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

Note for Mods: I posted this in the General Topics section originally but this section is probably more relevant; delete as you deem appropriate

[anon345535]

i would assume leaving the country on a thai visa would be far less problematic at immigration?

try and get a flight during your childs sleep time. 7pm i would imagine would be great as they would probably sleep for most of the journey minus the screaming and shouting due to ear popping etc.

[Boo]

get baby a thai passport, will make returning easier. No other documents required for entering UK if baby has a Brit passport.

Take powdered milk on the plane & a few empty clean bottles, ask the stewardess to fill each one 3/4 full with boiled water then let it cool down, you can then give it to baby for hydration & when the plane lands but when you plan to give baby a bottle then ask for the remainder to be filled with boiling water & mix with powder, that way it isn't too hot for the baby to drink.

Make sure you have lots of small toys, coloring pencils on hand to keep baby amused, my son at 10months was walking up & down the plane & awake for at least half the trip. Just giving him attention & activities kept him happy & tear free.

Oh & a favorite blankie or soft toys does wonders when baby is grouchy & tired as well as taking a baby grow or whatever they normally sleep in for on the plane.

[garyh]

Feeding the baby on take off and landing helps relief the pressure change in their ears.

The recommended way to mix formula now is add it to boiling water then cool, this kills a virus which has occurred in formula, I forget the name now but that is the latest from Australian doctors. Any that is mixed and not used in one hour should be thrown out.

[Loaded]

Appreciate all your comments - thanks

please keep them coming if you have any advice or tips

[sonicdragon]

Leave and re-enter Thailand on Thai pasport. Enter and Leave UK on a British passport. Very easy.

You'll have to keep baby on your knee and you'll have to buy an infant ticket.

Try to choose a night flight. With luck, baby will sleep through most of the flight.

Agree very much with the poster who suggested giving a bottle during ascent and descent.

Avoid Heathrow at all costs if it's not your final desitnation.

[sonicdragon]

Oh, and when you book, request a seat with a baby bassinet. When seatbelt signs are off, baby can sleep in the bassinet. After booking, call a few more times to the airline to make double sure you get the bassinet seat . It's a great help.

[Boo]

Depending on how big your child is the bassinet might not be that comfortable but book one anyway as you get extra leg room then just ask for some extra blankets & pillows & make a bed on the floor in front of you. I did this for my son at 10 months, he was too long for the bassinet but it was handy for him to sit in & play with his toys then when he was sleepy we put him on the floor & then draped a blanket off the bassinet to make it dark.

Take plenty of small snacks with you, the airline wont have things suitable for a baby & often what they do have, e.g. bread rolls , might run out.

[sonicdragon]

Agreed. It's better with bassinet on the floor, if the cabin crew allow it (avoid BA, they wouldn't let us), as getting out of your seat with the bassinet set up on it's shelf can be a struggle ! Another thing, is to check in as early as possible - if they do online check-in then as soon as it opens - even if you have booked the seat in advance, otherwise the bassinets might all get taken. This happened to us once with a BA flight (avoid if possible) which was actually a Quantas code share. Even though we had "booked" the bassinet sets in advance (we have twins), when we came to check in at Bangkok (4 hours early!) we were told that they were already occupied by passengers coming from Sydney. Needless to say we were not amused. So avoid BA - did I mention that already ? By contrast, Thai, Etihad, Cathay and Emirates have all been great with kids. Oh, and another thing, you can usually book some baby food in advance. And did I mention to avoid Heathrow for connections ? Last time we went through (on the way to Manchester) they made us take off the babies' shoes to x-ray them !!!!!!!!! And that was after queuing at security for nearly an hour.........

[Boo]

Heathrow staff are the biggest anal retentive morons I have ever had to deal with since having my son. I now fly Emirates specifically cause it goes through Gatwick where they don't have procedural sticks shoved up their ass. Eva & Emirates have never let us down with bassinets or even just finding extra seating now our son is bigger, they always find hubby an extra seat so that the boy can lay out over 2 chairs & get some decent sleep. Highly recommend Emirates but the only down side is the 2 1/2 hour stop over if you prefer to go direct.

[sonicdragon]

Now our kids are 3 and half I find the stopover in Dubai or Abu Dhabi is good - breaks up the journey, and allows us to fly straight in to Manchester. But for a one year old, assuming he/she is a good sleeper and you have a night flight, and you don' have to connect through Heathrow, then nonstop is the way to go.

Another "good" Heathrow story - wife took one baby through security first, I took the other and they did the whole pat-down thing on me. By the time I got to the other side of the x-ray machine I saw one security staff throwing all our baby food in the waste bin !!! They had made my wife open everything and taste it, then they told her that now it was open she had to feed it to the kids before proceeding further !!! She tried to argue (naturally !) , so they confiscated the lot. Then I tried to reason with them, but of course that's a waste of time and energy.

[Bastian]

book the flight direct, non-stop, if possible. get a baby ticket and seat with the bassinet for infants up to two years. infant gets one piece of luggage free and equipment like baby stroller are also transported for free, just let the airline know in advance.

baby supplies i.e. lotion, milk, tea... may be taken along, at least in thailand airport security does not bother.

when exiting thailand the immigration officer may want to see the birth certificate.

odds are the baby will cry, but that will be more a problem for the other passengers.

[meandwi]

We allways buy a seat for our child, upon arriving at the gate we ask to be seated in the bulkhead. Never had a problem getting the seats. Most flights are overbooked and crowded. This is our reason. Oh, and we fly from Miami two times per year. She's made the trip four times.

They allways allow passangers with small children on first, so you can roll up to the planes door in the baby stroller. There, they will stow it until you land.

We used a bassinet only once when she was 5 months. She hated it! Mommy sleeps in the two seats and baby sleeps on daddys lap, on top of a pillow. I can't sleep on planes.

We bring a portable DVD player with a few of her favorite shows, an array of small soft toys, plenty of snacks and fruit. Bottled water is allways available on the plane

Her favorite spot while awake is playing on the floor, plenty of room at the bulkhead in front of our three seats. She likes me to carry her to the back of the plane to get a snack a few times. One of our 3 legs, LA to BKK is 17 hours nonstop,, so keeping her mind occupied and happy is my main objective. Thaiair allows me to sleep on the bulkhead floor with her, if there is no turbulance.

Bring a towell or something soft to lay on the changing table located in the bathrooms, fasten her/him down good in case of turbulance.

Have a safe trip,

meandwi