British Airways - Babies Flight Cot??

[angel659]

Hi

I am going to Florida in November, I can not make up my mind.

It will be myself, my husband, daugter (4) and 6 month old twins. Should we book 1 extra seat to swap the twins in or book 2 sky cots. There are no age limit only weight. We are confused what to do.

Has anyone travelled on BA? What is the service like? The seats? Entertainment? Sky cots? The lady on the phone said that planes have seat back TV's even on Economy.

Hope you can help!

 

[allie5]

We flew BA last year. My son was 9 months. I booked a Sky Cot in advance and this was confirmed at Check In. However, when I boarded the plane, there had been a c*ck up with the seats, and I hadnt been allocated the bulkhead / Sky Cot. All credit to the Cabin Crew, who managed to sweet talk a guy who had the seat to give it up for me!! BA Sky Cots are different to the Virgin "Shoe Box" style I had used before, they are more like car seats, belted onto a flap that comes down from the bulk head. MUCH better idea, and my son loved it and had a nice nap. I would definately try to book a couple of these, as a small baby wont be comfortable in one of the normal seats.

Entertainment was good, several latest movies inc Jungle Book 2 for the kids. Seatback TVs in every seat. Not a great deal of room, but OK (though I was lucky with the bulkhead seat!). Service was excellent, MUCH better than Virgin. I even wrote to BA to commend the Cabin Crew after they sorted out the seating fiasco.

Have a great trip.
Allie

 

[angel659]

Hi

Thank you that has really helped. We were not sure on what to do. I will book the cot in advance and double check everything at check in. I am pleased that BA live up to the standards. Florida is not an short haul flight.

Thanks again I really appreciate at least now I definately know to go with BA and not Virgin.

Michelle

 

[Peebee]

Hi Allie. I'd previously read on the BA web site that the infant seats weren't pre-bookable, and that had put me off a little in case we didn't get one at check-in and Ryan ended up on our laps for 8 hours

Did you find this with your flight, or were BA able to confirm in advance that you had the seat allocated? I guess there are a finite number of cots and infant seats available on each flight, but I wonder how much of this availability is managed in advance.

Paul

 

[angel659]

Hi Paul,

When I phoned reservations they said that its first come first served. After you have bought your tickets you phone the reservation number and hold for other assistance rather then press any automated numbers they will reserve you a sky cot. If you wanted to check before you went that they had one you can also do that.

I am going to check with them tomorrow to see if they have any sky cots available before I book.

 

[Peebee]

Thanks Michelle - it would be great if you could post what you find out. I think BA offer both the standard "shoe box" style cots as well as the infant seats that Allie has mentioned, so I guess you will need to confirm it's the latter you are interested in.

We're still debating whether to go for BA or Virgin next year, and if I could confirm an infant seat and a sky cot in advance that would almost certainly swing the deal in BA's favour (once they get their April pricing for 2005 fixed - it's currently showing as double Virgin's fare!).

Paul

 

[BevS97]

they definitely have both the cots and the seats - I thought that you booked the child seat for a nominal fee (£35 springs to mind), in which case I would consider that it would definitely be reserved for you.

One thing to consider is that with any skycot, you have to have this HUGE table down in front of your seat - this really impinges on your space and makes it very difficult to use your seat back tv (as in the bulkhead seat they are on an arm that swings up from the floor) and also makes it hard to get in and out of your seat.
We had a shoebox style cot for Molly last December (on Virgin) and it was very uncomfortable, she actually spent most of her time on my lap as she wasn't happy in the box, and we still had the table and box taking up all out space - with hindsight we would have been more comfortable without it.

Since you are travelling with twins, it might be a nice compromise to have one seat for them to share, and to hold one baby - obviously swapping as appropriate - the skycot will be in front of 2 seats but that will leave a third seat with leg room and would mean one of you would have a watchable tv.

It's also worth noting that the skycots (neither style) are not used during takeoff, landing or turbulence, so you have to take the baby out and strap them too you - if finances permitted (and I realise it's a big expense) the ideal scenario would be to buy them seats and bring carseats on board - they have to be at least 6 months old to do that, and you have to use a forward facing carseat not a bucket style one (which is why we didn't do it for Molly last December)

sorry that this is so long - hopefully it's somewhat helpful.

Bev