Flying with baby on Virgin

[janeyb]

We're taking our 16 month old daughter out to AKL in January, flying with Virgin.
Does anyone know how helpful they are onboard the flight with young children? i.e milk on request, meals etc?
I guess she'll be too old to order a skycot and with me being pregnant, it all falls on DH to have her sleep on his lap!! any tips on making the journey more comfortable flying with a little one?

 

[angel659]

Hi

We travelled with our 23 month twin boys and our 5 yr old girl. The staff were really helpful. Luckily on the way out we had a spare seat next to us, so my daugter was able to have a seat to stretch out in.

Being in January the flight may not be full. When you board ask the cabin crew if there any rows you could swap with where you may be able to use a spare seat. Check in they may not be able to gaurentee your isle will have any spare seats. I would see what the cabin crew could offer you.

They will bring your dinner to you individually if you wanted to eat first and then ask them to bring out the other. I am not sure if they will warm your milk I didnt ask, but some places wont incase they over heat it and it scalds the baby mouth. They may give you hot water to place it in like some other resturants do.

I can only suggest using a spare seat for lo to sleep in other than the only other way is to see if you can request bulk head seats, which they normally reserve for children under 12 months? They were tiny when I passed one.

Hope this helps.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Our son was 10 months when we first took him.

The staff were really helpful, they warmed up our bottles of milk in a jug with hot water. We had to wait until the temperature was right though.
If there are some small comfort toys you could take perhaps, this will help.

We coped fairly well and generally find that in these situations the babies tend to do too.

The only thing I would say, cannot remember how old Joshua was on his second time there (and this may be of little help) is that it would be a massive advantage to pay for an extra seat, you just have that extra room.
Although has Angel says, you stand a pretty good chance of getting one anyway and with a young child you should get a bulkhead seat also which will give you extra leg-room.

At the end of the day it is a long flight and you I am sure will cope very well and just get on with it, good luck you will be just fine.

 

[Celestine]

WE flew in Oct. when DD was 4 months old. THe staff could not do enough for us. Milk is reheated the old fashioned way & it is your responsibilty. DD was even given a baby meal of 2 jars of baby food, although I'm sure you'll want a child's meal rather than a baby meal. The sky cot is for us up to 18lb I think, but I wouldn't put DD in one once she could push up as the sides aren't that deep. They do a chair I think, a bit like a bouncer, but as your child is older I doubt this would be useful. When we've travelled in January, there have been extra seats. Take lots of familiar things, or maybe wrap up a few new toys to give throughout the journey, and print of some colouring pictures of favorite Disney characters. You may be lucky & have one of those children that just fall asleep with the white noise!

 

[SammieG]

I would thoroughly recommend getting your daughter her own seat - 9 hours on someones lap is not fun..

Actually at that age, it might be worth taking a car seat with you to strap her in. You could ask Virgin what they do. On BA you can have a skyseat until aged 2 I think. My son sat very happily in his sky seat.
But we ordered him a seat too.. just to give us more space.
In terms of meals and milk.. I would take your own stuff - we used to take cups of milk on the plane in a cool bag and we ordered a kids meal, but took lots of little snacks with us too.. (things that took a LONG time to eat, like a box of raisins, packs of cheerios etc.

 

[SEVANS2208]

Our youngest was 10 months when we first took her and although we had bulkhead seats, she was too big for the sky cot. She slept most of the way so holding her wasn't a problem but I think had she been any older (or bigger!) I would have much preferred her having her own seat.

As for milk - we took the ready made cartons and she had those at room temperature but I'm sure they could have been warmed if we'd asked. Virgin supplied the jars of baby food.

We were also able to take the buggy right up to the boarding gate which was a great help.

 

[edenlee]

Not wishing to put a damper on your holiday but are you aware of the latest research which states that children under who fly (especially long haul) are more likely to be affected by SIDS than children who don'e (SIDS - sudden infant death syndrome)

We did nto take our DD on a plane until she was 4.

 

[vicky1bfc]

edenlee. I would like to know where you got that infomation from.How many thousand of people take their baby on a flight.Talk about trying to scare someone.

I don't think Jane or anyone else needed your information.

 

[Young Pooh]

We are flying with Virgin in May and DD wil be 19 mths. There is no way we could cope with her on our knee so we have paid for a seperate seat for her. Virgin are also supplying what they call a "Child Care Seat" - it seems it is like a car seat as she would be too small for the standard lap belt etc.

I know when we looked into this, Virgin were about the only airline that supplied one. Everyone else suggested that you should carry your own car seat with you.


Sue

 

[FizzyPop]

edenlee. I would like to know where you got that infomation from.How many thousand of people take their baby on a flight.Talk about trying to scare someone.

I don't think Jane or anyone else needed your information.

I agree vicky....Ive never heard of this before.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I agree vicky....Ive never heard of this before.

There IS a SIDS website, however, I fully agree with Vicky and FizzyPop and do not feel it is relevant here.

I would have no worries about taking a baby on a longflight.

My son is Autistic and enjoys wonderful holidays in Florida each year.
To be blunt I think we should stick to the subject here with all due respect to Janey's original question.

 

[FizzyPop]

How does your son cope on the flight as he is getting older Johnny? I have a special needs child and Im finding as she gets older she needs more reassurance on the flight.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

How does your son cope on the flight as he is getting older Johnny? I have a special needs child and Im finding as she gets older she needs more reassurance on the flight.

Definitely needs more reassurance yes, to be honest it's difficult to be totally sure.
As much as Joshua is very active and mobile, he cannot talk - although he makes sounds and communicates in many other ways..so it's sort of frustrating because he cannot tell us what he is feeling (so to speak).

Although he loves it in Orlando, the flight is tiring and like most people we just want to get there asap. We take a portable DVD player with us for him which we only bought last year, I am not sure how we ever managed without it.
As well as some of his favourite small toys, cars/playmobile characters/books etc plus some of his favourite snacks/sandwiches , and anything that we feel may comfort him..but the DVD player is just priceless for us.

We are proud of the way he handles the flight(s), as they are very tiring/long days - we are also upgrading to Premium Economy on the return flight with Virgin just so that he can get some comfortable sleep.

 

[FizzyPop]

I thought it was just me. I might have to try a DVD player for her as she has a very short attention span 5 minutes max on anything. But I think its worth it just seeing there faces when they get there Its priceless Good tip about the Premium Ecomony for the return journey I never thought of that.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I thought it was just me. I might have to try a DVD player for her as she has a very short attention span 5 minutes max on anything. But I think its worth it just seeing there faces when they get there Its priceless Good tip about the Premium Ecomony for the return journey I never thought of that.

Joshua loves his TV, we actually take loads of US format videos and DVDs with us for when we are relaxing at the villa...PE is I believe worth the extra money, especially for the flight home. It just gets a bit out of hand if you upgrade both ways as we are paying £849 fly-drive anyway next August!

I agree seeing there faces, Josh loves it in the car and always gets excited when we drive off to Universal or Disney..one thing about him he is a naturally happy boy like your daughter too I am sure

 

[FizzyPop]

She is the happiest child I have ever met Thanks for the tips

 

[JohnnySharp2]

She is the happiest child I have ever met Thanks for the tips

You have helped me too, it's nice to share things with friends who have the same feelings about their children - one thing, if you ever decide to buy a portable DVD player, the batteries tend to last for a maximum of 4 hours, so we have 2 of them.

 

[FizzyPop]

Your right Johnny It is nice too talk I shall remember to get a supply of batteries

 

[edenlee]

To those who wish to know where I get my information from - Anne Diamond , who campaigns for SIDS has published a book and in there she quotes research which has been done - there were a number of interviews with her on this subject at the time and I strongly feel it is something that every parent needs to know. After all you want to make informed decisions about your childrens' health don't you? I don't think it is helpful for people to be rude about scientific fact just because they don't agree with it. The chioce in the end is yours but you can't change the facts

 

[JohnnySharp2]

To those who wish to know where I get my information from - Anne Diamond , who campaigns for SIDS has published a book and in there she quotes research which has been done - there were a number of interviews with her on this subject at the time and I strongly feel it is something that every parent needs to know. After all you want to make informed decisions about your childrens' health don't you? I don't think it is helpful for people to be rude about scientific fact just because they don't agree with it. The chioce in the end is yours but you can't change the facts

Is this not related to cot death? - a tragic thing I agree and which Anne lost a child...I do not think anyone here is being rude about any possible scientific fact but the 'fact' remains that this in my opinion is not relevant to the thread.
I really think we should steer clear of this to be frank, but that is just what I think. However, I follow the lead and examples set by the moderator's on these boards and always try and abide by the guidelines set. If it is relevant then fine.