Child Friendly Airlines To Thailand?

[Belfastboy]

Hi all...in january myself, my wife and our new son will be travelling to thailand for a holiday and also the introduce the new grandson to the inlaws...

i was wondering which airlines have the best repututation regarding children on flights, epsecially under 2's ...our son will be 7 months in January.

any good or bad experiences on flights to thailand with your babies?

would love to hear of some advice before booking the flights....

thanks guys...

[tuky]

We have flown both Emirates and Thai with our kids and found both to be great. I do always try to book flights during the night as it is the normal sleeping time for the child. If you can get your child to sleep it does help the flight to be a little less painful. I fly too often and hate it with a passion, so little things like that do tend to help.

[markuk]

We have flown both Emirates and Thai with our kids and found both to be great. I do always try to book flights during the night as it is the normal sleeping time for the child. If you can get your child to sleep it does help the flight to be a little less painful. I fly too often and hate it with a passion, so little things like that do tend to help.

I ahve found Thai airways awful for children and they are the only airline where i have had to take an isle seat with a baby - cos its their rules... never did understand that, i can recomend emirates, gulf, BA and Qantas.

[qualtrough]

We have had good results with Singapore, Cathy Pacific, and Thai. Avoid American carriers like NW and American at all costs. Actually, avoid even if you don't have children. A few years back we flew to the US with our first born. She was about a year old. We had to pay for a special child ticket. When we got on the plane and the meal was served I asked the attendant about the baby meal and she asked me if I had requested one when I booked the ticket. Excuse me, but if they have a passenger flying on a baby ticket what other meal would they be eating--steak and fries? She then grumpily said she would see what she could find. Finally came back and handed me some Gerber products, which I then had to ask if she could heat up. Compare and contrast with Thai and Singapore. They called our home, asked about special needs, etc. When we boarded they asked if we wanted our kids to eat first or with us. The kids meals were great and came with toys. They also had additional toys. On a Thai flight to Singapore a hostess asked us if she could hold our daughter after the meal. Our daugther was then doted on by different staff for the rest of the flight. I am a US citizen but would never fly a US carrier unless I couldn't avoid it.

P.S. When a sister visited with her family they flew a leg on Emirates. They could not believe how good the service was. The kids were given watches!

[GuestHouse]

BA and Qantas every time.

They've really thought about families travelling and have worked that into their staff training.

As for Thai, well in my opinion, they are mediocre on a good day, reckless on bad days.

I've personally witnessed Thai staff sitting on the floor in the kitchen with a toddler during a flight, have they no imagination and if so does the thought of hot liquids being spilled enter their head?

You'd not get that nonsense out of BA Qantas - Training!

[daleyboy]

BA and Qantas every time.

They've really thought about families travelling and have worked that into their staff training.

As for Thai, well in my opinion, they are mediocre on a good day, reckless on bad days.

I've personally witnessed Thai staff sitting on the floor in the kitchen with a toddler during a flight, have they no imagination and if so does the thought of hot liquids being spilled enter their head?

You'd not get that nonsense out of BA Qantas - Training!

Yep ba for me as well. Only flown once with ba, and that was last month and with a 2 month old baby, and i tell you they couldnt do enough for us, a total pleasure to fly with, 10 out of 10

[leisurely]

Avoid Thai. We recently flew long haulo with them, the girls didn't even get a special colouring book. Compare this with Singapore or Emirates where the stewardess' were falling over themselves to give stuff to them. I know this is not a major consideration but when you have bored children..............

Mind you, all this may well have changed given the ongoing situation in the UK

[chelford67]

Qatar are excellent, nice service and great kid friendly T.V, plenty of cartoon favs. The kids also receive a back pack with numerous entertaining bits and bobs. Food is fun for them too. Nothing seems to much trouble for the staff. We have flown nine times between the UK and Bangkok and never had probs. As several members have stated stay clear of BA & Thai airlines.

[daleyboy]

Qatar are excellent, nice service and great kid friendly T.V, plenty of cartoon favs. The kids also receive a back pack with numerous entertaining bits and bobs. Food is fun for them too. Nothing seems to much trouble for the staff. We have flown nine times between the UK and Bangkok and never had probs. As several members have stated stay clear of BA & Thai airlines.

Just a quick note, i think you will find only Thai was not reccommended, and Ba was actually a very good airline

[antonuk2010]

emirates every time !

[Belfastboy]

thanks for the honest replies...

first off..o forgot to mention i would prefer direct flights to bangkok....

do emirates fly direct? would be willing to give them a go...have flown with BA and Qantas in the past without children and wasn't really impressed, bit of a cold attitude really...

thai love kids but as some say have no wit or commonsense when it comes to the childs safety...

although saying that have always wanted to visit dubai...emirates stop there?

[familyman]

thanks for the honest replies...

first off..o forgot to mention i would prefer direct flights to bangkok....

do emirates fly direct? would be willing to give them a go...have flown with BA and Qantas in the past without children and wasn't really impressed, bit of a cold attitude really...

thai love kids but as some say have no wit or commonsense when it comes to the childs safety...

although saying that have always wanted to visit dubai...emirates stop there?

I flew last week Manchester - Dubai, Dubai-Bangkok with Emirates. It was great! Our baby is 6 months old, we flew through the night on the first flight and she slept most of the way. The staff were brilliant and did anything they could to help us out. Don't bother taking baby wipes or jars of food on the plane as they will give you this when you get on.

[chanchao]

> I know this is not a major consideration but when you have bored children

When you have bored children on a flight, keep in mind that the plane is one big playground, with 300+ folks around with no other option than to be the audience.

So in the absence of coloring books, or even in the absence of *ANY* allowed carry on toys for security reasons, you could:

* Take up barf-bag origami

* Shape goal posts out of folded barf bags and play peanut-football on the tray tables

* Experiment throwing objects of increasing size/solidity into the pressure operated toilet to establish what can still get sucked down.

* Hand-shadow puppets on the central projector screen.

* Verify that the indicator light on the life vests indeed illuminates in water, then experiment with other fluids such as white wine.

* Life vest comes with attached musical instrument.

* Hide & seek

* I see I see a .................: bald person, take a guess & identify.

Etc, etc, etc. Honestly, what's the drama with flying? My kids love it.

Cheers,

Chanchao

Edited August 28, 2006 by chanchao

[Papa_Lazarou]

Gulf Air.

They have hard-working 'Sky Nannies' who are earmarked for helping out kids and babies on board.

[BIG SPUDS]

We too will be flying in Feb 2007 with our 7 month old little one on a infant ticket.

I understand they sit on your lap the whole flight is this correct. Can you request a specific seat or do you just get given one. Flying emirates via Dubai.

Could anyone give me any advice on what to expect or how the whole flying experience is different. (1st Child)

Many thanks!

[Margo]

Yes, you do have your child on your lap for the trip, although if he/she isn't too heavy, you can request a cot.

These attach to the bulkhead and are installed when the seatbelt sign is turned off. Anyone traveling with infants should request a cot, that way you don't have to tote your child for the full flight. You should also insist the flight attendent provide an infant seat belt. This attaches to your own and protects your child in the event of turbulance or other seatbelt-worthy events as required.

I would NEVER recommend Thai after several experiences on international and domestic flights when flight attendents refused to provide infant seat belts, saying they were unnecessary.... I did get them eventually but had to demand and escalate the requests each time: unpleasant to say the least, irritating as a paying customer and ludicrous when one of the roles of the flight attendant is to ensure passenger safety.....

I have also witnessed Thai flight crew smoking in the kitchen on one occasion, quite sufficient reason to suggest they don't give two whits about safety. A national trait, I suppose, as witnessed on Thailand's roads every day....

Edited September 7, 2006 by Margo

[helicoptor]

myself, my fiancee and my nearly 8 month old son will be flying out to LOS end of November with Qatar air, transferring at Doha. Its a relief to see a good thread on here about Qatar. Its a daytime flight so our baby will be awake most of the time apart from his usual cat naps. He is generally well behaved but ultimately his is a baby and therefore unpredicable. I have no experience of Qatar previously so wouldnt know 1st hand. fingers crossed!

[Boo]

Does anyone know if EVA Air deluxe economy have the cots for flights from London to BKK?

We flew this time with Emirates (arrived back Friday) & although they are great for service & I saw they were really good with the kids on board, the 3hr stop over in Dubai for me at 3 months pregnant was too inconvenient & exhausting so I can only imagine how nightmarish it would be with a baby!

As others have said, BA, Qantas & Thai are terrible generally (from experience) & I have heard only good things about EVA but will only go direct & deluxe econ in future.

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

"Okay where's the kid's food?"

The airline last week was ... "o, um hang on a minute"

They made a game attempt, but they had cobbled together a box filled with sachets of tomato ketchup and crackers" !

[sylvafern]

To reiterate what everyone else said .... avoid Thai even if it's just for the fact they don't give out infant belts. Was shocked at this as I thought it would be standard safety precautions but I was told that I just had to hold on tightly.

If you choose your flight times well and go on a flight that's fully booked, attendents will always give you extra seats if they're available .... luckily almost every long haul flight I've gone on I've ended up with a seat for my baby. Air New Zealand (which doesn't fly to Bkk, at the time to Singpore but now only to Hong Kong) rearranged the whole plane upgrading lots of people in order to give all 15 infants on the flight their own seat! Great kids TV on Air NZ, too.

Recently flew Etihad and, although my son was on a child's ticket (just turned 2), they still gave me an infant belt so he could sit on my knee for take-off so he wouldn't be scared.

Hint for seat choice .... if your infant/child has their own seat and it's a daytime flight choose a bulkhead seat as there is loads of legroom and space for the child to play. However, if it's a night time flight, then a regular seat is better. In the bulkhead seats the armrests don't go up and the seats are slightly narrower due to TV's being in the arm rests so it's difficult for the child to sleep. However in a normal seat, the arm rest can be lifted and the child can lie down with their legs on your lap .... makes for a much more peaceful sleep and a more relaxing flight for you!

[TheAceFace]

Hi all...in january myself, my wife and our new son will be travelling to thailand for a holiday and also the introduce the new grandson to the inlaws...

i was wondering which airlines have the best repututation regarding children on flights, epsecially under 2's ...our son will be 7 months in January.

any good or bad experiences on flights to thailand with your babies?

would love to hear of some advice before booking the flights....

thanks guys...

Hi BB

We flew Emirates back to Manchester when my son was 6 months old. We had one stop in Dubai for 3 hours (there and back to BKK). Luckily he was really good on the flight.

Could not fault them. Make sure you book the seats in advance as they are well sought after.

Good luck

Ace

[Boo]

I called EVA Air in London who confirm their duluxe economy has baby cots available & that they allow your newborn to fly after 7 days!!! Does this seem early to anyone as I read in another thread that other airlines wont allow babies under 10 weeks to fly?

[sylvafern]

I'm not sure but it does seem very young .... I can't imagine wanting to fly 7 days after giving birth unless it was an emergency anyhow! My friend flew Emirates when her son was 4 weeks old and that was fine - he slept most of the time.

[totlanh]

Hey BelfastBoy

If you want to stop off in Dubai you should try Ethihad.We flew with them last year and found them great andd were needful to our(limited that they were)daughters demands.Also i believe they were the cheapest as well which is always welcome

[mamastar]

Saw the thumbs up for Qantas. Though this was a number of years back, flew with Qantas with a small baby. Got the bassinet - was shocked. I was given a cardboard box with QANTAS printed on it and a pillow as a mattress to put inside. I had to put this box inside the bassinet/box holder, and it was smaller than the bassinets I used with other airlines.

Basically was rather shocked that my baby was to sleep in a cardboard box.

[think_too_mut]

We too will be flying in Feb 2007 with our 7 month old little one on a infant ticket.

I understand they sit on your lap the whole flight is this correct. Can you request a specific seat or do you just get given one. Flying emirates via Dubai.

Could anyone give me any advice on what to expect or how the whole flying experience is different. (1st Child)

Many thanks!

What I have seen is - u get a seat facing a partition. Better airlines have LCDs, not a communal display that may be beaming straight into your (and baby's) eyes.

The partition that has baby cot stiches, so , expect to be there. In the middle seats.

[think_too_mut]

We too will be flying in Feb 2007 with our 7 month old little one on a infant ticket.

I understand they sit on your lap the whole flight is this correct. Can you request a specific seat or do you just get given one. Flying emirates via Dubai.

Could anyone give me any advice on what to expect or how the whole flying experience is different. (1st Child)

Many thanks!

What I have seen is - u get a seat facing a partition. Better airlines have LCDs, not a communal display that may be beaming straight into your (and baby's) eyes.

The partition that has baby cot stiches, so , expect to be there. In the middle seats.

This is what I mean. Singapore Airlines, SQ995. The large screen is off overnight and most of the day.

The cot is supplied by the airline.

[hgvneil]

Flew with thai,2 year old on my lap 1 year old in skycot,u.k to bkk.Found the staff fine and friendly no problems,though after recently travelling BA to greece and got infant seat belt remembered we never got with thai .But with belts ? I always thought if your goin down,your goin down !!

[john shaw]

I called EVA Air in London who confirm their duluxe economy has baby cots available & that they allow your newborn to fly after 7 days!!! Does this seem early to anyone as I read in another thread that other airlines wont allow babies under 10 weeks to fly?

Flew EVA Air in Aug LON/BKK,delux economy has sky cots attached to bulkhead

middle row seats,fantastic service-flight,so much we are returning

Dec,would not consider another airline

[jbowman1993]

I'm not sure but it does seem very young .... I can't imagine wanting to fly 7 days after giving birth unless it was an emergency anyhow! My friend flew Emirates when her son was 4 weeks old and that was fine - he slept most of the time.

Of course, it takes a lot longer than 7 days to get a passport, or even a birth certificate for the child here in Thailand, so that is basically meaningless...