baby bassinet onboard flight for 8 month old?

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pangmei

Registered User
We will be flying HK - Sydney at Christmas. When Finn was 3 months old, we flew with Qantas and used their baby bassinet onboard with no problems.

We can either fly with Qantas or Cathay Pacific but both have restrictions for baby bassinet use.

For Qantas, their website states that "the recommended age limit for bassinet use on international flights is eight months. The weight limit is 11kg (25lbs) ... infants who are too large for bassinets are not entitled to a seat and must be nursed".

For Cathay, "a bassinet can carry up to 12kgs. Please note however a baby older than 6 months may feel uncomfortable in a bassinet".

Finn is now 6 months old and already weighs 9.25kg. So by the time we fly, he will be 8 months old and likely to be 11+ kg ...

Has anyone had experience with either airline refusing their baby a bassinet because they are too heavy?
 
I flew from HK to Melbourne with Qantas when my son was 8 months old and had no problems with the bassinet - in saying that he was lighter than your son -close to 9kg.

I've also flown to Ireland with Qantas when he was 1 (May 07) and he was in the bassinet the whole time too. From the Singapore leg, there was child beside us whose legs were hanging out over the edge of his bassinet..

Last Christmas when my son was 17/18 months old we did a return flight from Melb-Tokyo and again used the bassisnet. I can't remember what weight he was (not recorded in my child health book)

Personally I've never been refused a bassinet (no matter what weight he was) and it would be a major pain to fly to Sydney without one. You can put the request in on line for one, reconfirm it before you go and maybe get to the airport early just in case they are all booked up.. dont worry they won't weigh him at checkin :-)

Best of luck.
 
I don't think they will refuse a baby bassinet if your son happens to be right at the weight limit or even a little over.

They are not going to weigh him before you get on the plane. Now, if he is an exceptionally large-looking baby and is over the weight limit there might be a problem--but with two quality air liners like Qantas and Cathay they would look ridiculous (and malicious and mean) if they were to deny the bassinet to him because they "guesstimate" he is too heavy.

When I flew with my son from HK to the USA in August he was 8 1/2-months-old, and right at 23ish pounds but I thought he was more like 25ish pounds (we were using a home-scale for a last minute weigh). The stewardess did ask me how much he weighed and I told her 23 pounds and she was fine with that. He could have actually weighed much more and I'm sure she wouldn't have given me a hassle about it.

Even now that my son is 10 1/2-months old and walking/running he still weighs that 23-pounds (hasn't gained weight as he has been eating the same amount of food but burning it off faster with all his exercise!)

Having said all that, I wouldn't sweat it at all! And if you are super concerned, have your doctor write a note that states, "This baby is ____ pounds/kilos."
 
Waterfront mum & MLBW, thanks for your replies. It's good to know that you have both been able to use bassinets on board with older/heavier babies.
 
I've just been on Air NZ with a 13 month old bub who was 11.5 kgs. it wasn't a brilliant fit, but we squished her into the bassinette! Staff were hellpful and encouraging re. getting her in there - noone mentioned weight.

Also, if it's a mid week flight and not full, you may get a few seats free that they will block off for you when you check in. I've found sometimes that this is a good option as you can lift the arms and make up a little bed with cushions.
 
Hi

I can imagine how terrible it is to fly to toronto w/o a bassinet alone with a baby. I would be flying back 2 toronto with my boy when he is about 3 months old too.
 
I actually think the younger they are the easier it is. Under 1yrs old is much easier than flying with a 12, 13, 14mth old. Especially if they are not really communicating yet. There can be lots of crying. At 9mths my son did sleep for quite a long portion of the flight and he was small enough for me to manage carrying him around. at 12mths, it was a whole different baby... haha you can read about our return flight to hk here:
http://blog.milkmonsterlaughs.com/2008/02/weve-been-back-to-hk-for-3-weeks.html

Keep in mind we didn't have a good experience then but we have since flown to Hua Hin and Singapore and it has been better. Don't want to scare anyone ;)
 
I have flown Qantas numerous times with our daughter who is now over 9 months old, between HK & Melbourne (8 - 9 hours). I found when she was in her younger months, she was always fine in a bassinet. However the last few flights (from around 7 months upwards, approx 8kg+) her length (not weight) seemed to be the issue. Her head and toes touched each end of the bassinet. For this reason she would not sleep in them, and would only sleep on us. I find Qantas are really accommodating. If they know you are travelling with an infant, they seem to do anything possible to make your flight more comfortable. We have been on flights where there is only one seat left on the plan and they have blocked it out next to us so we can use it, even if we do get a bassinet. Qantas' policy is that they always provide a bassinet to the youngest on flight first. So you might miss out if there are younger babies than yours. Personally, we prefer to forgo the bassinet and request for a spare seat if possible, and we have had no problems to date. For this reason, we continue to fly Qantas. (NB - on another note, with Qantas and infants, I recommend requesting for baby food when booking your flights. They will provide you with Hinz jar food in flight. We have been caught out where we were not allowed to take these on board due to the 100ml liquids restrictions, and also did not request them. Thankfully they had some leftover jars, but otherwise our daughter would have gone hungry. Often 50/50 as to whether customs will let you take them through). Good luck - always a challenge travelling with infants!

I have not flown Cathy to date, but heard good reports about them too.
 
i flew cathay from nyc to HK when our son was 6 months. we flew business, but we were also offered a bassinet. our son was too big and it just sat there - we used it as our catch all in the end. i would agree with all those who say don't use a bassinet, but get the extra chair. we are flying this time from HK to Hawaii on Japan Airlines and have asked for economy and 3 seats so we can make a bed for him and he has room in front to playll
 
We used Cathay from Singapore, and the weight limit for the bassinet was 20kg... the only problem was the size, so we just used it to sit our baby in it, and let him play, and also feed him. It's always easier anyway to have the bassinet seats as you have more place and have nobody in front of you putting his seat in your face, on all when your little one is sleeping on you !
 
Also check on the length of bassinets, e.g. United's bassinet are only 24 1/2 inches, KLM 26 inches. My oldest was born 22 inches tall and didn't even fit anymore at 7 months, regardless of her weight. Bassinets are great for children 6 months or under and/or slightly older kids who are really petite, but otherwise, on the long haul I would prefer an extra seat ...

But if you buy a seat, you usually won't get bulk head (they'll keep that for people who do require bassinets) and in the bulk head row the arm rests (or at least not all) will move upwards, so laying down on those seats is usually not an option either.
 
I just flew Cathay to/from London. I requested a bassinet, but when bubs stretched out she touched either end and woke herself up. So instead we got a 'car' seat, and I put a cushion in the bottom to level it out a bit for sleeping, it worked really well. It also goes in the same place as the bassinet so they are off your lap and no need to buy an extra seat.
 
I think the Qantas bassinets are longer than the CX bassinets - ours fitted in a Qantas bassinet at about 15 months (admittedly, it was a very tight squeeze and the crew did question his weight, which was below the allowed limit). We flew CX short-haul at a similar time and his feet were hanging over the end - not sure if the CX long haul bassinets are bigger.

Be warned though that if you are travelling to Australia at Christmas the flights are usually very full, and it's unlikely they'll be able to block a spare seat for you. I've flow to Australia numerous times with 1 or 2 kids and only ever had the luxury of a spare seat next to me once.
 
Thanks all for your replies and tips. We've booked our flights with Qantas, fingers crossed that Finn doesn't get much bigger than 11kg in the next month and a half!
 
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