Flying with Emirates

Flying with Emirates

Sydney via Bangkok

I had never flown with Emirates but I had heard great things about this airline. We were booked to fly with Emirates and I was curious to see how we’d go travelling with a 7 month baby.

I was apprehensive after checking out the dimensions of the bassinet online. Jaeminkins was 75cm long already but only 8kg so I was thinking the length was going to be a tight fit.

We also have bassinets on board all of our aircraft, measuring approximately 29.5 inches (74.93 cm) long by 13 inches (33.02 cm) wide by 6.5 inches (16.51 cm) deep. There is a weight limit of 11 kgs. In the First Class suites a custom bassinet is fitted that measures 25 inches (63.5 cm) long and 11 inches (28 cm) wide.- Emirates website.

The first leg of the trip, leaving Sydney in the evening at 645pm, there was one stop in Bangkok which we stayed on the flight for and then onwards to Dubai. In total it was a 17 hour flight.

Before takeoff, I was given a seatbelt extension which was to be used for the baby, as Jaeminkins was strapped to me by the Ergo carrier there was no need. The flight attendants also gave us a rat puppet, baby food and a baby pack which included wipes, rattle, and cream. How great is that? For this leg of the trip, I found the staff friendly and accommodating. The flight time was great as it was inline with Jaeminkins' bedtime of 7pm so he had no problems drifting off.

One tip I was given was to take some glu-tak and a muslin. We used the glu-tak to stick on the wall and drape the muslin over the bassinet. This was the best idea ever (thanks Damon!) as there all those lights on the planes and even in sleep mode there are exit lights which was too bright still.

The other tip was to breastfeed whilst taking off to ease the pressure in the ears of the baby. I did this for this for the takeoff and then for all subsequent landing and take off, there was no need as Jaeminkins showed any discomfort.

I shouldn’t worried too much about Jaeminkins not fitting as he slotted in just fine and looking over at the other babies, you saw feet hanging out from the top, a very funny sight.

Only crap thing with the bassinet was once it was up, you couldn’t take out your entertainment system. Probably a good thing as we needed our sleep. Another downer was that we were hemmed in by a South African that had broken his foot. Good times.

James slept for most of the first leg even with the slight turbulence. But once we were close to landing in Bangkok we had to remove Jaeminkins from the bassinet and hence disturb from his deep sleep. Not ideal but it had to be done. At the changeover in Bangkok to Dubai, it was chaos with new staff boarding and cleaning staff frantically trying to clean with us passengers in the way.

Bangkok to Dubai

Now it seemed with new staff, new rules were in place. After taking off, I was rocking Jaeminkins back to sleep and it wasn’t helping that there were 2 other babies beside us that were howling. Even as all the other parents asked for bassinets and I was standing nearby there rocking Jaeminkins, the staff had their blinkers on and walked straight past without offering to put up our bassinet. As I was watching, the staff placed the bassinet into position for the family beside us and then was asking the mother to test it out and to put all her weight into it to make sure she was happy with it. That was something new.

It was only when we buzzed them did they come to our aid and put up the bassinet. I had just managed to place a sleeping Jaeminkins into the bassinet before the seatbelt sign came on and an announcement about some slight turbulence and the staff came to me and asked me to remove Jaeminkins from the bassinet. Now that was the first time I had heard this and I stared daggers at the flight hostess as I complied. I was immensely confused as we were never told this for the first part of our flight.

The seatbelt sign was then on for 2 HOURS and there was no signs of shaky turbulence what so ever. I was not only having to hold a sleeping baby in my lap but also needing to go to the toilet at the same time.

Once we arrived into Dubai in the early hours of 6am, I was looking forward to getting to our hotel and finally being on the ground.

Dubai via Larnaca

Now that I was slightly more prepared with flying with a baby, I thought that it would get easier. We had another early start of 5am and Jaeminkins was asleep in the ergro carrier so that was easy for the first part. The staff for this flight was amazing, they happily amused Jaeminkins, he got his photo taken and as it was a day time flight, he amused himself playing in the bassinet, in the chair or on the floor.

With this plane A330, the bassinet was up higher so we had space and another bonus could use our entertainment system.

Larnaca, Cyprus to Malta

We luckily had the same cabin staff and time flew past.

Palermo via Rome

We had the drama of finding out that our bags weren’t on the same ticket so they wouldn’t get checked through to Sydney and there was nothing we/or the Emirates staff could do. So our option was to as soon as we got to Rome, we had to go through the motions of baggage claim and then getting to the departures terminal to check into the Emirates counter for our connecting flight. It was a tight time frame as we had 1.5hrs to do this.

To add to the stress, our plane was late in boarding and we had to catch a bus to the plane which added more time. Our seats were near the back of the plane so that meant that we needed to wait til the majority of the people got off the plane before we could get off.

Hubby was then adding to my stress running through all these different scenarios if we were to miss our connecting and so I told him to stop as I could see myself stacking it and landing on my tummy and in the process hurt Jaeminkins.

As soon as we got to Rome, it was a race to get to the check-in counter for our next flight. We had to split up so hubby went to get the luggage including oversized luggage of the car seat and travel bag for baby whereas I had to figure out where I needed to go. We were in Terminal 2 collecting bags and our departure tickets were saying that we needed to get to Terminal C. Talk about terminal confusion.

So I went looking for Terminal 3 so I assumed that it was same as Terminal C. Walking from one building, following the signs to T3 and I thought it was great that it also gave you an estimated time of a minute to get to but it seemed to be longer. I then had to catch a lift up to the departures floor and then got into a panic when I looked around to find the Emirates counter was closed. Had to tell myself to breathe and looked out for the departure board and then read that the check-in counter was 278. Turning around and taking a look, it was right in front of me so I headed straight over.

I was hoping that they would look at me and the fact that I was carrying Jaeminkins to hopefully get us on the flight. The Emirates staff asked me where my husband was and if our luggage had come out, had to say a white lie and as this was happening, hubby managed to grab all our luggage, haul it over cobblestone and was on the phone to me trying to figure out where we were.

I could hear the desperation in his voice as I was trying to explain where I was and looking up, I see him charging past with the trolley and even yelling that I was to his right wasn’t enough to get his attention.

Rome via Dubai

Hubby was very happy about making this flight and I was happy not to listen to all the ‘what if’ scenarios. As we were late in taking off, the captain promised an early landing which then meant for us a longer transit in Dubai.

I was feeling quite delirious at this point and was elated to get a stroller at Dubai airport so I didn’t have to carry Jaeminkins. Having an unsettled baby required us to pace up and down and it was particularly busy at 10am. Managed to kip of 20minutes on the lounges and it did help make me feel more human but still exhausted and not looking forward to the next leg.

Dubai to Sydney

Now this leg of the trip was just horrible. It was a very long flight and Jaeminkins was very unsettled. Jaeminkins cried an awful lot and would only settle if we had him in the ergo carrier jiggling him around. Will took the first 2 hours and I got myself a break and then it was my turn.

Great plane especially as I could tune out for 2 hours and finally get to see a flick. The plane had the bassinet higher so that meant we could move around easily enough and put up our tv screens.

The flight staff was not so friendly or helpful. As the seatbelt sign had been taken off and Jaeminkins was restless, we put him on the floor to play only to be told by a flight attendant that this was not allowed. So another inconsistency yet again. We were sitting in the middle of the plane, no where near the aisles and it not allowed to put him on the floor?

 

Another couple with 2 kids disregarded the flight attendant and allowed their kids top sit and move around on the floor. As we were on the Airbus 380 and seated at the front there was a lot of room to move around and let Jaeminkins play. He loved the plastic cups, headsets and reading the duty free catalogue. Haha.

Halfway through the trip was when it got tough for me, it was another 6 hours to go and I thought that it was never going to end. Think the tip for next time is to stopover at Dubai and chill for a couple of days and then face the 14 hour flight home.

Or perhaps it was good that we straight home so Jaeminkins would be back in familiar territory. Who knows but I was definitely glad to be home.

Luckily the flying bit of our holiday was over but don’t get me started on the driving through Sicily. I will just say motion sickness, scary corners and misadventures with the Tom Tom, after all that it’s smooth sailing. Well at least we were all talking to each other.

But I’m curious to know what are other people’s experiences with Emirates. Did you have similar, better, horrible experiences? Would love to hear your views.