VS006 MIA-LHR 20 Oct 08 (PE) and no skycot!

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This is as part Trip report part question, so if I've posted in the wrong place I'm sure the mods will move it.

I'm waiting for a response from VA on this but as that might take 21 days I'd be interested to know if anyone reading this knows the answer to my question ref the bookings for a skycot. Thus far I've had contradictory responses from VA (FC Gold tel and MIA UC check in).

In short we booked 2x PE seats for VS 5&6 back in May and requested the skycot for each leg. On booking we were told this was guaranteed as policy is not to book more infants into a class than there are Sky Cots available.

Outward leg on the 10th October was great, the new UC check in at T3 was superb, and clubhouse as good as always though the full english was a little on the skimpy side. A couple of Kir Royale's later I was in fine shape and ready to embark on our first flight as a family.

We were in 32 D&E with our our 6 month old daughter in the sky cot. Great flight, sausage and mash was ok if a little warm rather than hot, In Bruges kept me amused (what a great film) and all 3 of us arrived in MIA in good shape.

Based on recent TR's and my own experience of MIA immigration I was expecting the worst, especially so as we were about an hour late landing.

However - after sprinting as fast as you can with a sleepy 6 month old we arrived to find a different/new looking and empty immigration hall. Ten minutes and we were through, some things never change though - the stony faced immigration officer when I asked in all seriousness if needed to fingerprint Jessica!

Return leg on 20th October was a less happy experience. Used online check in and were assigned 32F&G. As I knew from the outward leg there was only x 1 skycot on row 32 I rang the Gold help line to check.

I was reassured by the agent that the seats would be reassigned at the check in and not to worry as they do not book more infants into a class than there are skycots available.

Unfortunately at check in in Miami we were told the opposite! That the single sky cot in PE had been assigned to another family traveling with an infant, and that this was not an unusual scenario and that there was nothing that could be done.

After a lengthy wait we finally saw the VA duty manager who has a very different take on customer service than any of his English colleagues. He wasn't rude, but it was damn close, he never introduced himself and never apologised until once at the very end when we had given up and had to dash as we'd been checking in for over an hour and wanted to get Jessica changed and fed before we got onboard

So sorted out with new boarding passes for 37G&H - with a note that the window seat (37K) would be set aside for our daughter. We managed a swift drink the Miami Vice lounge that is Club America F (actually it was better than I recall).

I should add that the check in agent(s) were great and apologies to any UC pax or V Flyers whose check in we delayed.

And that is how we passed the flight, one of us sitting next to Jessica who was propped in sideways position among a bunch of cushions and blankets with a restraining hand to stop her wriggling/sliding out of the seat. She slept for a couple of hours, we hardly at all and we all arrived at LHR shattered.

I was not aware of the new infant child seat until I got home and saw it on the VA site, none of the crew mentioned this either or offered anything to ease the journey.

I guess my frustration is based on expectation - we traveled expecting a sky cot and therefore packed and prepared accordingly. Had we been aware Jessica might end up in a seat we would have prepared differently.

Generally the flight was good, food OK, I had the Pasta dish as my meal, the breakfast muffin was fine, not historic as Winner might say - but it filled a gap and was a huge improvement on the cheese roll served for tea on the VS 5 - that was possibly the worst sandwich ever!

This was my first flight as an Au and I was interested to see if the FSM sought me ought on either leg. They didn't, but then again based on recent trip reports I wasn't really expecting them to so you could say my expectations were met.

Just wanted to say a swift thank you for all the invaluable information we've picked up from VF, what a great resource! Traveling with an infant is a different experience, but having done it twice, it's not as daunting as you might think and we'll be doing it again. Whether we do it with VA remains to be seen as Sydney and West Coast USA are planned over the next year.

Thanks all....

Andrew, Jayne and Jessica

Hello Andrew. Whilst I'm no expert on just how 'guaranteed' a skycot is meant to be, you have my wholehearted sympathy for you and yours having to endure a night flight with a 6 month old wedged into the corner of a seat. Not good. You'd probably have been better off in Y!

Don't let it put you off travelling with the wee one though. As you say, it's a 'different experience', but nowhere near as bad as you might first presume it will be. We're 3 years in now and still loving it (although the bank balance isn't...).

Originally posted by mdvipond
Hello Andrew. Whilst I'm no expert on just how 'guaranteed' a skycot is meant to be, you have my wholehearted sympathy for you and yours having to endure a night flight with a 6 month old wedged into the corner of a seat. Not good. You'd probably have been better off in Y!

Don't let it put you off travelling with the wee one though. As you say, it's a 'different experience', but nowhere near as bad as you might first presume it will be. We're 3 years in now and still loving it (although the bank balance isn't...).

Thanks - in fact it was reading some of your trip reports and posts that really helped us decide to go.

I think you're right ref Y - the new PE seats, great as they are for adults are pretty slippy when your a wriggling 6 month old in a sleep suit!

Andrew

[HighFlyer]

Thanks for the trip report, a shame that the skycot situation was a bit of a shambles. I have seen this happen before at the airport (where there are more babies than skycots) but cant recall where it was. I hope you get an answer as to skycot availibility so at least in future you know what to expect when travelling.

Thanks,
Sarah

Hi Andrew, I would say that on about 50% of flights I do we have more babies than skycots so it's not true that VS dont book more infants than there are skycots avilable. It's a shame the crew didn't offer you and Infant Care Seat, but they might have thought you had paid for an extra seat for the baby. Did you let them know that you had requested a skycot? I hope you had a good holiday and this hasn't tarnished your view of VS too greatly.

Great TR. It is so important when travelling with children that you can plan ahead and I am very surprised VA can't allocate skycots on a first come first served basis on booking. I remember when my children were small I had similar problems when renting cars abroad and we would regularly arrive at airports to find the car did not have car seats or in some cases seatbelts! I'm pleased it hasn't put you off and you had a good trip out to offset the return journey experience.

Originally posted by phantomtwin

! Traveling with an infant is a different experience, but having done it twice, it's not as daunting as you might think and we'll be doing it again. Whether we do it with VA remains to be seen as Sydney and West Coast USA are planned over the next year.

Glad you got through unscathed. The more they travel the more they get used to it. like M'pond, ours now three and second nature and relaxed (with comical reaction from those sat around us). saying that, given your little ones age, it is by far the easiest time to do it (although with some forward planning).

All things considered VA have been extremely good catering for stressed adults with little ones, grass is always greener, and given our last, and last time! with CO, VA still come out as preference. CO didn't know if she should sit on my knee for take-off, sit in her seat (crew started arguing, very unprofessional), and she sat on knee outbound, & in seat inbound), also crushing our pram 'stroller'....

Originally posted by virginboy747
Hi Andrew, I would say that on about 50% of flights I do we have more babies than skycots so it's not true that VS dont book more infants than there are skycots avilable. It's a shame the crew didn't offer you and Infant Care Seat, but they might have thought you had paid for an extra seat for the baby. Did you let them know that you had requested a skycot? I hope you had a good holiday and this hasn't tarnished your view of VS too greatly.

Must admit that it didn't occur to me that the crew thought we might have paid for the seat. We did ask if we could use the cot and were going to put it in the footwell but that was not an option.

How long has the new infant seat been available - that would have been ideal, assuming it fits the PE seat and was carried on the plane?

Maybe I misunderstood on booking - we chose the dates as VA were able to confirm an unassigned skycot was available at point of booking.

If after all that it comes down to first come first served at check in I'll be pretty annoyed as that was never made clear. As I said the FC agent in London on the morning of the flight said don't worry - I can see it on your booking?


Andrew

[honey lamb]

Here's details of the infant seats

From our use of Skycots I have always had the impression that there is no tracking of numbers as people book - I even asked this exact question here a couple of years ago with no definitive ansewer.

On one occassion we turned up at LGW for a flight to MCO with a 3 month old that we had booked 11 months earlier - only to be told that there were no skycot positions available. Luckily on this occassion we were given an Opup and accomodated in PE.

I know some airlines also prioritise based on the age of the infant although I do not believe this is the case with VS.

My heart goes out to you though this was not a good position to find yourself in.

FM