Flying with babies.

Shelli

Hi all, just looking for some advice. My son is 8wks old and will be about 10wks when we hope to travel to the UK to visit the other halfs family. Just wondering if there is anything I should know about flying with a baby?

We will fly with Ryanair, and it's a very short flight.

I know that they let you take the pram to the gate and then fold it up for them, but do they let you use the car seat attachment up to the gate aswell or will that need to be checked in? I have the gracco quattro tour travel system.

Also, is it safe to put the pram on like this, how careful are they with them?Does baggage insurance cover any damage that may happen to the pram?

Any other tips and advice welcome.

CHELSEA-H-L

i flew wit a gracco buggie before and it was very safe as it is d last ting put in wit the bags underneath and is taken of first when you arrive it wont be damaged am not sure a bout the car seat as the rules change alot you will b better of ringing before you go and ask them.

kenco

Beware of the priority booking queue! Ryanair no longer board families or those with young children first. There are two queues one for priority and the other for standard. AFAIK if you have a buggy then you cant book a priority booking ticket.

The last time we travelled we raised this with them and were told just to join the back of the priority queue which was not too bad but Im not sure if this was a once off.

Also in some UK airports you dont get the buggy back until baggage reclaim so if you can check that in advance it might prep you for the walk.

kmick

Yes you can take the car seat and buggy all the way to the gate. Be warned though Ryanair make you pay to go on the flight first so unless you pay 'priority' you are in the queue with everyone else. When you go on the plane you just fold up the buggy at the gate and they put it on the plane. Best thing to do is stand at the top of the queue (tiresome but worth it) if you have not paid the extra to be 'priority'. Also they would not heat a bottle for us the last time we took them.

To be honest I would not fly Ryanair with a baby again - they are totally unhelpful. Poor little critter had to drink a cold botle and I had a big argument at the gate with them about going on first with a baby even though I did not have a priority pass. I just assumed if you had a baby they would do the decent thing and let you on. Boy was I wrong. Could not have been more ackward about the whole thing.

Before anyone attacks me about not paying priority they had only just changed the rules and I was not aware. I would have paid it no problem had I known. Cmon Aer Lingus

metrovelvet

Security is a nightmare with a baby. No one will hold the baby while you check in the buggy, the diaper bag, your own hand luggage, dumping liquids out of bottles, getting more water after security, you can imagine....

Crea

When we flew with Ryanair we were able to take the buggy to the bottom of the steps and then collect it from there on arrival. I was able to organise Priority booking by phoning the airline after booking on line.
There is a limit to the amount of liquid you can take on the flight but if there is more than 1 adult you can divide the bottles between you. There reason why they don't heat the bottle is if the bottle is over heated and the baby gets burned. They are just covering their asses but i've had the same problem with Burger King.
Give the babs a bottle on take off and it'll stop the ears from popping.

di11on

We've travelled quite a lot with our two... the other half is French.

Just make your way to the Front of the non-priority queue, you'll be 99.9% guaranteed to be let on first after the priority queue has boarded if you make a presence there when boarding starts. With a 10 week old baby, even the Ryanair boarding mob has an almost human dimension :-)

I'm sure someone's said it... but bring a bottle... (if baby isn't on draft :-)) for baby's ears and give it to baby during ascent and descent.

di11on

metrovelvet wrote: »

Security is a nightmare with a baby. No one will hold the baby while you check in the buggy, the diaper bag, your own hand luggage, dumping liquids out of bottles, getting more water after security, you can imagine....

Actually... find one of the DAA people in pink shirts... ask if you could skip right on through security without queing... sometimes they even spot you and let you through without you asking. That will save you a lot of time and stress if there's a big queue.