1. Virgin Atlantic help centre
  2. Flying with children
  3. Seats for children

An infant is a child less than two years old. (Children aged 2 and over are not permitted to use an Infant car seat onboard)

If you would like to use your own car seat, it must:

  • Be designed to be secured by means of a normal aircraft single lap strap 
  • Have a separate 5-point restraining harness 
  • Not exceed the dimensions of the aircraft seat, and should fit into an area of 43cm x 43cm (17.ins x 17ins) 
  • Must be secured to its host seat at all times of the flight 
  • Must not require the use of a three-point harness to secure it to the aircraft seat.
  • Rear facing car seats are not allowed
  • If for any reason your car seat cannot be fully secured, it may have to be placed in the hold. In these circumstances, your infant will have to be secured to your lap whenever the seat belt sign comes on

The car seat must also display one of the following labels:

EU approved labelling

Approved for use in motor vehicles according to the UN standard ECE R 44, -03” or later

OR

‘Qualification Procedure for Child Restraint Systems for Use in Aircraft’ (TÜV Doc.: TÜV/958-01/2001)

FAA approved labelling

Approved for use in motor vehicles and aircraft according to US FMVSS No 213 and manufactured to these standards on or after February 26, 1985 ‘This child restraint system conforms to all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standards.

This Restraint is Certified for Use in Motor Vehicles and Aircraft.’

Australia/New Zealand approved labelling

Australian Standard AS1754
New Zealand Standard NZS1354

OR

Joint Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS1754

Canadian approved labelling

Standard CMVSS 213/213.1

Please note:

1. You may be asked to show the approval labelling to our ground staff and cabin crew, so please make sure you know where to find it.

2. You’ll need to show our cabin crew that you’ve fitted the seat securely and in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

3. The seat must fit securely using a normal aircraft seatbelt, as unlike cars, we don’t have ISOFIX systems or seatbelts that are worn over the shoulder.

Premium and Upper Class

If you have a car seat, you may be aware that you can’t use them where airbags are fitted. As all of our Upper Class suites and the Premium seats on many of our aircraft have airbags you will be unable to use your own car seats.

Comfort aids and harnesses permitted for use onboard

The below devices are permitted to use for children onboard all Virgin Atlantic planes. Any other devices that are not present on this list aren't permitted onboard at any time. 

  1. Child body support 
  2. Travel chair 
  3. Cares harness
  4. Infant seat belts - these will be provided by the cabin crew onboard your flight 
  5. Car seats - these must meet certain requirements. Please read more information below.
  6. CoziGo Canopy to be placed over infant's bassinet
  7. Trunkie/Bedbox that extend seat pan for children to sleep*
  8. Plane Pal - inflatable cushion for children to sleep, please note that only the Plane Pal brand is permitted*
  9. Small inflatable neck pillows


* Can't be used if the child is in an aisle seat (middle and window seats are fine). Must be stowed away for taxi, takeoff and landing, and during turbulence. Can be carried instead of a cabin bag. 

Comfort aids not permitted for use onboard

With the exception of the devices permitted to use onboard (as above), any other devices aren't permitted onboard at any time.

Examples of devices not permitted on board at any time:

  1. Leg hammock for passengers to place their legs inside 
  2. Inflatable foot rest that attaches to the seat in front 
  3. Large soft or inflatable head pillow
  4. Privacy band that attaches to the headrest 
  5. knee defender

Cots / bassinets onboard

All cots/bassinets should be requested in advance. You will need to speak to our contact centre to request a cot/bassinet.

• If you already have a booking, please log in to ‘My Booking’ where you can speak to an advisor via web messaging.

• If you have not yet made your booking, please Contact Us by telephone and let the advisor know you would like to request a cot/bassinet.

Our teams will endeavour to ensure that as many requests as possible can be accommodated, however each of our aircraft carry a limited number of cots/bassinets onboard. These will be allocated in the order we receive the requests for each flight. Your seat number will be allocated ahead of Online Check In opening.

Please refer to the tables below for more information regarding our cots/bassinets onboard our aircraft:

Economy and Premium sky cots

  Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Airbus A330-300, A330-NEO and A350-1000
Dimensions 28.6cm wide x 72.7cm long (11.25” wide x 28.6” long)
Maximum weight of baby 11kg (24.25lb)
Maximum height of baby 760mm (30”)
Aircraft type Number of bassinets onboard 
Boeing 787 Dreamliner Economy = 4. Premium = 4
Airbus A330-300 Economy = 3. Premium = 3
A330-NEO Economy = 4. Premium = 4
A350-1000 Economy = 4. Premium = 4

Upper Class sky cots

  Boeing 787 Dreamliner, Airbus A330-300
Dimensions 35cm wide x 24cm deep x 76cm long (13.8” wide x 9.4” deep x 29.9” long)
Maximum weight of baby 11kg (24.25lb)
Maximum height of baby 750mm (29.5”)
Aircraft type Number of bassinets onboard 
Boeing 787 Dreamliner 1
Airbus A330-300 1
A330-NEO 0
A350-1000 0

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