It's a crapshoot.

That said, I did Dulles - Heathrow with a lap baby at 18 months, and it was okay. He fell asleep on top of me, and we were uncomfortable, and cranky when we got there, but we survived.

You can try to book the last two rows as they are the last to be assigned. Book an aisle and window leaving the middle to (hopefully) stay empty.

Anonymous wrote:I cannot remember the last time I flew when the flight was not packed full.

I flew to India via Frankfurt in November. Empty planes all the way. I was in coach but a lot of us had the whole row to stretch out and sleep on all 4 flights. It was a pleasant surprise.

OP, you will be ok, but prepare for the worst. My 2yos were really bad travelers.

Anonymous wrote:Op again, DD will be 2 in June so we wanted to get one trip to England in without being an extra $1,000 for her seat.

I seriously doubt an international flight is going to have an empty seat. I can't imagine having a lap child on my lap for 6-7 hours especially in the wiggly almost-2-year-old-stage.

I was able to do this on AirTran about 5 years ago. My baby was 3 months old and they let me bring and install my infant seat. I tried and failed on a few subsequent flights. Eventually I gave up. I wouldn't bank on being able to do it. You should reserve a seat if it's important to you.

What do you mean "let you have an empty seat next to you"?

When we flew I picked a seat like this on the seating chart. If that's not an option, you might ask the gate attendant to shuffle middle seats but I don't think you would be able to force someone to move once you are seated.

If you fly southwest, family boarding should make this work for you, if you put your toddler in the seat after boarding unless the flight is really full.

Op again, DD will be 2 in June so we wanted to get one trip to England in without being an extra $1,000 for her seat.

Op here, I mean when you check in, did you ask if the flight wasnt full, and if so did you ask if they could assign one of the empty seats next to you.

We flew Southwest in the fall with no assigned seats and got lucky both times, no one wants to sit next to a baby

I cannot remember the last time I flew when the flight was not packed full.

We did once. I would never do it again. I didn't feel it was safe. The trip home they gave us an extra seat and it was very nice. Most likely the flight will be full so do not count on a free seat.

We flew Southwest a few times and always had an empty seat and a not full flight. We did this mostly between 5 and 9 months. When we flew at 18 months we bought a seat.

Anonymous wrote:did the airline let you have an empty seat next to you if the flight wasn't full?

We are flying BA in April with a toddler lap baby and are hoping that if the flights not full we can do this?
What are the chances?

What do you mean, "let you?" If the seat next to you is empty, it's empty. If someone takes it, it's not.

Or are you asking if they will purposely assign an empty seat next to you? I don't think that's the case.

yes, ours did! was westjet

did the airline let you have an empty seat next to you if the flight wasn't full?

We are flying BA in April with a toddler lap baby and are hoping that if the flights not full we can do this?
What are the chances?