First flight with our baby

#jeddytravels Flying is fun!

The day after I turned 3 weeks, mummy & daddy took me on my 1st plane trip! It seemed to be a big deal cause the night before we flew mummy & daddy were running around the house looking stressed & piled a mountain of luggages at the door... apparently they used to travel lightly before me?

We arrived at the airport super early in the morning even though we weren't flying until after 10am... mummy & daddy said it's cause of all my extra luggages... but I think they just wanted to eat breakfast in the Virgin Australia lounge.

Anyways I enjoyed flying cause I got to cuddle with mummy & drink lots of milk at the start & end of the flight.... & then I fell asleep so really I didn't know what else the flight involved apart from the 10mins in between when I woke up so we can get some family selfies.

Mummy & daddy seemed to enjoy the flight cause they were smiling alot & didn't look as stressed after we flew ... & I got lots of compliments for being an angel.

(Soooo... angels just eat & sleep & fly all day right? I can be an angel!)

See below for disclaimers/FAQs from my mummy Dr Grace Sha

Disclaimer from Jeddy's mum :

This positive experience is related to our flight from Brisbane to Melbourne last Saturday on Virgin Australia, & we are grateful for the fantastic check-in team & oversized baggage team at Brisbane Airport We have had a very negative experience on our return flight on Wednesday evening, but there is currently an official complaints process in place regarding 2 check in staff members (who caused us to miss our flight & we ended up arriving home at midnight) which was initiated by check-in management team & the lovely Melbourne Virgin lounge team, so we will hold off sharing about it until that is resolved.

Friends who know me knows that I have been a frequent flyer since I moved intestate in 2005 & I have been a Velocity Gold member for many years, as well as travelled with Virgin Unite in 2019.

I am a health professional who has been practicing clinically since 2009, & have a special interest in treating children, family and special needs patients.

I have been blessed to be Aunty Grace to many of my friends' children for the past 20 years & have learnt from my friends' experiences.

Happy to answer any questions related to this particular flight in the comments if it's helpful for other parents!

FAQ 1:

- prams & bassinets & capsules: they go into oversized baggage area AFTER you have checked in. No one will help you pack them, but some come with travel bags. As ours was a 2nd hand gift from friends, we didn't have travel cases. My friend Sara gave me a hot tip to use clear wrapping sheets from Bunnings Warehouse Australia (like what you wrap around mattresses when you are moving) to protect my prams/ capsule. We arrived early so that we can bring Jeddy in these to the airport, check in, then wrap them to the side at the oversized baggage area (sometimes they want to screen them before you wrap). Oversized baggage boys were awesome at both Brisbane Airport & Melbourne Airport (especially the Brisbane team, they even brought everything to us when Nick was trying to organise all our luggages & I was holding Jeddy)- bring the baby on flight in an Ergo carrier, then when you are seated, the crew will get you to remove the baby & or put them on your lap, & you will be provided a special infant seat belt to put around your baby during take off & landing. (Outside of that time, we kept Jeddy in the Ergo when he's not feeding)

FAQ 2:

- we tried to minimise needing to bring car seat on our trip... as we were mainly going to be around City of Melbourne... we only brought the capsule, but left the car attachment in our car at home (& asked friends/ relatives to take us to the airport/ pick us up using this car)

- When we arrived in Melbourne, we caught the SkyBus & were blessed with nice drivers who made sure we got on & off safely & the pram was locked & in a safe position.

- during our trip we just used public transport around Melbourne. Many fellow travellers are not considerate of parents in Melbourne (compared to when we are going around Qld), & there were many times when people who are young, fit & able bodied who took up accessible spots while we were standing with our pram/ luggages & other old people with wheelie bags were also standing. I had to ask some of them to stand up 2 times as we were struggling too much. Very happy to be back in family-friendly Brisbane City Council!

(Thank you for asking these great questions Lucy.. as these were all things I was concerned about & had to ask many friends who travel frequently with young children / read the websites/ call Virgin Australia to ask in the months leading up to this trip)

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