Flight Help! Travel with infant, AA vs Lufthansa

[longtimenopost]

Hi ladies! I am a former IN dropping in to seek advice. We are taking DD on her first intl trip to visit the in laws in May. I am debating between the following schedules. 
Trip Info: DD will be 13 months adjusted. She is low on the growth chart and will likely still be <20 lbs. She has global delays and will not be mobile. DH and I plan to bring her on as a lap baby. I plan on bringing the boba and (maybe?) an umbrella stroller. We will be there for 2 weeks. Final destination is about 1.5 hours from airport. 

Option A: American Airlines (through Heathrow, intl legs operated by AA)

Over: Dept 4:25P, Arr 7:50A
         2 hour layover (incl customs)
         Dept 9:55A, Arr 12:50P

Back: Dept  9:45A, Arr 10:00A
         2.5 hour layover
         Dept 12:25P, Arr 4:50P


Option B: Lufthansa (through Frankfurt)

Over: Dept 3:55P, Arr 8:50A
        3.5 hour layover (incl customs)
        Dept 12:30P, Arr 1:55P

Back: Dept 7:05A, Arr. 8:10A
        2 hour layover
        Dept 10:15A, Arr 2:10P
                                  

Price difference is negligible. Pros for AA include the Aadvantage miles (would give me enough for a domestic flight) and the later departure time on the trip back. Pros for Lufthansa include the longer layover for customs and that they are not AA... 

Please share:

1. Which itinerary would you choose and why?
2. Experience with AA or Lufthansa when traveling with an infant?
2. General tips and tricks for travel at this age? 

I would appreciate any advice/insight!                                           

[frlcb]

I would always choose an international carrier over a domestic carrier. Where are you flying to?

Bring more clothes/diapers/food than you anticipate needing. Remember you will never see the people on your plane again, so don't worry if they give you nasty looks - everyone was a baby once too! Spend time outside to combat jet lag. Go with the flow in regards to napping/schedules (we just let their bodies decide what they need).

What was your old screen name?

[longtimenopost]

Thank you! I was jbranden. We are flying to Denmark and home from Brussels.

[Shreddingbetty]

We flew through Frankfurt once (sans child) and hated it. I haven't flown through Heathrow so i can't speak for that airport although it seems like people complain about that one too. The one flight back leaves a little bit later in the morning but I don't know how much that would sway you one way or the other. If you have a ways to travel to get to Brussels a later time might be nicer. If you are in Brussels already it wouldn't make much of a difference. I guess it would also depend on the day of the week. On the weekend you probably wouldn't have to worry about traffic but that would be an issue during the week.
Do you have a layover in the US? It always seems that US customs tends to take longer than in Europe.

I honestly don't see a huge difference between the two flights so I guess I'm not really much help...

If you are used to carrying her in a carrier I probably wouldn't even bother with the stroller. We left our stroller at home for any travel by plane after our first trip to Europe at 4 months. We did get the GoGo Babyz to carry the car seat around (which we gate check, I hated the car seat on the plane) and so I always just throw my carry on on that while I tote it around the airport. 

[allibally]

You will probably feel less cramped and have more legroom in the Lufthansa seats. But you would have to check the actual flights into Seatguru.com since I don't know the planes you will be one. Personally I would choose Lufthansa.

[anna7602]

Flying through Heathrow from continental Europe is the seventh circle of hell with a child. We had to go through security again and the connections were very far apart from each other. It was hard to do and I was really stressed out about it. However, I was traveling with DD solo and she was well out of the carrier/stroller stage. I basically just had to implore her to run so we wouldn't miss our flight.

I also don't like AA flights to/from Europe all that much (to/from Latin America, they re fantastic). I felt like I had a lot less leg room compared to Air France, Virgin or Iberia and there weren't individual screens on the back of the seats. It has been a long time since I've flown Lufthansa, so I can't compare leg room/amenities to AA.

[audette]

Heathrow has improved by a huge margin since terminal 5 opened. Most of my flights via Heathrow now, I fly in to terminal 5, and out of terminal 5. It's still not perfect; terminal 5 has two outlier gate areas accessible by train within security, but it's still a train; you still have to go thru passport control and security again there, but it's not as bad as, say, 6 or 7 years ago. (I'm not sure how long terminal 5 has been open, but I've flown thru heathrow both before and after... much more pleasant after. 2 hours should be fine now, although it won't allow for a huge amount of lounging around time, which I kinda like for connections)

I've never made a connection at Frankfurt. But, I'd bet that you would have to switch terminals there (domestic vs. international), and that may require a train/bus and passport control and security all over again. So I'm not sure the connection airports make much of a difference.

I fly with oneworld, if I can, so I'd go for the AA flights. But, I will admit, the one time I've flown with Lufthansa (with zero status with them), I found the flight and all quite reasonable...

[Deleted]

Two hours is probably not a long enough connection time at Heathrow. Especially with a baby.

[crimsonandclover]

1. Unless you're lucky, 2 hours is probably not enough time at Heathrow with a baby.

2. I've never had any issues with connections at Frankfurt. I do remember having to book it through the airport at a dead run to make a connection once, but that was because my original flight was 2 hours delayed. I made it, but no big surprise, my luggage didn't. No biggie - Lufthansa had it delivered to my apartment the next day.

3. Lufthansa provides baby food for babies. Seems like a "duh" thing, but SAS does not.

4. The seats on the Lufthansa flight we were on were in a 3-4-3 configuration. DH and I were in A and B with the bassinet in front of us and some lady was in C. I found the bassinet placement on that flight to be extremely confining. We couldn't really even use our trays to eat. Other carriers I've been on (United, SAS) have been roomier when it comes to the space between the bassinet and your lap (i.e. the space between the seat and the bulkhead wall). It's probably different on different Lufthansa planes, though, just depending on the plane you're on. I've never flown American with a baby, so I don't know whether they're better or worse in terms of space.

Pros and cons to both sides, but if it were me, I'd choose Lufthansa and Frankfurt over American and Heathrow.

[potatopie]

We just flew twice AA with our 3- and then 4-month old.

Pros for AA:
1. They let us board early out of Heathrow
2. We had short layovers both times in Heathrow and had no problem making the flights with security and customs
3. Even though there was no bassinet, they ended up giving us three seats to ourselves both times. Even when the flights were quite full.


Cons:
1. No bassinet, so you can't guarantee space for baby.
2. Didn't let us board early out of Chicago
3. (Not baby related) but there were no personal movie screens and the films weren't great


Not sure if it's a pro or con, but the flight attendants on AA pretty much ignored the fact that we had a baby. We sat in the bulkhead seats on the first flight and put the baby wherever we wanted; splayed out on the chair, on the floor...etc. They didn't tell us anythign special to do during take off or landing.

BA, on the other, made us keep him in our arms and put on the extra seat belt during take off and landing. and they kept coming by to "check on him," which was nice and all but they also wouldn't let us cover his bassinet with a thin cotton blanket to kept out the light (we do this in his stroller at home to calm him). They kept pulling back the blanket when they checked on him. I thought that was annoying since it disturbed the baby.

[Deleted]

Heathrow vs. Frankfurt: I hate Heathrow - especially with kids! - but would probably take it over Frankfurt just because I already know the layout/gates/what a cluster it is.

And like crimsonandclover I have had a two hour layover and had to literally run to make the connection. Kind of a challenge when you have one kid strapped to you in an Ergo and are dragging an umbrella stroller and a preschooler. And no, I couldn't put the preschooler in the stroller because then we would have had to take the lifts instead of the escalators. Then we definitely would have missed our flight.

This is a good reminder about why I am avoiding long haul flights for the next year... But you'll be fine longtimenopost If you have DH with you and one kid, you are golden!

[longtimenopost]

Thank you all so much for sharing! I think we've decided to go with AA with a longer connection time in London. What tipped the scales was that my parents decided to fly with us both ways. My mom has gold status on AA and she'll book all of our tickets and hopefully the perks will help, as will having four laps!

[anna7602]

The idea of having FOUR laps is dreamy. The one time I flew with my ILs somewhere, I barely even noticed DD was on the plane. Wishing you the same experience!

[frlcb]

We actually have no issue with Heathrow with kids, we always transfer there when flying to the North of England to see my inlaws. It is busy but it has never been horrible.