Not all bassinets are created equal. Air Canada’s design is superior to British Airways’, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it’s bolted directly to the bulkhead rather than being strapped to a shelf. That means there aren’t straps over the top of the bassinet, which makes it much easier to get your baby in and out as necessary. We filled our daughter up with a 100ml of milk and she passed out in my lap, and it was then easy to put her down without waking her.
The other benefit of the Air Canada bassinet is that it’s much lower, which means even tired parents can be secure that their child is alright, by simply peering from their seats rather than having to get up and look down. When you’ve had a six a.m. start, every little helps.
The only disadvantage I can think of is that you can’t fit as many bassinets onto a plane as with the British Airways design, so although if you do get a bassinet, you’ll be happier, you probably have less chance of getting the bassinet.
Apart from the early start, this leg of our journey has been pretty easy. Flying Air Canada, at least internationally, means floating in a bubble of niceness. When your reservation gets mucked up and you fail to get the vegetarian meal you’d asked for, they don’t tell you that you booked with the wrong travel agent (thanks BA), they give you an extra bread roll. Which, though it isn’t a full cordon bleu tasting menu, is better than only one bread roll.
What wasn’t so pleasant is flying from Terminal 3. After the spacious modernity of Terminal 5, or Changi, or Hong Kong, Terminal 3 is crowded and noisy, with an uncomfortable seating area attached to an enormous duty free booze shop. It feels as though the waiting area is nothing but an appendage to the more important alcohol selling facility. But that could hardly be plausible, could it?