so and more room to move than in the toilet. There are generally 2 change tables available on the long haul flights which flip down over the toilet and you'll be fine with a wee bub. I only started having trouble with space when my child was 12 mths old.

Regarding your mini holiday - sounds like a nice idea, however we have only done it once and won't do it again. We were doing it on the way back to Australia though after a trip in the UK - we had 2 nights in Langkawi (1 hr from KL) and it was stressful on the children with sleep, food all being out of sync and we just wanted to get back. However with a 2 month old, your baby will be feeding all round the clock in all likelyhood, so it won't make as much of a difference i suspect. apart from your own body clock. I would think about where you are going and access to nappies - you don't want to have to hunt around for a shop that sells ok nappies if you're only there for a couple of days.

Re: MummaSue's comment about babies crying - i've found the drone of the engines generally calms babies!! A good tip is to give your baby something to suck on ascent & descent - breastfeeding is ideal - so their ears dont' hurt. I have always popped a boob in whether my baby was asleep or awake and they will suck all the way up/down. Once she didnt' suck but i figured she was in such a deep sleep she was relaxed enough and it didn't make a difference. I felt sorry for the toddlers though who weren't feeding and their little ears would hurt and they couldn't express themselves.

My approach has generally been, mentally prepare for every worst case scenario. What will you do if you have a chucky baby? ans: take a couple of change of clothes for yourself for the flight and a few for your baby! What will you do if you have an explosive nappy? (happened to me within 1 hr of leaving Melbourne first time with DD1 and no, i didn't have a change of clothes.....had to wear yucky poo covered top for next 24 hrs).

It's a good idea for one of you to order a 'special meal' e.g. vegetarian, low salt, whatever (there are around 80 options!!) as these get given out first. Then one of you tcan eat and the other can hold the baby and then swap. I often find it can take up to 45 mins for them to clear the trays though so be bold and ask them to move the trays away or take them to the galley yourself. You will need the room for your baby.

Keep hydrated. Especially if you are breastfeeding. Flying is stressful on the body and your baby will generally demand more frequent feeds for up to 3 or so days once the trip is over to make up for a) change in time zone and b) the demands of the flight.

I personally love long haul over short haul - your baby will have long enough to get a few decent sleeps in and feed properly rather than be hopping on & off at just the wrong moments!

It will be very cold when you land in the UK (I suspect jan?) so make sure you have enough warm clothing for bubs. It can be a shock getting off the plane! I have found all airlines to be accommodating in terms of the hand luggage i have - heaps of nappies, warm clothes etc.

Best of luck with the birth of your baby girl and good luck for the move to the UK! Ask away if more questions come to mind!!

HTH xx

I flew Malaysian airlines with dd4 when she was five months old, by myself. NEVER AGAIN. LOL. She was a difficult baby, though, cried a lot and wouldn't comfort suck.

The airline was great, the staff were very helpful, but I found that it was very disruptive to have her in the bassinette and settled only to be told I had to put her on my lap again when there was turbulence and the seatbelt sign was on. (How it was any safer to have her just in a little lap belt than velcro-ed into the bassinette was beyond me, but, oh well.)

At one point on the way back, they let me sit in business class for a while, probably to give the people in cattle class a break! Staff were great at holding her when I needed a toilet break.

I found it very helpful to check my stroller at the gate rather than through luggage, so that I didn't have to carry her. If I ever had to fly with a baby again I'd probably take a sling.

Another thing - it was hysterically funny trying to get a passport picture of her that would meet requirements. In the one that was accepted she looks like she's just been told she's going to be dropped from the plane at 30,000 feet.

Thank you everyone! There have been some really fantastic comments and some really useful information.

Roya - Thank you for your huge post, there's a lot of great info in there that has given us some stuff to think about. I seriously hope I don't have a chucky baby because I have THE biggest spew phobia ever, some mum I'm gonna be! And yes, I have even freaked over regurged breast milk, but admittedly not my own child. I hadn't thought of that though so I will def make sure we have clothes etc.

My husband is English and I have dual citizenship and lived there for several years so at least we know what we're getting into! I think we're planning to just get her Aussie passport and get her UK one when we get there since we'll be living there (yes, one way flights) but obviously I need to make a few phone calls and figure out the logistics of that given that we cant wait any longer to leave (major family reasons) and I will have to go into the UK on my British passport so not through the Aussie line etc.

We'll definitely still do the stopover - if we were doing UK to Australia we wouldn't because we'd be shattered with the jetlag but given its only a couple of hours time difference i think we should be alright, plus DH REALLY needs the downtime before it gets all full on again (long story).

Think my next purchase will be a sling! :)