I flew United and didn't need carseats for my 1 and 2 year olds. Yes-- I flew alone with them at 28 weeks pregnant. :) The kids meals were sandwiches and hotdogs. The kids slept 3/4 of the flight. Not bad at all. Making the trip back next month with a 2 month old, the two toddlers, and my hubby.

If you are making your flight reservations at a US based travel office, such as the one in TMO, you can request your Kid meals (even veggie's for those who don't eat meat, Kosher, etc) right at that time. Another tip is that if you do have to fly on AMC contract flights (Baltimore to Ramstein, Turkey or Aviano), ask the TMO Pax rep to request a child's meal when making the reservation in GATES. Some TMO airmen do not even know that it is there, but trust me, tell them to look for it. It is located in the seat map screen where they request your seats if memory has not failed me.

Very interesting report, I'm curious how they are going to work my request to TDY enroute to OSAN... Thats not till early Dec or late Nov though...

Unfortunately, fishe, NCS spouses aren't authorized to utilize TMO to purchase their tickets.. so that option isn't available to them. It's cool,though,that CS folks can take advantage of that opportunity! :)

Some civilian travel agencies will make special requests for you, meals,etc., but won't do so unless *you* make the request (i.e. they won't ask you if you want it...) and unfortunately, many folks who travel don't realize the option is available to them, and some presume that even if they discover that the airplanes offer such things, don't think they can make their request after the time of reservation.. which is absolutely not true. Never be afraid to call and ask your airline..you'll be surprised how accommodating most can be..

And even among civilian travel agencies..some are utterly clueless...we went through ITT to get all of our tickets over (including hubby's , so we could be guaranteed the same flight,and adjoining seats) , and the travel agent I was dealing with there had *no clue* what I was talking about when I initially bought my tickets. I finallly just gave up,and made the call myself a week or two before our departure date.

Dee :)

Curious. If TMO books your tickets (aviano-osan), is there any way to pay the upgrade cost to business out of pocket? If so, does this have to be done at the time of purchase @tmo, or can it be done when i check in?

Gumby:
If you have 25,000 air miles to use up, you might use them to "Pay" for a seat upgrade, but I'm guessing at age 22 you don't.
I have flown on many long flights, and Business class upgrade has never been enough difference to make it worth spending cash, for me. There are usually insignificant differences in Business Class and Coach. You can still sit in front of a kid who pours OJ on your head, and share a toilet with barfing kids. The wider seats in First class cost $200 more, but still get hard after 12 hours, and the rear of the plane arrives at exactly the same time as the front. You should be able to sleep 50% of the time, and the fresh squeezed OJ is available all the time. Walk back and get it. In many cases the flight is not full, and you can sit most anywhere after takeoff. Lots of times folks go to business class and sleep across three seats.

Mr. Joe has a good point. Is it really worth spending your money on an upgrade? Not really. But if you have the airmiles, might as well. If you are really hard up for upgrading with your own money, once the ticket is purchased, you call the airline directly to pay for the upgrade. But it is not cheap. The uneducated ticket agents at the desk don't even know how to read their own airfare rules. They consider the military contract rate a discount rate, when in fact it is not a discount rate, but an agreed upon rate. So with that "discount rate" mentality, they tend to overcharge for you for an upgrade. Rough idea about the cost...I was flying from San Antonio to Dallas on a government contract fare that cost $124. To upgrade that ticket to first class, it would cost me $275. Then the ticket total was $399. That is the actual cost of a first class "full fare" ticket for Joe Public. Then again, it is usually a 43 min flight to Dallas. Not worth it.

I must disagree with Mr. Joe's statement about business class. Well, while I would agree with what he has to say for most first class or business class seats on domestic flights in the US, Asian pacific business class seats and first class are typically offer some of the best seats or "flight experiences" in the world. I do agree, we all get there on the aircraft at the same time, we all don't arrive in the same condition.
American, United, and Delta are all installing lie flat seats in the 777's and United's 747 for business class this year. Singapore Airlines, has some of the most comfy seats in he world, or if your lucky enough, Emirates airlines is ranked first in the world. Business class will offer movies on demand, larger food portions that include superior food and deserts and wine, and larger chairs that recline usually back to 71’ and have leg rests that make it easier to falls asleep in when your drunk, and wake up refreshed when you reach your destination.
OH, another tip, handicap bathrooms are usually twice as large!!!
I attached a great link so you can compare all the different kinds of seats available on commercial aircraft… just my 2cents!!
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?i...3051&tbl=CABIN

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?i...7771&tbl=CABIN

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?i...1279&tbl=CABIN

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?i...3618&tbl=CABIN

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?i...3145&tbl=CABIN