Traveling w/out a ticket for baby... best chance for getting a seat?

I'm flying with my 10 month old (at that time) DD as a lap child in September. 2.5 hour flight, no connections. Please don't attack/judge me for not buying a ticket for my DD (not that anyone here seems like the attacking type ). It's just not possible right now, and although all the info about what can happen to lap children terrifies me, I've weighed the risks and made this choice. Part of the choice is based on the very low likelihood that this particular flight will be full, so I'm looking at how to ensure that I can use an empty seat for my DD's carseat.

I will be carrying my Safeseat 1 on the plane. How do I ensure that the last seat filled on the flight is the one next to me? Should I contact the ticket counter ahead of time? I did put my DD's name and info in when I bought the ticket, so they know I have a lap child. Will they automatically keep the seat next to me open as long as possible?

Just wondering how to make the best of a non-ideal situation.

Also, should I bring the SS1 base? It's so easy to install with the base. Will it really be safe in the car at my destination installed without the base?

Thank you!

I wouldn't bring the base. It will be fine installed without the base.

Once you get to your gate, go to the little checkin counter at the gate and tell them that you are flying with a lap baby and you have brought your car seat and ask them if the flight is full. If it is not full, they will do some switching of seats for you. Especially since your DD would have to have a window seat.

But, it also all depends on the airline. Even if they don't do it for you, if you tell other passengers that your child's seat is on a different row than your seat, they will understand and offer to switch with you.

I've only flown with Jordan as a lap baby once when he was 4 months old, and I think we flew Southwest which doesn't have assigned seats, so that made it easier.

Yeah, I was going to say that if you flew Southwest you would have the easiest time.
I think everything the PP said about just talking to flight attendants & people is spot on though.

This happened to me one time when I was flying. My assigned seat was next to a woman who had a lap baby. There was an empty seat two rows up. The flight attendant asked me to move to the seat two rows up so that the woman with the baby could have a spot for the baby.

Of course I moved.

When I flew with DS I asked to be seated next to an empty seat when I checked in. Often, even after DS was 2, when I have flown with DS and there are empty seats around the person besides me usually offers to move to an empty seat to give me more room . . . not sure if they actually did it for me or their sanity

If you go to the airline's website and input the flight as if you want to make reservations, a lot of times, you'll be able to view available seats on the aircraft.

If you've purchased online, you might also be able to switch your seat assignment at that time too. I've done this with American Airlines several times in the past year.

I was told by Continental that if I didn't have a ticket for the baby that I wasn't able to bring the carseat on the flight. I'm not sure if it was just that ticket agent. I'd just double check beforehand. I hope it works out. :thumbsup:

What airline are you flying?

When I worked for JetBlue we always advised parents to gate check the carseat and that they would be allowed to bring it on board if there was space.

I'm flying Frontier. I think I'll try and book myself a window seat of a three-person row. The middle seat is always the last taken, so that will give me a good chance of putting DD there. If they don't let me bring my carseat on board I'll cry. If the plane is packed full, of course I'll gate check it, but I'm sure there will be at least one seat somewhere!