Flying with a baby. Usually the stuff that pops up in nightmares but since actually having a baby I’ve learnt this really isn’t always the case. Yes babies cry, but in my flying experience with Little A in the past year, I’ve discovered that adults are far more annoying than any baby, mine or otherwise, that I’ve come across. Yes, Mr “I’ll just have a shave at my seat while everyone else is sleeping”, I’m looking at you.

Last month, myself, Little A and the grandparents flew to Toronto from Glasgow Airport to explore the city and to meet up with ‘daddy’. Who on a side note, got to enjoy a relaxing, peaceful flight on his own from Gatwick. Not. Jealous. At. All.

We flew with Air Transat and for full transparency I’ll say here that I used to work for them in their UK office. But when we flew I was just another passenger and the crew wouldn’t have had a clue I had anything to do with the company. They’re a Canadian airline, based out of Montreal who have been flying between the UK and Canada for many, many years.

Glasgow Airport to Toronto

The direct Glasgow to Toronto service is brilliant. There’s not a whole lot of options for flying to Canada direct from Scotland and it makes such a difference knowing that you just have to get on the plane at ‘home’ as such and then get off and get on with your holiday when you touch down in Toronto. There’s no transferring in airports or having to go through the dreaded Heathrow where the soul aim is to put you in a bad mood. This route is fab! Plus it’s just takes around seven hours for the outbound flight and around five and a half on the way back home. So, for a ‘long-haul’ flight it’s not too long. Particularly with a little one in tow.

The flight

I was so impressed with both flights. We were in economy in the middle three seats so I wasn’t expecting it to be superbly comfortable but there was plenty of legroom and it was actually rather comfy. In all honesty, had the journeys been awful I just wouldn’t have mentioned any of this and just skipped straight to the fun part of exploring Toronto. But I wanted to give confidence to other people flying with young children and give praise where it’s due.

Keeping the little one amused

Last time I’d flown with Little A he’d been two and a half months old and happy to eat, snuggle and sleep. Fast forward to ten months, and while he still loves to eat and sleep, he also loves to crawl, move and generally not sit still. This was the part I was most worried about. I took the baby sling on board so I had something to ‘contain’ him in and this was great. He was happy to sit in it and look around, plus when he started getting sleepy, a short wander around the plane meant he was asleep in no time and then I didn’t have to move him, I could sit back down again and enjoy a film. I also had a backpack full of little toys and snacks but with so much going on to look at including the touch screen on the back of the seat in front ( thankfully there was no one in the seat) that was just calling to be played with, he was happily distracted when he was awake. There was another wee bubba on the flight who was 11 months who had a lovely time crawling up and down the aisle and no one batted an eyelid. It really is a family-friendly airline!

A crew with smiles

From the moment we boarded the crew were friendly and had lots of smiles for Little A. I can’t remember the number of times they also said to me to let them know if I needed anything.  I was given a baby essentials pack which was a nice touch – it had a nappy, change mat, wipes and a duck teether. A new toy is always a bonus to keep the little one amused for a while.

I’d chosen to sit at the back because it’s usually that little bit quieter and there’s space to move around which overall makes it a little less stressful. There were a few other families nearby too. Once boarding was complete there were a couple of empty rows and I could see them moving the families around to give them more space which I thought was really nice. We had an extra seat behind us so while the grandparents got their cuddles in, I got to escape and watch a film.

Returning home it was even better, we had seven seats between the four of us and as it was overnight, it meant Little A could lie down across a couple of seats and have a good sleep. Yippee for arriving back home with a happy baby!  

Airline food – the verdict

I have to mention the food. It was great to see that they’d taken onboard all of the feedback from passengers over the past year with regards to the menu. I’d actually packed sandwiches and snacks to take on board. Oh ye, of little faith! But the food was delicious. Yep, I said it, airline food that was delicious. Outbound, I tucked into a tasty orzo salad, followed by garlic and ginger chicken with rice and then chocolate coated blueberries. It honestly wouldn’t have been out of place in a nice restaurant.

On the flight back home, the soggy sandwiches of times gone by were thankfully nowhere to be seen. And in their place was Chicken Provencal, which again was really nice. I was really impressed and as I was travelling with the grandparents, I got to enjoy both meals while they were hot. What a treat!

The bonus of a direct flight

It was so nice arriving back at Glasgow Airport (well as nice as coming home from holiday ever is!), sailing through customs and being back at the car within 40 minutes of landing. Seriously impressive!

If you’ve ever wanted to experience Canada easily from Scotland then Air Transat’s direct flight to Toronto is definitely worth considering. One easy, comfortable flight and then upon landing, hop on the UP train where you can then be in downtown Toronto in just 25 minutes.