Virgin seat cost for a 16 month old and keeping them occupied

[A whole new world]

Does anyone have a rough idea how much a seat will cost for a 16 month old. There isn't an option on the Virgin webside. Were looking to go around October next year?

Is it do-able to have a 16 month old on your lap for the 9 hour flight? How do you keep them occupied?

Thanks

 

[2Tiggies]

I don't know what the cost is for infants - there is a cost and they do get a full luggage allowance though. Have you tried doing a "dummy" booking? I thought there was a place you could enter infants.

The verdict will vary from person to person on the ease of taking an infant with you. My ex husband worked and travelled internationally a lot in DD's early years and I ended up doing MANY longhaul flights, almost all of which were alone (no other adult to help me) and several of these were with VA. This is my take on it based purely on my own experience:

It is easier when they are tiny, but doable as they get older.

By 16 months they are mobile. Allow some time for them to move about -watch out for little fingers getting under foot and for dirty floors, but they do need to get up now and then.

It is much easier when you have someone else with you.

Take a few toys that are small, and preferable some that they have not seen before/for a while to keep it interesting. Take out one thing at a time so that you can string out the interest level over the flight.

At around the 16 month mark some paper and chunky crayons worked well for for me

Lots of little snacks are great too.

They do sleep on the flight which helps knock some of the time away for you. The return flight which is overnight is better however as mine usually slept almost all the way through

There will be fretful moments and they do get frustrated at times, but if you are prepared for this it is a whole lot less of a big deal and it REALLY doesn't bother others as much as it bothers you.

I would go for it. It won't be any different a year later except that you no longer have to share a seat, but honestly, what 16 month old is going to sit in their own seat for 9 hours.

There are quite a few people on here who have flown with babies so hopefully you will get a good range of perspectives from several people.

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

I believe the cost is something like 40/50% of the adult cost - waaaaaaaaay too much in my opinion. This is why my 20 month old will be sitting on our lap this summer. We will pay when we HAVE to.

 

[aaronandterri]

If you pay for a seat for her it will be at full child cost...which is normally not a lot less than an adult seat.
if shes an infant on lap then its just 30 plus taxes i think, and whes gets a small luggage allowance

The infant chair is great if you have a seat, keeps them in one place.

We took Isabelle at this age (and jack), and they wasnt a lot of trouble, a few toys lots of snacks, and they slept well, gave them a dose of nurofen and karvol before take off incase there ears bothered them, but they was fine, Isabelle has a little toddl up and down too, we are probably unique that on the way home we also had a skycot and a seat. for Isabelle as she was a tiny 14 month old at just 14.5 lbs, *** she was premature, and she slept all the way home in that flat.

 

[ClaireW]

We took DD at 13 months and will be travelling again this Sept with second DD who will be about the same age.

The ideas of small, unfamiliar toys is great and something which worked for us too but don't forget how much entertainment the flight itself will offer - we were pleasantly surprised by how much DD was interested in watching Nemo on the in-flight entertainment, and how much time gets taken up by snacks/meals, etc. Plus there's all those other friendly kids and grown ups talking to you as well

We decided with both DDs to have them travel on our laps at this age because it was the easiest place for them to nap - not sure if you would be allowed to have them sleep on your lap during turbulance, take-off and landing if they already had a seat of their own? I would hope that you would be able to have the best of both worlds by having their own seat and requesting a lap belt just in case.

BTW DD1 wasn't walking on her first flight - my whole opinion on this might be different in a couple of months time when I brave the flight with a toddler and a more active baby

 

[2Tiggies]

One major benefit of infant over child on a flight is that you don't have them grouching about the seats being uncomfortable .... after you've forked out a truckload of hard earned cash for an upgrade.

 

[A whole new world]

Thank-you all for your replies x

 

[aoifesmom]

Hi


My friend paid around £300 for a seat on a Ryanair flight last month for her 23 month old daughter. When they came to book their seats it would not let them book one for the 23 month old. When they called Ryanair they were told in no circumstances could a child under 2 have their own seat and refunded them the cost of her seat. Obviously this was not to america, but I wondered if this was a common policy amongst airlines ? I can't see Ryanair turning down money if they didn't have to ! They compained as she is a large 23 month old and they didn't see how would cope on their laps but ryanair would not budge.

Just a thought.

Jo

 

[scottish mum]

I just did a dummy booking on virgin holidays site and was quoted £149 for an infant price, with baby on your lap. The holiday that i booked for this year i got the kids prices at £149 and they are 13, 9 and 6 so when looking to book ask about infant and kid prices as if they are about the same you might as well have the seat

 

[Elise79]

If you want an infant to have a seat you will have to pay the child fare.

We did it twice for DD (15 & 22 months old) and we were really glad - she doesn't like sitting still so being able to strap her in with the 5 point harness was a godsend! We got one of VAs infant seats on her seat. I know she would not have been happy on our laps and nor would we!!

When booking online you will need to book them as 2 years old.

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

I know you are going in October but here is an example from me. We have to go in July/Aug as I am a teacher, it has cost DH and I just over £1000 each for a ticket and around £100 for DD ( 21 months) to sit on our laps, I have just checked out the child price as if she were two and OMG.............£834.29 Now I know you are going at a less costly time of year but this may give you an idea of ratios.
Also someone mentioned lap children get a small luggage allowance - they have changed this so they now get the same 23kg as everyone else plus one buggy or car seat carried for free.

 

[neil2jo]

Hi, something I thought I might add, as I think it still applies, is that we when took our DD to florida at that age and she sat on our lap they would not supply her with a meal so you need to be prepared to take enough food for their dinners/lunch aswell as snacks (obviously considering any restrictions that the airlines may have in place). This may not apply to all airlines but we booked and went through Going Places.

At 15 months she was eating normal food but however much I offered to pay they would not provide a childrens meal, which in my opinion was silly.

Not sure if it relevant but thought it might help

 

[2Tiggies]

I know you are going in October but here is an example from me. We have to go in July/Aug as I am a teacher, it has cost DH and I just over £1000 each for a ticket and around £100 for DD ( 21 months) to sit on our laps, I have just checked out the child price as if she were two and OMG.............£834.29 Now I know you are going at a less costly time of year but this may give you an idea of ratios.
Also someone mentioned lap children get a small luggage allowance - they have changed this so they now get the same 23kg as everyone else plus one buggy or car seat carried for free.

A child's seat is generally 75% of the cost of an adult seat. It gets more complicated as sometimes there are only a certain number "cheap" seats available and you can end up with a child seat costing more than the adult one. Just one of those crazy things that, although you can see how it happens, it just makes no logical sense.

 

[fitnessmouse]

it depends on your wallet and level of comfort.
There is no way i would sit with an infant in my lap for 10 hours.

We've always paid childs fare when they were under 2 just so they could have their own seat.

 

[A whole new world]

Wow prices for a baby to have their own seat are so expensive. I think i'll stick with having her on my lap. It doesn't seem right that they don't supply a kids meal. Thanks for letting me know, i will make sure i pack something to eat x

 

[Stitch's Greatest Fa]

On the subject of meals - we took DD last year when she was 9 months old. She has never ever had pureed food or jars as we did baby led weaning (real food from 6 months on!)
Anyway when I booked an infant online (no seat) it allowed me to request a child meal - thankfully I took sandwiches on the flight for her because I was told by the flight attendant that all lap children up to 2, were only entitled to jars!
This is of course a ridiculous notion on the part of the airlines as the child still has some fare to pay even on a lap and fancy thinking a 23 month old might want jarred baby food! I emailed Virgin about this last year and got a response thanking me for me feedback.

 

[DjdBrit]

As far as I can remember if you have an "infant" that you want to buy a seat for they pay the same rate as a child. Which on VA is 90% of an adult fair.

 

[dazza5931]

We took our little girl when she was 4 months and 16 months and first time she slept thereandback again second time she was occupied by playing with remote for tv and interested by headsets for tv we had balkhead seats so she had more room to move about slept quite abut as well unfortunately she is over 2 this year so we have had to pay more or less full fare as she now has to have own seat 2 adults and 1 child cost for flight £1484

 

[2Tiggies]

On the subject of meals - we took DD last year when she was 9 months old. She has never ever had pureed food or jars as we did baby led weaning (real food from 6 months on!)
Anyway when I booked an infant online (no seat) it allowed me to request a child meal - thankfully I took sandwiches on the flight for her because I was told by the flight attendant that all lap children up to 2, were only entitled to jars!
This is of course a ridiculous notion on the part of the airlines as the child still has some fare to pay even on a lap and fancy thinking a 23 month old might want jarred baby food! I emailed Virgin about this last year and got a response thanking me for me feedback.

I forgot about the jar food issues, lol! I would have had similar problems except that when she was that young it was before the liquids issue and you could take food for babies without having to taste it or whatever they make you do now (Blech! ) My DD was weaned organic and didn't have jar or package baby food. When I did offer her some she spat is out and made the appropriate sounds to go with her facial expressions

So a good point of note is to be sure to have something they are familiar with just in case they won't eat anything else offered to them. Obviously less of an issue as they get older.