Airlines and traveling with an infant

I thought I would write about our experiences with airlines recently traveling to and from Siberia.

We travelled on three airlines: Air NZ, Air China and S7. I will break this up into each segment of the travel.

AKL-Shanghai
We travelled on Air NZ. We were in the back section of economy but at the front/centre of this section. This meant we got a bassinet. This was excellent. The bassinet was at a good height. The flight was 12.5 hours long, which is a fair stretch. The service was very Chinese orientated with all announcements in Chinese first. The service, inflight entertainment system and food was not as good as Singapore Airlines.

Shanghai-Beijing
We travelled on an Airbus 340. There were very few people but the service was good. The airline people loved Katya. They put on a VIP bus to take us to the plane because the normal bus was "too cold". They had no child restraint and no bassinet (although this is explainable by it being a domestic day flight). The toilets were stinky.

Beijing-Irkutsk
We travelled on S7 Airlines. This is a "go for it" Russian airlines. It was using its old TU-154M aircraft which feel a lot more safe than Boeings operating in the winter. The food is excellent but there are No facilities for babies and no change tables in the toilets. However the seats fold down and make an excellent change table.

Irkutsk-Beijing
Exactly the same service. No facilities but we did get the front of the cabin which gives you fold down benches which Katya loved playing on. The fold up seats allowed us to put Katya in her carry pack.

Beijing-Shanghai
This again was Air China. This was very bad service. The boarding was late. Then the plane started to move before we were seated. There was no lap belt for Katya. At Shanghai they held all the other passengers up in a waiting bus while we got out stuff sorted.

Shanghai-Auckland
This was Air NZ again. This time we were in the front economy cabin at the front-right hand side. The bassinet was mounted significantly higher because the Pacific Premium class in the section in front impacted the wall between us. This made the bassinet very hard to operate. Also they chose to seat some poor girl next to us which I am truly sorry about. It must be a nightmare being seated next to an infant. The service was appalling until one of the senior NZ based crew intervened and sorted out the Chinese based staff. Just little things like bring one meal for one parent at a time so that the other parent can look after the infant. These things help. The bassinet material was also not leather this time. This meant it got static charge which electrocuted Katya and me a few time. One time Katya went to bite the bassinet and got electrocuted through the tongue.

Summary
I continue to recommend S7. You don't expect much from a Russian airlines but you get very good service and you will be pleasantly surprised..

The Air NZ direct flights to China save a lot of time over going via Singapore. Overall I think it is worth it, particularly when you will soon be able to go directly to Beijing. However Air NZ have a lot of work to do to catch Singapore Airlines. There are a lot of little details that just make traveling easier and they are not attending to them.

I would stay away from Air China. With direct flights to Beijing, this will be possible.

Traveling with an infant
I was a bit worried about this. But my worries did not eventuate. Flying over when Katya was 12 months was simple. It was made simple by Claire still breast feeding her. Planning before hand (ie how many nappies, changes of clothes, feeds, etc) really helps.
Traveling with a 13month old was more challenging. Katya believes she can walk, although evidence suggests she has a bit to learn. This means you have to constantly be watching her ready to stop her falling. Plans are not designed for infants and have lots of hard edges and things for catching infant fingers. I think the just pre-walking stage is the worst. Once they walk they should be ok so long as they are on a leash (I am serious... we saw one couple in an airport with their kid on a leash and it worked well).
I think our kiddie backpack was brilliant. It meant Katya could see what was happening but could not grab things like pens off us as we filled in mountains of forms. She also slept in it very happily.
Finally I would suggest that traveling with infants is ok. Just get your expectations right and you will be sweet.