Traveling Alone to India with a Toddler - Help?

Tanujam30 · Sep 29, 2011

Hello,

I am planing a trip to India 1st week of December with my then 20mnth old daughter and I am having a hard time deciding whether we should or should not buy a ticket for her. I understand I am not required to buy her a ticket under 2. But a 20hr journey with a super active toddler might be a lot tiring for both of us.

I am planning to travel emirates down to Mumbai. All the friends we spoke to never bought a ticket for their under 2 yr olds and say that there were plenty of empty seats for them to actually lay down flat across 3/4 chairs. All these people have traveled to Hyd though.

Is there anyone out there who has traveled to mumbai on emirates ? Have you found an empty plane ? I would really hate to spend 50K for DD tickets when there might be free empty seats....I could use the additional 50K for my wardrobe budget

Appreciate any help I can get !

chitmin · Sep 30, 2011

I travelled to India with my then twenty month old son over the summer, and I requested a bassinet seat (we flew Lufthansa). Like you, I had also debated on getting him a separate seat since I was traveling alone with the baby. However, I'm glad I didn't get him a seat! My son wanted to be held by me for the most part, and even when asleep he didn't like being in the bassinet (Lufthansa is perhaps the only airline with the large bassinets that can accomodate children till the age of two). The only time an extra seat was missed was during the meal service--however, my son also spent time on the floor in front of my seat playing with his toys while I fed him and ate. I'm not sure if you're flying alone, but if your husband is accompanying you, then you can just take turns in holding the baby. I would recommend taking a few new toys, so your baby will enjoy playing with it for a while. Finally, rather than flying to India, we ended up walking to India-given that my son was super excited in making friends with people in the aircraft and generally exploring the place! So we spent a fair amount of time walking up and down the aisles!

I must confess that I was exhausted by the time I got to Delhi, but nothing a good nights sleep can't take care of. I would do it again!

Regarding the empty seats--that depends on when you are traveling. Usually December-January is peak season, and the aircrafts are usually fairly packed.

Have a good trip!

Ami · Sep 30, 2011

A small experiene I shd share with you-one time, we got an empty seat right next to us and that time, we three were travelling. BY the minute, my kids were so happy that they could sleep with their legs stretched, an air hostess came and she was on off-duty and sat next to us until we reached our destination, poor us..So, pls dont have any expectations. Summer and winter are always fully loaded with people.

Tanujam30 · Oct 3, 2011

Thanks Chitmin ! Really appreciate the response.....Actually thats my biggest concern, that having bought an expensive ticket, I end up with my DD in my arms all the way. SO yeah the seat seems a waste. I think me & DD are also likely to walk-fly all the way. She is super active & will definitely want to be about when awake...I am hoping she will sleep a lot, since I am travelling all alone with her.

Thanks Ami for your response...Yes I understand empty seats in dec are unlikely. I am preparing for accordingly. Hopefuly with get bulkheadseats, so there will be some extra room.

archana0302 · Nov 15, 2011

Hi I am new to the group. Happy to see this discussion here.
I am travelling to india with my 1 and 2yr old boys in Jan. Since I am travelling alone with them I got seats for both (lets me not get into my finanacial sob story ..... )I was advised by my agent not to carry carseats. I read something about CARES, an FAA approved harness system for kids. Anyone used it or got any advice for me????? much appreciated ladies.

pihoousa · Nov 21, 2011

everytime i bought seat for my lo...even when 9mo old..if u wanna njoy with ur dh but one ticket ..
bassinet is for younger kids..n common kid will be comfortable too.