Flying To The Uk With A Baby

[Loaded]

Planning a trip home to the UK to show my parents their grandchild (Thai national with British citizenship and UK passport) who is 1 year old.

Do airlines charge extra or can the baby sit on a parent's lap?

Security limits the amount of fluid you can take on board but a baby gets through a lot of milk and water on a 15-hour flight. Any experience?

Apart from a UK passport, does the baby need to have any other papers. What do we need to show immigration when we return if we travel on a UK passport? IE does the baby need to have a visa or Thai passport?

Appreciate your input

[CHdiver]

You dont want your one year old sitting 15 hours on your lap? You must be crazy. Parents with Babys are usually placed behind the diverting wall between different parts of the plane (Bulkhead?). There you get a nice little sleeper for your Baby. Best is to ask the Airline you are flying with. Many even have some Information on the website. Have fun.

[Marksamui]

Ok, first you can buy an Infant ticket and they sit on your lap, or you request a seat which has a cot in front. This will be the same cost and it is much better for you and baby. Holding them for so long is difficult. If you buy a childs ticket they have their own seat, so more expensive. Infant tickets are cheaper than regular tickets but still cost.

You can take as much baby food, liquid as you require.

You enter the UK on UK passport and you will need to show that when checking in to show that they can stay. I assume you also have a Thai passport for the baby? You use that to leave and then re enter Thailand on.

[TAWP]

I had my son on my lap, 13h flight back home some years ago. It was not an issue per se. The wife had the seat to the right of me.

As a one year old he cannot fly in his own seat without some special seating in it. The number of sleep-seats are on some airlines limited to 2 or so, and on my flight there was 2 younger babies using them (pre-booked).

Flying there was not an issue, went fairly well. Flying back 2.5 weeks later was less fun as my son was grumpy and didn't really want to sleep. You don't want a 1 year old that is crying on a long-haul when others try to sleep...if looks could kill...

My grandma told me she was put to sleep using whisky in a cloth as a kid. Might be something to try...

[Marksamui]

On some airlines a 1 yr old can fly in a seat on their own (provided they have a parent with them obviously). No speacial seat, you can get a childs seat belt and hold onto them for takeoff and landing. This is what we did.

You cannot always book them on the interent however, but if you call the airline you can buy a seat for an infant under 2, I did this before on SIA.

[garyh]

My experience last August with Thai airways with our son who was 4 months at that time.

If the child is under 6 months they will supply a bassinet.

Over 2 years you need to pay for a seat.

It cost us $96 AUD from Australia to Thailand return.

As we had a small child we went on with 1st class.

As there was spare seats the hostess moved the person from the seat next to us to give us another seat.

They will allow you to take a pram or a car seat for free in addition to the 10KG luggage allowance.

So I would take a chance on getting a seat with out paying for it.

[mizzi39]

Hi Loaded, I will be taking my wife and our son to the States next week.

Our son holds 2 passports, so entering or exiting is a non issue. Does your baby have a Thai passport along with UK? Our son is older than your child. (20 months old.), and although he is under 2 years old i could not fathom holding him for 24 hours, so we bought him his own seat.

Korean Air 2 adults $1,650.00 US per ticket, our sons discount $1,350.00. Not much of a savings, but can you really put a price on comfort?

Have a safe trip!

If your wife is still breast feeding then no need to pump!. You can take a can of formula and the airline will provide water, so no need to worry about fluid restriction.

[Loaded]

Some good advice - thanks.

The baby doesn't have a Thai passport. Does it take long to apply for one?

She won't sit in a chair on her own and has got used to being held a lot. I envisage a lot of walking up and down the aisles.

I've looked at Internet booking sites such as Expedia but it's difficult to find specific information. probably a good idea to contact the airlines directly.

Whatever happens, it's going to be a bloody long flight.

[Marksamui]

Providing you have the necessary documents a Thai passport takes about a week

[mizzi39]

Some good advice - thanks.

The baby doesn't have a Thai passport. Does it take long to apply for one?

She won't sit in a chair on her own and has got used to being held a lot. I envisage a lot of walking up and down the aisles.

I've looked at Internet booking sites such as Expedia but it's difficult to find specific information. probably a good idea to contact the airlines directly.

Whatever happens, it's going to be a bloody long flight.

It does not take a long time to apply for the Thai passport and the turn around time from applying to receiving the passport was about a week.

The good thing about purchasing an extra seat is that you,wife, and daughter can spread out a little bit. Even if your daughter is on you and wifes' lap most of the time at least When she is tired and ready to sleep you can pull up the arm rests and lay her across, giving yourselves a little break. Check different carriers when doing your search for tickets. Depending on the aircraft you may have your own row. The plane that we are taking only has 3 seats per row. Good luck with your search!

[lopburi3]

Continued here per OP request

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Flying-Uk-Ba...66#entry3483566