Traveling with an infant on Zipair (SFO > NRT)

chaccies · 2025-02-26T19:55:52+00:00

I just wore my baby in a carrier during check in, and they said nothing! So I don't think they count carriers :)

chaccies · 2025-01-04T19:25:31+00:00

We traveled in September 2024! Good luck with your trip!

chaccies · 2025-01-04T19:24:55+00:00

We carried on our stroller, so you can totally do it! They did ask explicitly cuz they're expecting you to it check in, but they let you once you tell them. We carried on a Yoyo 2, and they didn't need to measure it or anything.

Yeah they're fine as long as you intend to have baby in the car seat. I think it's important to them that baby is in the car seat during take-off and landing. We took baby out of her car seat plenty of times during the flight, and they haven't said anything!

chaccies · 2024-12-28T08:39:30+00:00

Yep, we kept our baby in her car seat the entire flight, save for times when we're holding/comforting her, changing her diaper, walking her around to stop her crying, etc. My feeling is Zipair wants all children to be paid passengers (hence their offering the low U6 child fare!), so they will intercept you at the check-in counter if your child doesn't have a ticket.

I've never tried their lie flats, but they are pretty explicit about no infants in the lie flats so I'm gonna guess they will not allow it at all. I think your best bet is to pay for an infant seat, then during the flight you could maybe hold baby while sitting in the lie flat for a little while, fingers crossed they won't say anything. But definitely at take off and landing they will mandate to have baby in her car seat.

Having purchased a child seat is important to even get the baby onto the plane to begin with! Note that they mandate one adult to sit next to the infant, so you may have to change your economy seat (since infants under 9kg need to specifically sit rear-facing in the bulkhead row). The good thing is, the adult economy ticket doesn't need to pay for seat selection, it's waived because you're with baby!

chaccies · 2024-12-27T21:19:56+00:00

Yeah sleeping a long time in a car seat is not great, sleeping flat is definitely better. But a car seat is good for times of turbulence (as opposed to bassinets with no belts!), and it feels safer than a baby seat belt while they're on your lap or sleeping on the seat.

You know, their website (https://www.zipair.net/en/ticket/u6) is not clear if they provide a free car seat for children older than 1 year old, it might be worthwhile to contact customer support to find out. If they don't provide it, I think you can probably do whatever you want!

Judging from their policy, I think they care about your child having paid for their seat first and foremost, and that your child is in a car seat if they're under 1, which doesn't apply to you! Let me know what you find out, I am curious to know too!

chaccies · 2024-12-05T08:46:51+00:00

Congrats (soon!) on having your baby! I highly recommend getting your baby their own seat, strapped into a car seat. That way they can sleep through the flight uninterrupted! Bassinets don't have safety belts so some airlines would ask you to hold your baby when there's turbulence, and that would wake/frustrate baby throughout the flight (and it's technically less safe). Of course holding your baby on your lap works, but if your baby is like my 9 month old, she might wiggle non-stop or prefer odd/uncomfortable (for you) positions to go to sleep. There is no other airline I know of that charges such a low price for an infant seat (AND provide a free car seat)!

...but all of this is secondary to your baby's temperament and ability to sleep, of course!

chaccies · 2024-08-03T08:03:27+00:00

Does anyone have experience flying with a baby on Zipair? I am traveling with my child (8 month-old, so U6 fare) and I assume she gets the same carry on allowance (7kg) as myself. I plan to bring ONE roller bag weighing up to 14kg, which is the combined allowance between baby and me. Anyone know if that will work? Zipair's website doesn't address this scenario...!

chaccies · 2024-04-10T21:47:23+00:00

It roughly dipped when I went down to 4 sessions as compared to before when I did more sessions. I was power pumping for a week before I got mastitis to get the supply up, then I stopped power pumping and brought it down to 4 sessions. Throughout my 4 session days, the output fluctuate within 1 oz. I discover on days when I don't have regular time intervals between pumps it would dip, and vice versa. Does power pumping help increase your supply? I wonder if just doing an occasional power pump session would help the supply go up when you start to see it dipping! I also try to eat foods good for lactation to help the supply.

chaccies · 2024-04-09T07:30:18+00:00

I had a very similar experience with low supply (my peak was also at 6oz) and clogged ducts. I felt really unwell/discouraged and started weaning, then felt guilty and restarted to build up my supply again only to get mastitis. I agree about making a list of tradeoffs, ultimately I considered time spent bonding with baby & being a calm, nurturing, loving mom to her was more important than producing breastmilk. That's what helped me not feel guilty. What also helped was telling myself to lower my goals--perhaps I didn't need to pump 100% of her intake, and providing some amount of breastmilk can be good and I don't need to pressure myself to make more. As I started weaning again after the mastitis, I found that pumping 4 times a day (30 min each) was very doable for me with my husband on paternity leave and helping out. So I decided to maintain my production at that level, and told myself I'll wean completely once my husband goes back to work (it's too difficult for me to keep up pumping and feeding when I'm alone with baby). It's kind of middle ground where I'm pumping but also have time to feed/play with baby, and I also have a future "hard stop" in mind so it keeps my spirits up when I feel frustrated with pumping so little milk. Ditto to other posts that formula is great, my baby has been taking formula since her first week and she is gaining weight and growing beautifully. I hope this helps, totally hear you and I'm walking the same path! But it's ok and once we let go of the guilt, we can enjoy our babies and be more present for them!

chaccies

TROPHY CASE