Well, hats off to Easyjet. The flight to Inverness was great- they let us on first as was mentioned on this thread, and helped me with the ridiculous amount of kit that accompanies Baby Poot wherever he goes. The flight left late but arrived on time (!)
Yesterday we woke up to a winter wonderland- snow and strong winds, but the flight was only delayed by 2 hours, which was no problem. So all in all, a very positive experience.
By the way, to anyone who has travelled by air near a crying baby, let me assure you that it may be annoying for you but the baby's mother is probably mortified!
Thanks for all your advice- I took it and it worked!