Hellobee Boards

I traveled 4-5 hours with DD on my lap when she was 18 months old and I was 20ish weeks pregnant. Omg torture!

How long is the flight?

I flew Hong Kong to New York (about 16 hours) alone with my then-17 month old while 14 weeks pregnant. It wasn't fun, and I was exhausted at the end because neither of us slept muchy, but it was still doable.

If you book the bassinet seat (even though your child may be too large to use it), you'll be likely to end up with an empty middle seat next to you (they try to leave it open as a courtesy), but with as packed as most international flights are these days, you're hedging your bets. Also, generally the armrests don't go up, and in terms of actually getting that seat, some airlines will make the bassinet row available first to passengers with premier status from flying a lot of miles or those with younger babies who will actually need to sleep in the bassinet.

All that said....if it's just from the east coast to Europe (5-6 hours), I don't think it'll be that bad, especially if you have a 2 adults to 1 child ratio so you can each take breaks. It's also worth investing in a CARES harness or Safe Rider so you can buckle your child into a seat next to you for sleeping/watching the iPad in case you do get a spare seat.

Following because we're contemplating something like this this summer.

I go in and out of Zurich pretty regularly and am familiar with the airlines and planes if you want any specific information.

What's your first point of entry into the US on your way back, that would actually be where you have to get off, get your luggage and go through customs, so it might be helpful if you're going via JFK/American Airlines as they're in their own terminal.

We flew Europe to US when DS was 18 months and he was a lap child. That flight was particularly bad because he got sick and threw up all over me. Mid flight. It was awful. Even if he had had his own seat, I probably would have been holding him when he got sick. Yuck. The return flight a few weeks later was totally fine. Moral of the story, bring a change of clothes for yourself, just in case.

As for buckling in if you don't have a spare seat, American companies usually just let you hold the child. European ones often have a seatbelt attachment that attaches to your seatbelt and then buckles around the child's waist, to be used for takeoff and landing.

We JUST got back (this morning!) from an international trip, 10 horus there, 12 hours back; LO is 17 months old. Not going to lie, it was pretty uncomfortable! but we survived! We bought him his own seat, however, and I am really glad we did--even though he was in our laps a lot of the time, it was really nice to be able to put him in his own seat (with the carseat in it) and have him read a book or have a snack, watch a show, etc. I think it really depends on your kid's personality though--no way my LO would be happy to sit in our laps for multiple hours, he likes his own space!

@Greentea: yeah sure, let me know.

The Zurich airport also has a fabulous kids area you can use pre boarding. We spend as much time as possible there.

I think it totally depends on your LO, we've flown multiple times internationally but mostly shorter flights and LO goes crazy after 2 hours. Last flight I spent the last hour trying to keep him out of the toilets where we wanted to play with the water and the tissues.

If you have a child that doesn't mind sitting still you'll be fine. If you have one that doesn't sit still more than 30 seconds it'll be painful. But either way, you'll get through it.