American Airlines Infant Policy: Lap Children, Seats and Bassinets

Car seats and strollers

• An approved car seat can be used on board where you have bought a seat for the child. It needs the certification label showing it is approved for aircraft use — check for it before you leave home.
• Strollers and car seats are generally carried at no additional charge, either checked or gate-checked.
• Gate-checking a stroller is usually the practical choice, since it stays with you through the terminal.
• A compact, narrow car seat is far easier to fit in an aircraft seat than a wide one. Measure before travelling rather than discovering it at boarding.
• Protect the equipment. Gate-checked items are handled like baggage, and a padded bag is worth having.

Bassinets

• Available on long-haul widebody aircraft only, not on domestic narrowbody flights.
• There are very few per cabin, and they attach to bulkhead positions.
• Request as early as possible. They are allocated in advance and the bulkhead seats go first.
• Weight and length limits apply, and a baby who has outgrown them will not be accommodated however early you asked.
• Nothing is confirmed until you board, because a change of aircraft can remove the position entirely.

Baggage for a baby

This is where costs appear unexpectedly:

• A lap infant generally has no checked baggage allowance of their own. Whatever the baby needs comes out of your allowance.
• A diaper bag is usually permitted in addition, but confirm whether it counts against your carry-on.
• Formula, breast milk and baby food are exempt from the usual liquid limits in reasonable quantities. Declare them at security and expect them to be screened separately.
• Pack more than you think you need in the cabin bag — at least one more change of clothes than seems necessary, for the baby and for you.

What to have ready

• Proof of the baby's age. A birth certificate or passport. Airlines do ask, particularly where the child is close to 2.
• A passport for any international flight, including for a newborn. There is no exemption for babies, and processing takes weeks.
• Any visa or travel authorisation the destination requires for the infant in their own right.
• A consent letter where only one parent is travelling, which some destinations expect.

The passport point is the one that stops trips. Start it as soon as an international journey is a possibility, not when the flights are booked.

Booking it properly

• Add the infant to the booking rather than turning up with a baby. The airline needs them on the record.
• Check the seat you have chosen allows a lap infant. Exit rows do not, and some bulkhead rows have restrictions.
• Only one lap infant per adult. Two babies means two adults, or a purchased seat for the second.
• Book the bassinet request at the same time if the flight is long-haul.
• Confirm the infant appears on the reservation in writing before you travel.

The flight itself

• Feed on the way up and the way down. Sucking equalises ear pressure, which is the single most effective thing you can do about the crying parents dread.
• Do not wake a sleeping baby for descent. If they are asleep and comfortable, leave them.
• Dress in layers — cabins run cold, jet bridges run hot, and a baby cannot tell you which.
• Use the changing table where one exists, usually in one lavatory per aircraft. Ask a crew member which.
• Board last on a full flight if you can. Less time sitting still with a baby is worth more than overhead bin space, provided you have gate-checked the bulky items.
• Accept help. Crew and other passengers generally offer it, and the flight goes better when you take it.

Getting through the airport

The flight is rarely the hard part. The two hours before it usually are, and a little planning changes that out of all recognition.

• Allow far more time than you would alone. Everything takes longer with a baby, and being late with an infant is a genuinely miserable experience.
• Use the family lane at security where one exists. Staff are used to it and it is slower in a way that works in your favour.
• You will carry the baby through the detector. The carrier or sling goes through the scanner, so plan to have your hands occupied at that moment.
• Keep formula, milk and food accessible, not buried at the bottom of a bag, since they are screened separately.
• Change the baby immediately before boarding, not an hour earlier. It buys you the first part of the flight.
• Find out where the changing facilities are at your departure, connecting and arrival airports. They are not always obvious and not always near your gate.
• Do not rely on buying supplies airside. Nappies and formula are not reliably available past security, and what there is will be expensive and the wrong brand.

What families most often get wrong

• Not checking the age on the return date. The second birthday mid-trip is the classic and expensive mistake.
• Assuming an international infant ticket buys a seat. It does not.
• Bringing a car seat without the aircraft-approval label, which means it cannot be used on board.
• Leaving the baby's passport until the flights are booked. It takes weeks.
• Requesting a bassinet late, when the bulkhead seats have gone.
• Packing everything for the baby in checked luggage.
• Booking an exit row and discovering a lap infant cannot sit there.

How Fond Travels can help

• We check the baby's age against every flight date, which is the mistake that costs families most.
• We price the lap option against a purchased seat honestly, including what a car seat on board would mean on a long flight.
• We request the bassinet early and pick bulkhead seating where it exists.
• We flag the passport and visa position for the infant as soon as an international trip is mentioned, because that is the item with the longest lead time.
• We make sure the infant is actually on the reservation, in writing, before you travel.
• We answer at any hour, which with a baby in the house is more useful than it sounds.

To plan a trip with a baby, call +1 (323) 800 6001. A travel expert answers any hour.