Getting a cot on an international flight

We're traveling to Ireland from the US in May and our son will be almost 9 months old at the time. We're traveling Aer Lingus as they're supposed to be pretty good with kids (compared to some of the US carriers into Dublin). How do you get the seat with the mega leg room and potential for a cot? Will they automatically put us there when they see that we've booked a ticket for an under-2 year old?

I've not used one on Aer Lingus but with the other airlines I've had to phone up and ask the agent to put us in a seat that the cot can be used with.  Other times they don't release those seats until the day so it becomes a first come first serve at the check in counter- in that case they've put a note on the reservation. 

If I were you I'd call as soon as you can to see what their policy is.  Just a FYI the cots I've had were all just made out of the same fabric the seats were so I used the blankets they give you for a little extra padding and took an extra one of ours to make it softer.

Here's Aer Lingus' own information on reserving a bassinet for your little one:

http://www.aerlingus.com/help/help/inflight/

They advise that bassinets are subject to availability and advise you to pre-book by calling their reservations department.

I hope this helps

When we flew with various American airlines, we had to ask at the counter and hope we beat out the other families to them. I have heard airlines in other countries are a bit better about reserving them beforehand if you call. I will say that by the time our daughter was 9 months, those bassinets were completely useless! They were laughably tiny and we ended up just holding her while she slept. Oh, and we usually travel with a car seat and ask at the counter and/or gate if there is an extra seat available for us to use (when we choose our seats, we always leave a seat in between ours as single travelers won't choose a middle seat unless they have to!). We've had pretty good luck with this and can then bring the car seat on board to use in the seat--I cannot tell you how much better our daughter slept in the car seat than in our arms when she got older! If the seat isn't available, we just gate check the car seat (which I would never do with our nice, expensive car seat...we have a cheap car seat designated just for air travel). Anyways, so that is an option to consider in case you don't get the bassinet.

we always leave a seat in between ours as single travelers won't choose a middle seat unless they have to!

I do this as well!!  Also was going to comment about the age and car seat idea.  If its a normal empty seat that works but remember the bulkhead (where you get the leg room) the arms don't go up so can get uncomfortable.  I've done the carseat as well and its worked great.  I usually travel alone and have figured out how to attach our carseat onto my Maclaren so I DS can sit and I can still push him to the gate etc

This is all excellent advice, thanks! That's interesting about the car seat. They let you use a seat without paying for it? Hmmmm.... We were just going to rent a car seat from the car rental place, but this could be a better option. Although thinking about it....my son doesn't sleep in the car seat except when he's in the car. The eyes pop open as soon as he goes in the seat. It's a toss up for sure with the bulkhead arm rests not going up. There's more space for us to function, but if he's going to sleep in our arms we might want the arm rests to go up so we can get comfortable.

The thing with bringing the car seat is that you are not guaranteed a seat. The way flights are overbooked nowadays, I really would not count on being able to do that. I would call the airlines and request the bassinet now.

yeah unless they have a seat booked you can't guarantee that there will be an open seat next to you.  Agents have told me they try to block the seat but if the plane is full they have to use it so you can ask.  Most times you can have the car seat along for free it's just be a matter of them checking it or not.  Do be aware that US and UK/ EU have different car seat requirements and laws so if you want to use the car seat in the car it is suitable for the country you'll be driving in. 

We live in the UK and I have a US car seat here that we use when we travel back then strap it into the car and use it for the duration of the trip them use it on the plane then it goes into storage as it is not UK approved.

Thanks, everyone! I called Aer Lingus and booked us the bulkhead seats. Even if he ends up being too big for the cot, it will be nice having the extra space. We're not going to take our car seat, we'll rent one from the car rental place.

My little one didn't really sleep in the cot much.  It was a bit small for her, but I still found it to be a lifesaver.  She could sit there for a bit while we did things like eat something or get stuff out.  It was like having another chair on the row and it gave her something to distract her.

I went to London with my son when he was 10 months old and we sure to ask for bulkhead sitting on British Airways and arranged a sky cot. It was excellent and I suggest it. Many air line provide it but make sure befor your flight.

We flew BA from Heathrow to Boston Logan when Thomas was 13 months and had a skycot in a bulkhead seat which worked really well. Hubby reserved it ahead of time.