Question for Parent/Guardian/Those Travelled With Children

Morning all!

Posting on behalf of my friend (C) who is travelling MCO-LGW on the 5th September on her own with her two year old daughter (E).

Usually my friend travels with her husband (D) but this trip is on her own with her little girl.

The questions I have are to those folks that have travelled with small people (I haven't travelled with a small person on Virgin yet) and the subject is child seats.

Being over two, they have naturally purchased a child fare for E and C was wondering about the child restraint seats on board. They are the ones with the five point harness and look like a very comfy car seat.

C is more than happy to "rent" one of the seats as it give her some security on take off/landing that little E wont wiggle out of her seat etc.

Does anyone have any experience of these seats? If so, do you know if they are fitted before you get on the plane? Knowing little E, if she sits in the "big girls" seat, there is no way she will want to sit in a restrained seat if C needs to fit it herself.

This is more of a heads up kind of question really!

Little E has hearing problems and is pretty much profoundly deaf so there isn't much in the way of being able to explain to her the situation. It has to all be actions and gestures at her stage of learning and C is trying to avoid the meltdown that *may* occur!

Generally little E is a delightful child and will most likely sleep all way through the flight after she has played for a bit and had something to eat. Avoiding a tantrum that is!

Many thanks, in advance, for any advice or help I can pass on to my friends.

I've done a few flights on Virgin with my kids, for more general information see my trip reports:

forum/index.php?f=6&t=282185&rb_v=viewtopic
forum/index.php?f=6&t=282217&rb_v=viewtopic
forum/index.php?f=6&t=274070&rb_v=viewtopic
forum/index.php?f=6&t=274079&rb_v=viewtopic

As for the booster seats, my infant is 18 months so sat on our lap as he didn't have his own seat. Last year my 4 year old sat on the big seat himself but I'd say that's the limit for not having a booster seat as he struggled to see the IFE (which doesn't angle down.) For for ages 2-3 I'd say the 5-point harness seats are required. I've never seen one fitted myself.

Assume you've already read these two pages on the Virgin website
http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/us/en/tr ... ating.html
Our travel chair fits snugly into the aircraft seat and has a five-point harness to provides upper-body support. The chair is generally suitable for children aged 3 – 11, depending on their size.

and

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/us/en/tr ... ldren.html
The seats are available on every international flight and can be used in any cabin and are suitable for new-born babies up to children weighing 20kg (44lb) or measuring 100cm (40”) tall. To ensure you get a child seat, just buy a flight at the child fare - though you should note we'll need at least 12 hours' notice to ensure a child seat is available.

This is rather conflicting as 40" tall is not 11 years old more like 4 years old.

As a further point, Florida car seat laws are slightly different. If she's planning on doing any driving here she'll need a group 1 car seat (that look like this http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... _langId_-1 other car shops are available) but your friend could possibly have a booster seat which isn't allowed over here. She can bring one with her from Florida in the plane hold for free (not part of baggage allowance) but they will not use it onboard.

Make sure a child meal has been ordered but that your friend takes along plenty of snacks etc that she knows her little one will eat.

A call to special assistance probably won't go amiss either.

We had one of these seats when we travelled to MCO in EC with our son back in 2010 when he was 2. They are kept onboard and fitted for you when you get to the seat. The cabin crew lady fetched it and with some brute force fitted it for us!!
To be honest it wasn't great, as soon as he fell asleep his head was lolling all over the place ! Also there is very little recline.
On the return journey we didn't bother as it was easier for him to sleep with his head on my lap or arm or on a couple of pillows.
It was good to give him a little extra height for watching the IFE though.
Not sure about it being suitable upto 11 years old though

We also bought a 'bubblegum' inflatable booster when we travelled to ORD with him in PE in 2011 (aged 3.5), again pretty useless, in hindsight should have just taken a £10 booster from Halfords which would have been useful in the taxi to/from airport also.

Hope that helps.
L2H

Thanks everyone for your replies! Very helpful.

Passed all of your comments on to my friend who asked for her thanks to be passed back! Saved her some stressful pre flight thoughts!