Mar 2012 - Israel Trip Intro

As I've mentioned before, my mother grew up in Israel in a city called Haifa (about 2 hours north of Tel Aviv). Haifa is where the Bahá'í Gardens (seen here) are located but more importantly,  where my grandparents live.

My father always tells me how important family is and that it was very important to go see them.  After living with him for a year, however, I've come to realize that it was actually a ruse to pad his United frequent flyer mileage balance so he can hit Platinum status in 2012. The Newark (EWR) to Tel Avis (TLV) is 11,384 miles round-trip.

The same weekend I received my US Passport in late November, we booked flights to visit Israel in March 2012 when I'd be about 4 months old.  Note:  apparently booking right after Thanksgiving is a good time to save money on flights.

Now, for those of you who haven't flown internationally with a sweet baby Lap Child before, the rules are slightly different (but potentially better).

Domestically

• Must be under 2 years of age (for both the outbound and the return)
• I can fly 100% free
• Extra checked bag for me
• I have to sit on my parent's lap 

Internationally

• Still have to be under 2 years of age (for both the outbound and the return)
• I have to pay about 10% of the cost of my parent's ticket
• Extra checked bag for me  
• Potential access to a baby bassinet

For many (but not all) international flights, as long as your parents call ahead to reserve the "baby friendly seats" behind the bulkhead, you'd get your own bassinet to sleep in (as long as you're under 22 lbs weight).  Here's a link to United Airline's Infant Rules but each airline may have its own rules.

I say "potential access" because you should confirm with the airline that your particular plane has bassinets, because not all planes are the same configuration, even if they're the same model and flying the same exact route.  For example, the EWR-TLV flight uses the Boeing 777-200 airplane, but there are 7 different configurations for that same 777-200 model.  If you click on that link, you'll see that only Version 6 and Version 7 have bassinets.

Luckily, my father is neurotic super detail-oriented so he called twice* to confirm the exact version of the 777-200 to make sure I had a bassinet.  Otherwise, my mother he would be stuck holding me in her his arms for 12 hours (though, I think they should love holding an adorable baby like me.  Just saying...)

*Note:  Some agents don't understand there are multiple configurations that may or may not have a bassinet, so they may often give you mis-information.  You should check a few times if you're going to need a bassinet before you book/pay.  Also, try to avoid using the c-word or the f-word or the n-word.  Just some free advice.

Now, back to the 10% fee.  Being only a few months old, I didn't have a paying job yet (much to the disappointment of my Asian Father), so I had to borrow money from my mother (who gave me a very favorable interest rate for family members).

So while my parents paid $1,170 / person ($0.102 CPM), I only had to pay $108.  Flying to the motherland (10 hours outbound, 12 hours return) ain't cheap!