[auntuptonow]

For those of you who have traveled, I am facing a decision about airlines.. My agent has recommended a combo of Virgin Atlantic and British Mediterranean-- that is what I am doing on my first trip. For the 2nd trip, however, I have enough frequent flyer miles to either (1) get a free business class ticket on Luftansa for the entire trip; or (2) fly VA & British Med again, and get a free upper class ticket on ONE of the 2 legs of the trip (Kaz to London-British Med or London to NY-VA).. It seems like it should be an easy choice, but I am being swayed by the prospect of upper class on VA, with its fully flat bed for the last 6 hours of the trip..

Any thoughts from those of you who have flown these airlines?

Jeannine

[JenniferKaz]

We flew Lufthansa (coach) and were happy, or as happy as you can be in coach when travelling for 24 hours.

The service, food and booze were great.

Coming home my son was uber rammy and I could have used a running track, not a bed. But i appear to be in the minority.

My flight coming home had 2 legs: Almaty->Frankfurt, then Frankfurt->Newark. The 1st leg I was lucky enough to get a bassinet to contain him and he did sleep half the flight.

[DET62]

I just returned in May with my 10 year old son. We flew Lufthansa between Frankfurt and Almaty, and they were wonderful.. I live in Atlanta so we flew Delta to Frankfurt. I was on a buddy pass, which was a little nerve-wracking, but it saved me a lot of money.

Think carefully about the age of the child you are getting and what would be best for the child. You get much better service in business or first class, generally. Kids can be unpredictable, particularly babies.

OTOH, I have been on adoption boards for about 4 years and I have heard about plenty of good experiences with babies or toddlers in economy class...

Good luck!
Dee

[Mich71]

We also flew Lufthansa coach. We had the bulk head seat with the bassinet...great, lots of room. Our son slept during meals which gave us free hands to eat on those little trays : ) If you can not get that and do not want to purchase a seperate seat for the little one, I would suggest First class.
It will be a nicer flight if you have a little more room somewhere so you do not have to keep getting up for the diaper bag and toys.
Safe Travels.

[sak9645]

Our adoption agency head, who had escorted many babies home from Korea, actually preferred coach. He said that he hated the dirty looks of all the businessmen in business class and first class, who were trying to work or sleep and were not happy about the presence of a screaming baby or two. (He sometimes escorted two at a time.)

Having flown coach from China, I can tell you that it wasn't fun. But the bulkhead seat and bassinet for the international legs of the flight made things work out surprisingly well. There were a lot of Korean families with children in coach, and one family in my row was great with Becca. Moreover, I flew Korean Air, where the service was terrific and the coach airfare was very low. All in all, I had a good experience -- until I had to take a United flight from Los Angeles to DC. THAT was the flight from Hades.

Frankly, in your case, I would suggest taking the free business class tickets. The chances are good that you and your child won't do a lot of sleeping, no matter what kind of seats the plane has. So the fully reclining seat may be a total waste. I know that I didn't sleep a wink on my way home, and that my daughter slept only for a total of about two or three hours, in brief episodes. And she was an extremely mellow, easy baby. You can check to see whether bulkhead seats and bassinets are available in business class, and they, too, may help you get through the trip.

Lufthansa is known for its great service, even in coach, so you probably will be treated very well in business class. I'm sure that the flight attendants will be happy to help you warm bottles, will not care if you walk the aisles a bit when your child is fussy, and so on. And if you happen to be awake when everyone else seems to be asleep, they will probably be willing to bring you a glass of wine and a snack.

While some businesspeople may be a bit inconvenienced if your child screams, I'm sure that the situation would be worse in VA's upper class. And, frankly, "free" is good. Why not save your money, as you'll certainly need to spend a lot of it, once your child is home and growing like a weed!

The one thing you might want to check out is the availability of changing tables in the lavatories. One of the things I REALLY appreciated about my Korean Air flights was that about half of the coach restrooms had pull-down changing tables, and that signs prominently displayed on the doors designated the ones that were so equipped. My daughter was 18.5 months old, and trying to change her on the toilet lid or at my seat would have been very difficult, especially since she had messy stools.

Sharon

[auntuptonow]

Thank you all for your responses-- they are very helpful!

[dlbmcgill]

The first thing I would do is check whether you can even use your miles at the time you want to use them. Airlines are happy to give out miles, not so happy to let you use them. We saved BA miles for almost 2 years for our return trip with our son last year so we could sit in Business class and be more comfy. After many, many phone calls (since we were continually told there were no mileage seats available for our flight) we were finally able to use our miles, but had to fly a day earlier than we wanted, stay over an extra night in London and only got a business class seat for one of the 4 legs of the trip, although they took business class miles for the entire trip. Also, I agree with Sharon, the flat bed seat may be a waste. Our son only slept a few hours the entire trip (and the first 4 days he was home!) and only in short spurts. You might be better off trying to get an economy bulkhead seat with a bassinet.