Long-haul flight with baby - parents spread across the plane
My wife, our baby of less than a year, and I will embark on an Air China flight of roughly 10 hours in a few days. For organisational reasons, the tickets for my wife and our baby were booked by a different travel agency than mine. In order to ensure we can sit together (at least close enough to make repeatedly switching the seat next to the baby practical), we have made sure we are on the same flight (number and date) and in the same class (Economy), though.
Problem: Now, Air China is telling us Economy class does not equal Economy class to them; our tickets are of a so-called Y class and L class, respectively. I have never been aware that "Economy class" can be subdivided any further (in such a way that not every Economy passenger could in theory be seated where any other Economy passenger could be seated), but in practice, according to Air China, this means my wife and I cannot even be seated within visual range to each other, but only in different compartments of the plane's Economy section.
How can we both adequately care for the baby (switch who watches and sleeps; change diapers; ...) without repeatedly carrying the baby through half the plane or otherwise being too much of a nuisance?
The flight in question is typically really crowded, so rebooking at an affordable price so short before the journey is rather not an option.
Best Answer
One of the best i have seen, and many frequent fliers might agree, could be:
Board the flight, find whose seat is better, yours or your wifes. Offer the better of these two to neighbour of worse seat (of these two), thus you both sitting together in competitively worse seats. Most people will happily jump to better seat, better in terms of either/or window/aisle preference, legroom etc. You could always manage a bit of discomfort in seating in exchange to be seated together.
Like, if you find that L is better, offer it to Y seat's neighbour. It does not hurt to ask around if he does not agree, if both seats are same you think, others still might prefer one over other.
In any case, do not offer the worst of yours two seats to somebody sitting in better seat.
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Answer 2
Is your baby travelling on an infant ticket or a child ticket with his/her own seat? If he/she is still less than 10-12 kg, you can book a cot/cradle. You would need to call and book one a couple of days in advance. If you do, they will very likely move both of your seats to the row with the cot when you check in at the airport.
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