Alternative to Delta Airlines when flying with a child

Hello all,

I have been flying with Delta for years, and during that time I've had little reason to complain. However earlier this year I flew from Gatwick to Atlanta with my then 6-month-old, and DA completely lost the plot. The trip was unnecessarily miserable and not as a result of poor planning on my part.

I really don't want to use Delta (or their affiliates) for the transatlatic portion of our journey anymore. From what I've read Virgin Airlines provides a seat for your kid, which appeals, however I'm not having an easy time getting general fare ideas off their website.

Has anyone here flown to the US using Virgin?

Hi,

I've flown with them when my oldest was 4 months old. Because she was small, they provided a bassinet which was great & she was able to sleep & so did we! However, I know they are strict as to the weight of your baby using the bassinets & unless you want to pay for a seat, you won't get one for free (unless the flight isn't full). They will allow you to travel with your baby (under 2's only) seated on your lap & they'll give you a specially adapted seat belt for them which attaches to yours.

I know Delta have their base in Atlanta, but if you can get a flight there from Virgin, their planes are generally much larger & therefore the chance of a spare seat may be greater.  Don't fly Continental - we booked our flights with them on the fact that we'd get a bassinet & when we got to the check in - they were so rude at B'ham saying, "There are NO bassinets on the plane! Next!"

Hope your trip goes better than our was!

Oh, the kid will always have her own seat on long haul flights, as she did when we flew earlier this year. I'm a lunatic but not enough to fly over the Atlantic with a baby on my lap! 

I planned very carefully for our trip, and Delta did everything in their power to screw it up, so I wanted to hear from people who have flown with Virgin.

I've heard good things about Virgin, but nothing from parents flying with kids really.

L

I just flew over and back on Virgin last week and will do so again on Monday night.  While I didn't take my daughters with me, I have begged my DH to get his company to fly us on Virgin when we head over there for good.  They were professional and curteous.  From talking to the parents of those that had kids with them, you can request special meals for the kiddos on the web prior to the flight (haven't confirmed this but this was what they said)....and the TVs in the seats are a huge bonus...they have games and cartoons.  I can't imagine flying any other way. 

One thing I didn't see on the flight though was personal car seats for the little ones...I'll have to look that up cause I want my 16 month old to be in her own seat...strapped in so she can't crawl all over the place!  Gotta make it as much like a car ride as possible

I can't provide any real input on transatlantic flights with children in tow, but I just wanted to mention two things: first, that I fly Virgin whenever possible, as I find the entire experience far exceeds the experiences I've had on other airlines (I've also flown overseas with Delta, American and BA) and if you keep an eye on the fares you can often fly Virgin for around the same price as other carriers; and second, that if LGW-ATL is your preferred route, you're not stuck with Delta.  You also have the choice to fly BA - and I personally would choose BA over Delta any day. (I feel a bit dirty saying that, as I'm a Georgia girl through and through and as such it's a bit like disparaging Coca-Cola, but it's unfortunately true.)

I've flown on both Virgin and American airlines to CA with my son. He was 4 months old on AA and 10 months when we flew virgin. I have to say that both were pretty good. I had to call virgin's reservation line to get a price for an infant in his own seat. They were very good about giving me lots of details on how to have a trouble free flight with a child. AA made lots of promises to help when I booked over the phone, as I was flying alone with my baby, but at the airport in Heathrow and when we landed in LAX was another story. No help, not even allowed to board first, and no stroller when I got off the plane. Virgin was much better, although on board, they almost never answered my call button whenever I needed something which is not good when you have a little one who needs water for formula or a spoon to eat. I had thought i packed enough of my own but 11 hour flight proved longer than i thought with a more active baby.
 I posted earlier on another thread about the Virgin infant seat being like a booster seat sitting straight up and not being able to recline and needing a neck pillow for my son since his neck drooped and ached a bit as he had to sleep awkwardly and that they put the child on the aisle seat... not a safe place when they roll by fast with the food/drink trolleys. His hands reached out and almost got caught. AA puts the child on a window seat for safety.
 How old is your baby now? The in flight entertainment helped aboard Virgin as they had the screens on the seat in front of you. My son watched chicken little for a while which gave me a few minutes peace. Both offered discounts for infants in a seat, I never got 50% off though as I read on AA's website.

Guess I'll be the lone voice of dissent here.  Granted my kids are older, but we flew Virgin last winter and did not like it.  We found the seating to be cramped, the inflight entertainment for two of the three of us did not work, the food was mediocre, and the service was below average.  Maybe we just hit an off day, though...

Hello all,

I really appreciate your responses. Basically this is my beef with Delta:-

CAR SEATS
I couldn't get any definitive information from Delta over what car seats the airline would accept. I emailed them, stressed we were flying from England with an English car seat, and received a form letter back stating the seat needed to be FAA approved.

I called Delta's London office and asked a woman there what the European equivalent to the FAA would be. The woman had no idea.

The kid and I paid Gatwick airport a visit and the Delta desk assured me most newer car seats are accepted. However, if the crew didn't like our seat I may have to hold the baby the entire trip or hold the baby with the fasten the seatbelt sign is turned on.

It seemed Delta didn't have any information they could provide, and using a car seat on their plane was going to be a total crap shoot. It took me a couple of months to decide on a forward facing car seat for the plane because of this.

SKYMILES
I had ample amount of AirMiles for a free ticket, but I was unable to use the airmiles in May, and was forced to use them for July. I declined this option, as the paid ticket would have cost £1000. Flying in May for both of us cost roughly £700.

Stupidly since I still had AirMiles to use, I opted to use them to pay for the US part of the trip. So the Gatwick to Atlanta and back was paid for, but the Atlanta to Mobile, AL and back was taken care of in AirMiles.

I had no idea this scenario would create such havoc for Delta. They booked both our tickets as two completely separate reservations each. This created massive problems on the return trip.

FOOD
At Gatwick airport I ordered the baby a fruit plate for the transatlantic trip. After we were up in the air I was informed they had no record of the order, and luckily they can give us one because they had an extra plate.

A week before the baby and I were to return to England, I called Delta to reserve a fruit plate. The woman on the phone swore Delta didn't do fruit plates. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, I was put on hold for 35 minutes and eventually had to hang up. I called back later that day and another Delta employee told me the plate was already booked under daughter's reservation. Did we get a plate on the return trip? No.

I fully planned on bringing as little as possible, but because I couldn't get any consistent answers from Delta, I brought a very heavy bag containing food stuffs. I brought a thermos with hot water, a plastic container with water, several sachets of formula, fruit puree pots and other things because in the end my worst fears were realized.

THE RETURN
On the return trip, once we got to Atlanta I noticed I wasn't given my boarding pass for us at the Atlanta/Gatwick flight in Mobile. After asking the employee at the counter, he told me Charlotte and I were booked as no shows. I asked him why twice, as we were on time and the schedule was following to plan, and he refused to give me answer.

He was able to find us different seats. Originally the baby was going to have a window seat. We ended up sitting in the center with a man sitting to her right side. Luckily he was very nice, but it took a lot of energy from me because the baby was grabbing at him. The man was doing a crossword, and Charlotte showed interest in his pen top. He gave it to her and I had to explain to him the top was a choking hazard.

When our flight arrived at Gatwick, a Delta employee approached a couple of elderly travellers to figure out if any of them wanted to use the motorized cart service. I flagged the employee down to ask him if baby and I could use it as well, and he said he would check. Later on he returned and said we could.

Our small group waited until everyone else got off the plane. I carried my heavy bag, the baby's car seat and the baby, got to the top and the cart man said babies were not allowed to ride.

Needless to say I had no one to flag down at that point, so I had to put the baby in her seat, drag it along the floor with the strap and carry my big heavy bag all the way to customs.


Sorry for the long story, and thank you to those who have read it. I was so angry when I was told we were booked as no shows. I was almost angry enough to just over the counter and pummel that employee who didn't even make eye contact with me. And the flight attendant on the same flight who said she would help me board, carrying my very heavy passport and boarding pass and nothing else. (The car seat wasn't heavy and could have been easily carried by her.)

I have never been in such a situation where I felt I was going to lose it, and had I not had the baby, I probably would have been arrested.

I don't care if a plane is cramped, as it's expected. But if Virgin provides seats and a stroller service and maybe a little courtesy when flying alone with a small child, they'll be worth the cost.

We plan on flying out to the US again Christmas 2007. By that time, Charlotte will be 2 years, 3 months old.

My husband is in the process of applying for a job that'll take us to the Isle of Man. Our prospects look good at the moment, and if we make the move, we'll be much better off financially. This probably means the baby and I can fly back to the US once a year and all three of us can fly once a year. But I'll only attempt that with a more reasonable airline.

L

Damn, that's my longest post yet!   

The food issue was great on Virgin. They do a child's meal with raisins, fruit, string cheese and things like spaghetti or macaroni. The stroller service was good coming back to London but not when I got to LAX. They don't allow strollers to be there at the door when you get off the plane, but Heathrow did and it was very handy. I did pay more with Virgin but it was worth it. They offered to help me to my seat with my carry on bags as I had the baby to carry too. They almost always offer to find a bulk head row seat which is the row behind their economy plus area where there is a closet for coats which allows for no seats in front of you so you get extra leg room and if its not a full flight, its just you and the baby. On board as I mentioned though, the flight attendants kind of forget about you, so have plenty of necessities in your carry on. The only other issue was baby changing facilities. The handicapped bathrooms were the only ones fitted with changing tables and there was only one of those bathrooms in the whole of the plane. So depending on your seat, it was a long haul to the bathroom.
Good luck, hope you find the right airline 

lhoward,

While I totally understand your level of frustration, I just wanted you to know that after flying 250,000 miles over the past few years and well over 300 flights, your experiences are not atypical of the airline industry.  As a hardened traveller, I am a bit numb to things.

Not that I am defending them, but they move about 650,000,000 people per year in the US alone.  While the pasture may look greener on the other side, simply watching Airport (either the UK or US series) will remind you that such things are not uncommon.

The reservations systems are archaic and complicated.  I consulted with a Major US Carrier for two years (not Delta) and I can tell you it is amazing that planes actually get off the ground.  The airline industry was one of the first to computerize, and the core technology hasn't changed since then.

I am so hardened that a recent 5.5 hour delay in a plane didn't even phase me.  There are so many factors and moving parts, that it is amazing that we get from one point to another.  Add on top of that the complexity of the sercurity post 9/11 and it gets even more complicated.

As far as the free tickets, the problem with the airlines right now is that all the seats they have are being taken up by paying passengers.  The load factor this summer was the highest the industry has ever had and we finally have returned to pre-9/11 amounts of air travel, so air miles tickets on most airlines are really tough to get.  Even with my elite status with airlines, I have only been able to get tickets after the summer was over.

Again, that should never be an excuse for poor or bad service, and you have every right to vote with your money, but I gaurentee there are people out there upset with every airline out there...

One good resource for air travel, especially how to work whatever "systems" there are is http://www.flyertalk.com.  When flying on a new airline that I am not familiar with as far as policies and procedures, I check it out.  You can often find the "inside" ways to get what you need.  As well as I know that most if not all of the airlines actually watch that website to see what people think of what they are doing as well as to find out what other carriers are up to.  Personally I find the up to date equipment and seating charts very helpful to make sure I get a decent seat on the plane.

kitsonk,

Thank you for your input. I'll certainly look over the information you have provided.

I don't expect air travel to be perfect.... far from it. However if I'm forbidden to bring water on a plane to mix with formula, the airline best give a clear answer as to what they are going to provide for the trip.

Since I'm going to be possibly travelling with the kid alone once a year, I want to branch out a bit and vote with my cash. If paying extra means my child will get a meal and we'll get treated a bit more courteously, I'll make a wild dash over to the better contender. 

I'm happy to comply with any reasonable security measures, and for the most part I handle delays well. But in these days of stringent security measures, having clear and concise information for flying (international and domestic) passengers should be priority.

Thanks again,

Laura

Laura,

Well put...  Flying does suck these days!  I was just recently on a plane, with an airline I knew very well, but the flight attendant came up to me and made me turn off my MP3 player.  I complied but said "I thought that was perfectly OK until the cabin doors closed" and she replied "Well this is a smaller plane with less metal to protect the cockpit from your player"...  It was the most ininane thing...

Antother stupid thing is that Aer Lingus has a ban against all laser controlled devices, like a Mini Disc player who a flight attendant was quite upset at me with for playing because it "might crash the plane..."

Anyways, as you do you research, do make sure you stop by FlyerTalk...  I would ask their opinion there too of the best "child friendly" airlines, because there maybe ones that are truly better then others (like Virgin).  Sometimes I act like a child, but I don't have experience in flying with them in tow.