I am going to travel with my wife and baby son (22 month) from JFK-SIN-DEL-SIN-JFK on SQ. I am having a hard time deciding, whether I should get 3 Award Tickets in Business for 330000 miles or 2 Tickets in First for 280000 miles and paying the 10% infant fare (about USD 1500), hoping there
will be an empty seat for my son. Does anyone have experience or a suggestion. It�s the last chance for us to have our son travelling on an infant fare, but the thought of having to share a seat for maybe more than 24 hours makes me believe I should rather have 3 guaranteed seats in J .

 

What airline are you flying?

Have you explored the option of business first?

Might want to read some of the threads on kids in first also

 

T -

I went SJC-NRT (AA) with my wife and son. I was paid business, she was an award ticket for 90,000 miles, and he was a lap child. (Side note - he turned 2 in Japan, but since he began the trip when he was under two, he still qualified.)

As a lap child, we paid 10% of the fare for the cabin we were in, about $400. Worked out we got an empty seat going to Tokyo (AA business class on the 777 is configred 2-3-2) but it was full on the way back with a last minute, comp. upgrade (I suspect a FA was not happy that my son had a seat but did not pay, judging from her attitude).

It wasn't that bad with him on our laps - we traded off while eating. He watched the in-flight Blues Clues and other kids shows, and did really well.

Your situation depends on your mileage account balance vs. your bank acct. balance, the airline and route you are flying, and other personal preferences. I'd be happy to answer any other questions.

Re-reading your inital post, if it was me I would probably go for the 3 award tkts in Business, if you want to be assured of an empty seat. Good luck!

[This message has been edited by johnndor (edited 07-16-2001).]

 

My wife, 23-month old son, and I flew to Tahihi in AF business. The config was 2-3-2 on the 747-400 so we took the 3-seat with my son in the middle. This setup allow my son to play comfortably on the floor in front of our seats and isolate him from other passengers

 

If you are sure FC will be full then take 3 BC seats.

 

This is your kid we're talking about. Don't risk it. It is safer to have him secured in a car-type seat. Hedge on the side of safety and get a confirmed seat in J.

 

I concur that a separate seat for the child is better than a lap child, at least in terms of comfort for such a long flight (even for a two hour flight, it's still worth it in my experience). But a car seat is going overboard. The kid is 22 months old; a lap belt will suffice.

 

Allow me to clarify my recommendation on the car seat. I would suggest a booster type seat with a 3 point harness. It's light and comfortable. If junior is using one of these type of seats now in the car, by bringing it along you add a sense of familiarity.

 

Just adding my two cents worth about child restraints. An almost two year old is much two young for a booster type seat. He should still be in full car seat with, hopefully, a 5-point harness. You'll want to take the seat that you'll use for auto travel anyway and he'll be much more comfortable in his own seat that he is used to.

 

My recommendation is absolutely to have the child in an FAA approved child restraint seat (assuming the child is under 40 pounds). This should be the forward facing type. If the child is over 40 pounds, he/she may use the lap belt.

Booster seats are banned by the FAA from use during taxi/takeoff/landing though they are allowed for the cruise portion of the flight. They do not offer the same level of protection as a hard shell safety seat. The seat should be placed in a window location, never between other passengers and the aisle.

I think the suggestion of allowing the child to play on the floor is a dangerous one. Clear air turbulence does happen, particularly on transpacific flights and it does kill and injfure people. A child playing on the floor during such an incident could hit the aircraft cieling before you could do anything about it. And, of course, if there were an actual crash, it would be physically impossible to restrain a child seated on your lap.

I know that these are hihgly unlikely occurences, but considering there is essentially no cost difference, I don't see any reason to risk it. Think how much more comfortable you will be knowing that your child is safely restrained in his/her own seat.

 

Domestic carriers require a car seat for kids under two. I believe it's the same for international carriers.

 

Why do carriers require that travellers pay a child fare if the child does not occupy a seat?

 

You need to buy yourself one of these:

http://www.strolex.com/

It is a stroller that converts into an FAA approved car seat. They are great!

A lot of gate agents have never seen them (especially in international flights), so be prepared to be hassled a little.

 

The question of car safety seats leads to safety seats on airplanes, long a bone of contention between the FAA & the National Transportation Safety Board, which has repeatedly asked the FAA to create a rule.

As matters now stand, children under 2 are the only ones on aircraft permitted to go through takeoff and landing without being belted in.

Infants and toddlers who travel free are allowed to sit on adults' laps, although they can be hurt in turbulence. Some died in survivable crashes.

The FAA argument against a rule has essentially been that requiring infants to have seats might raise the cost of travel so high that families would revert to auto travel - which is less safe.

This argument continues though since 1997 the airlines have been charging a child under 2 half the price charged for an accompanying adult. A

As several proponents note, families do not stop flying when children turn 3.

www.aap.org

www.medem.com


Please also see:

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...ML/003701.html

 

Unless times have changed SQ is extremely stingy with discount F seats. When they put in beds a few years ago they began limiting A-class pax (I guess their designation is F/P but A/F is commonly known) to one per flight. So unless they've grown up and learned what the rest of the industry knows about capacity control and discount-seat allocation, your question may be moot.