We were due to fly with Jet Airways until they went bust one week prior to departure so we rebooked with Virgin Atlantic. We took a taxi from Henley-on-Thames, leaving our trusty car seat and buggy with the taxi firm Chilterns, and switched to the Ergo 360 baby carrier.... eek! It was straightforward however at Heathrow Terminal 3 as the big backpack and small daypack went on a trolley, and we checked the big one in (19kg). We had a number of hours to kill in the airport but I had booked a Groupon voucher which got us half price entry (£20) to the No 1 lounge. This was more than worth it as I not only had red wine and cheese but my own quiet room in which I breast fed and changed Tiger.
The Virgin flight VS300 from Heathrow to Delhi was thankfully extremely quiet and departed on time at 21.40. Thankfully, from around 23.00 and for the next six hours or so Tiger happily slept in the bassinet I had requested in her little sleeping bag. Tiger was on my lap for take off, but after take off the crew fixed the bassinet to the wall, and she lay down in it quite happily, being strapped in much like she would be in the car seat. Although the arm rests in my row of four seats did not come up (presumably due to our location - row 51) I was able to sleep myself across two seats and it was handy to be there as we were right next to a toilet which had a baby changing table in it.
Although I hadn't really thought through taking a night flight with a baby, I would definitely recommend doing this as she simply slept overnight. Much more peaceful and even though we then had 4.5 hour time difference between London and Delhi, this seemed to be no issue in the coming days.
Comments