Air travel with baby?

My son is now 9 months old and am planning to take him to india for about 4 months to spend time with his grandparents.So in the return journey he will be about 13 months.My question is about the bassinets that the flight provides.Is the bassinet big enough for a 9 /13 month old. if not then i have to carry the car seat.Also..can a 13 month old sleep without the car seat directly on the flight seat buckled up..sorry if it sounds silly i have no clue

I dont know about the bassinets.. but usually if they are under 2 yrs old they need a carseat!

Check with your airline about the weight limit of the bassinet. If he's too big, then you can either (a) hold him in your lap or (b) buy him a ticket. If you choose to buy him a seat, then definitely take your car seat. I don't know where you are coming from, but imagine it could be a long flight.

We have a 2 year old and have always used his car seat since he was born (we live in France and travel back to the US for visits to grandparents). We recently tried to take a short flight within Europe and use the regular seat/seatbelt. He was so uncomfortable and wanted to be held the whole trip. Unfortunately, you can't hold children over 2, so we had to strap him in and let him cry until after take off and landing. We went back to the car seat on the next flight and he is so happy and comfortable in it. He sleeps pretty well in it, too, even at 2 years old. I don't think there's any rule that says you have to have the car seat if you buy them a ticket. But, I don't think it's very comfortable for sleeping in the upright position and A LOT of airlines don't have armrests that come up so he can't stretch out on your lap.

It depends on you. When we took our daughter to Italy for the first time she was 2 months old and we held her in our laps. The airline we flew never offered any bassinet, so i don't know about that. I would just bring the car seat for both flight, and no they will most likely require him to be in a car seat unless you are holding him..

I traveled with my son quite a bit, too. I took him to Brasil (11 hours away) when he was 10 1/2 months. It may depend on the airline, but the bassinet on our plane was for up to 22 lbs. (10 kg). My son was too big, unfortunately, but we did use it when he was 4 months though. It is up to you whether you want to buy him his own ticket and have him sit in a carseat. It's not necessary, he can be a lap child until 2 years of age. I had my son on my lap for all the trips. He slept a lot of the time anyway (breastfeeding definitely helps with this!).

Another thing, I don't think my son would have been comfortable buckled into a regular adult-sized seat. Plus, I don't think the aircrew would allow you to do that. Either he's a lap child, or he travels in a carseat. If you don't want to pay for a full ticket for him, bring the carseat just in case there are extra seats on the flight.

Hope this helps! Have a great trip!