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Advice for flying internationally with a lap child?
Any tips for flying internationally with a 17 month old on your lap? We'd originally purchased our daughter a seat for our trip to Italy from SFO, but as of Sept. 1, Lufthansa will no longer allow children under 2 to occupy their own seats (so they have refunded us for her ticket).
They've put us in bulkhead seats, but I still worry about turbulence, comfort and how our daughter will stay contained and be able to fall sleep. Very grateful for any advice! thanks! |
sweet moses...SFO to Italy with a kid on your lap.
No advice but wishing you lots of luck & leg room. |
Can you get her seat back? Even if she can't be in a car seat, you will all be a lot more comfortable with the extra room. During the times it is not turbulent (hopefully most of the flight) she can sit there and play with her toys and, with any luck, sleep. Having a 17 month old on your lap the whole time, bulkhead or not, is going to be miserable.
Your best bet is distraction. If you have not done so already, purchase a portable dvd player. Yes, frying your kid's brain with dvds is never good, but it works and desperate times...Also, lots of books, new small toys, snacks, etc. We always bring new sticker books, coloring books, playdough, small block puzzles (the kind that come in their own little case), books, dvds, pipe cleaners, little plastic animals, etc. Now that they are a little older (4) we bring a couple Leapsters. Good luck and get that extra seat back...you will need the room. taitai |
Is anyone else <i> astonished </i> that Lufthansa is NOT allowing a child to have her own seat, in which a carseat could be strapped -- MUCH safer for the child and everyone else around her than being loose in a lap? This seems to be a flagrant disregard for safety issues and stupid if the parents are willing to pay for the seat. I seem to remember you can buy an extra seat for a cello! But not a child?????
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Alot of European airlines operate this way.All I can say is goodluck! You are going to be very miserable with a child that old in your lap for that long period of time.
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I actually don't know what's going on, but my guess is that LH doesn't want to sell a seat at a discount for a child <2.
I'll bet a German Mark that if the OP are willing to pay adult fares, LH will have no problem having the 2-year old occupying a seat, with or without a car seat. |
The difference between the child and adult fares was nominal, and even when I offered to pay full fare for our daughter's ticket, Lufthansa said they couldn't issue her one because of her age. Their explanation was that the FAA is no longer allowing carseats on board European flights and so they no longer feel safe issuing tickets to infants... I always thought the FAA was pro putting infants in carseats, so it all seems pretty counterintuitive to me....
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Call them, get a full refund, and fly with some other airlines.
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On this website http://saferidenews.com/html/Airplane_Eng.htm I found this:
"The FAA requires airlines to allow the use of a certified car seat if the child has a ticket. The FAA strongly recommends, <b> but does not require,</b> that children under age 2 ride in a car seat. Not all flight attendants are well informed, so take FAA information along . . . " I poked around on the FAA website and I'd say Lufthansa has (willfully?) misinterpreted and distorted the regs -- or maybe it was just the one or two agents you spoke to. For one thing, that distinction about "European flights" implies that the FAA has a more stringent rule for them from rules for domestic flights. More to the point, the FAA decided it couldn't REQUIRE use of carseats but it strongly recommends them. Not requiring them is NOT NOT NOT the same as not permitting them, but that's pretty much what Lufthansa's telling you -- since FAA says babies MAY ride in laps, they're saying they MUST, which is nuts. Go to http://tinyurl.com/25wax5 for what I found on faa.gov |
My recollection, from some years ago, is that the FAA allows car seats, but this rule only applies to US flagged carriers; some offshore carriers operate under different authorities, and some of these do not allow car seats, and in fact require that an infant be held during certain times of the flight, and I'm thinking this includes takeoffs and landings. I think some carriers offer a bassinet that hangs on the bulkhead; whether that is as good as a car seat is your decision. I think the combination of the bassinet and two laps (I'm assuming both parents are able to hold the child) would make the trip bearable.
My generation managed to raise our kids without carseats, and as I watch my own children struggle to get our squirming grandchildren into and out of their carseats, I wonder if the security of having the child held in a carseat outweighs the delay inherent in getting them out of the carseat in an emergency. But if you want to use a carseat for your child, simply fly on a US airline, but I would check with the particular airline before buying the tickets. |
Perhaps Lufthansa wasn't quoting FAA rules but those of the comparable European agency -- but still think saying pre-2 yr. olds may NOT have a seat or a carseat is nutty. It's mainly about the Sept. 1 Lufthansa decision.
Do see about what you can put on the floor in front of you for your daughter to sleep on... not particularly safe but better than a lap (for you, too). |
Advice - don't do it.
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Did anybody check lufthansa.com? because if they did they would find the following:
<i>Flying with babies * On Lufthansa long haul flight there are special baby beds available. Please beware that there is only a limited number of seats with baby beds available * When booking your flight please inform our staff or the travel agent that you will be travelling with a baby</i> http://www.lufthansa.com/online/port...70696&l=en |
Yes, I checked Lufthansa.com -- elsewhere they specify that the baby beds are only appropriate for infants under 6-7 months old, which isn't applicable here.
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In that case somebody has been giving the wrong info because here is more fromn the airline site:
<i>eneral advice * We offer you the opportunity of taking your baby's push chair right up to the aircraft door. Our flight attendants will then take it from you and hand it back to you immediately after landing * With Lufthansa, families with children are among the first passengers to board the aircraft. Our flight attendants are happy to help you find your seats, stow your baggage and <b>assist with fastening children's seatbelts</b></i> If the FA will assist with fastening seatbelt for the child, how is it not possible to buy a seat for the same child? |
<i>If the FA will assist with fastening seatbelt for the child, how is it not possible to buy a seat for the same child?</i>
Maybe they're referring to children over 2. |
In the first post, the OP says something about Sept 1. Who knows what's before and what's after.
Not all of us can be expert in all airlines in the world when it comes to specific policies. |
What kind of a weird corporate policy would that be?
As long as the child is under 6 months old, you're ok. As long as the child is 2 years old + you're ok. If you have a child child between 6 months and 2 years old , you're screwed. Please don't fly with us. The Lufthansa management thanks you in advance. We suggest you fly the following....... Does this make any sense to anybody because it doesn't to me. YMMV. |
Nope. Doesn't make sense to me either. But who knows what the agent actually told the OP, and whether the info was correct or not...
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So I spoke with Lufthansa at length about this today and aired my frustration at 1) their not being upfront about their new policy of prohibiting "infants" from occupying their own seats 2) how counterintuitive and unsafe it seems deny a completely mobile child the right to sit strapped in their carseat on the plane and 3)how strange it is that there is no mention of the new policy anywhere on their website and that most of their agents seem unaware of the policy...
They said the new policy stems from the German equivalent of the FAA passing new regulations specifying that as of September 1, no carseats will be allowed on their planes and that therefore they (Lufthansa) no longer feel comfortable selling seats to "infants" even if their parents wish to purchase them. Lufthansa insists it's not their choice, but it still seems ludicrous to me! |
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