Tips for Flying with Children

by guera in Kids, Travel on 25 January, 2008

So after reading about my horror story you probably don’t think I’ve got any useful tips for flying with kids. smile_wink But not all our trips are like that (thank god!) and I think we’ve learnt a few things along the way - like don’t do it alone! Actually, I’ve flown with Guerita a lot of times on my own and for short haul/domestic trips I would happily travel with both kids on my own. Its really just the airports that cause us grief.

Anyway, here goes with the tips I can offer for flying with kids. Clearly this is just what works for us and it might not work for you. Maybe some of its pretty obvious, but I guess it’s worth listing it for the sake of completeness. Please, let me know if you have any great suggestions for how to manage it!

I’ve broken them up into the “stages” of travel. It seemed to make more sense in my mind that way…

When you’re booking the flights

Timing

Think carefully about departure and arrival times and stop over times. When we booked our flight from Toronto to Sydney I didn’t really consider the fact that we would be spending 2 hours in LA at 10pm. Really bad time to be making the kids walk around! Now I try to make sure the departure times aren’t too horrendous (nothing too early or late) and that any stopovers are at reasonable hours of the day. I also prefer to arrive at my final destination in the morning because I find with jet lag that its easier to make myself stay up all day before crashing for (hopefully) a good night’s sleep, rather than arriving late at night and trying to force myself to sleep when I’m not tired. That’s just me - it depends a lot on how much you can sleep on the plane.

For short haul flights with babies, I usually try to book on a flight that departs at around or just after nap time, so that the bub is well and truly ready for a sleep. I find they often sleep for longer than normal on the plane. Maybe because of the background noise?

Seating

If you have an infant, request the bulkhead seats. These are the ones with a wall in front of them where the bassinet attaches. Even if the airline promises you these seats, don’t believe them. Take every possible step to secure those seats, including checking in online the day before, reserving your seat online or over the phone, getting to the airport ~~the day before your flight~~ with plenty of time to check in so you can get those seats. They are definitely worth it because they have a lot more leg room and space for the kids to spread their stuff around. I have lost count though of how many times the airlines have sworn black and blue that we would have those seats only to check in and not get them or worse to be told straight to my face at check-in that we are in a bassinet seat - and when you get to your seat you are sitting next to another mother who has been told that she would have the bassinet seat - and there’s only one bassinet! Be a pain in the ass if you have to get these seats because they are worth it. Even if you don’t have an infant, request these seats just for the leg room.

If after pestering the airline above to get those bulkhead seats, you still don’t get them, put on your best poor-me-travelling-with-kids face and ask if there’s anyway you could have a spare seat next to you. This works more often than you would think! If you can butter up the check-in clerk or flight attendant, they will sometimes go out of their way to make it more comfortable for you. When we’ve flown on flights that aren’t full, they have sometimes blocked out seats next to us or even whole rows. This is particularly good if you’re travelling with a big baby on your lap - like Chiq - she’s too big to happily go in the bassinet, but not big enough to get her own seat, so the extra space is really handy. If all else fails plead with people around you to swap seats. Most people are only too happy to get as far away from the kids as possible!

Meals

Request a kid’s meal. Even if you’re not keen on your kids eating chicken nuggets, or you know your child would prefer what the adults are eating, the kid’s meal is a good option because:

they bring them out first, before the kids are ravenous and impatient and before you get yours, so you might have a chance to sort out their meal before you have to juggle your own; and
they often have some sort of treat or toy or drawing or something that will keep the kids happy

When you’re packing for the trip

Pack Light!

My husband would laugh if he read that I was telling you to pack light. smile_regular One of the hardest things about travelling with kids, particularly if you are on your own, is carrying all the bags, prams, car seats and, oh yeah, the kids. When it comes to hand luggage, the fewer bags you have the better. I try and keep my stuff and the essential kids stuff to one bag (I used to take books and other stuff to keep me occupied during the flight but I never get time to use them when I’ve got the kids!) Guerita has her own rolling backpack that she keeps hers and Chiq’s toys in. And they all clip together and can be wheeled, so if need be I only need one hand to manage the bags.

Kid’s stuff

It’s easy to get bogged down in all the ‘in case of emergency’ supplies and activities you think you need for the kids but I really think you need a lot less than you think you do. Some things are essential, like nappies, wipes and food for babies and changes of clothes for everyone (including yourself) but I have made the mistake in the past of packing too many books, toys and activities, most of which don’t get used. Don’t forget that most airlines will provide kids of all ages with an activity pack including pencils and paper and games to play. Guerita will spend a fair amount of time on the plane playing with the seat buttons and checking out all the features of her seat, including poring over the safety instructions. And that’s before she’s even started on the movies available.

When deciding what items to pack to keep the kids occupied on a long flight and I have two rules I try to follow.

I try to pick a toy that gets the longest playing time but taking up the smallest space. For example, one of our “must packs” is the LeapFrog Leapster Game. It doesn’t take up much room but with a few cartridges can keep Guerita amused for hours. You want to get a lot of bang for your buck, so to speak. This toy also comes with headphones so you don’t have to worry about disturbing the other passengers.
The second rule is that I always try to avoid packing toys with lots of parts to them. When the kids get older, I’m sure a pack of cards will be a great activity for the plane, but for now, all the cards or Barbie shoes or puzzle pieces are just more things to clean up or lose on the plane. A favourite book is a great choice and can be read over and over again.

As well as a few carefully chosen favourite toys/books, I always like to have a few new toys or activities for Guerita to pull out when she is starting to get bored and restless. Drawing packs with a colouring book and a small packet of pencils (not too many or they get lost!) are popular.

First Aid

I always pack a small parcel of essential medicines for the flight, because I know if I don’t that will be the one time one of the kids gets a fever on the plane. These are the contents of my hand luggage medical kit:

Thermometer
Children’s Panadol or Nurofen
Adult headache tables
Bandaids
Phenergan or other children’s sleep aid

A Note on Phenergan: although this is a widely used over the counter medication, you should definitely talk to the pharmacist before using it. A small proportion of children react to the active drug by becoming hyperactive. That’s the last thing you want on a long plane flight so its a good idea to have a test dose before you travel to make sure there are no adverse reactions. It should not be given to children under 2.

My own experience with Phenergan is that it was helpful for getting an already-sleepy-but-fighting-it child off to sleep and to sleep longer, but it did nothing for Guerita when she was wide awake. I also used it on arrival to help her adjust to the new timezone.

It’s important to check with your airline the new regulations for taking liquids in your hand luggage, but in most cases children’s non-prescription medicines, such as Panadol or Nurofen are allowed on the plane. You may need to taste them though to verify what they are!

Lists, lists, lists

I love lists. It’s very easy to forget that one essential thing that will make the trip much easier, so I wrote a list of things to pack and saved it on my computer. Now every time we go away I print it out, cross out the items that don’t apply and tick them off. That way I never forget the tickets and passports, or the mobile phone charger!

When you’re boarding the plane

A lot of airlines will invite passengers travelling with children to board the plane first. While this can be convenient in allowing you to get settled in your seat with your luggage close by before the hoards are crushing down that centre aisle, it also means you could be sitting on the plane trying to entertain the kids for quite some time before the plane takes off. This is the time I find my kids are the hardest to occupy because you can’t empty the contents of your hand luggage, or put your tray table down or recline your seat.

There are 2 ways you can deal with this problem, depending on what suits you best. If you are travelling with another adult, one option is for one of the adults to board the plane early with all your luggage and get the seats and bags organised before there are lots of people on the plane. The other adult can then follow with the kid(s) much closer to take off, giving the children time to stretch out in the airport a little bit longer before being constrained in their seat,

The other option, if you’re travelling alone with the kids or don’t like the idea of splitting up is to board early and take out one toy or activity for the kid to play with while waiting for take off. Choose something that will keep them happy for half an hour or so, but remember not to choose an electronic toy that will have to be switched off during take off. I usually let my kids stand up or play around in their seat for as long as possible before making them put their seatbelt on. You know how hard it is for kids to sit still! Also remember to get all the things you might need for take off out of your bag before putting in the overhead locker. The last thing you want is to realise mid-ascent that the drink/dummy(pacifier)/security blanket is stowed above and your child will scream until the seatbelt sign is turned off.

When you’re on the plane

I actually find this the easiest part of the whole trip. There’s only so far the kids can run, you don’t have to carry your bags and often (not always, but often) the flight attendants are quite helpful with the kids. If you’re on your own with more than one kid, how are you going to take one of the them to the toilet, or go yourself? Often the hostie or a kind neighbour will help. Speaking of neighbours, they all seem to fall into 2 categories - those who are sympathetic to your plight (usually people who have been there themselves) and those who think you are the devil incarnate for allowing those little creatures on the plane. There’s not much you can do about the second category, other than let your kids kick the back of their seat (kidding, kind of smile_wink ). Make the most of the first category - if you need help, they’ll probably be quite happy to lend a hand.

Feeding/Drinking on take-off and landing

Anyone who’s ever flown with kids will know how important this is. Kids and babies can really suffer with the change in air pressure. To help with equalising their ears take a drink or something to suck that they can have during take off and landing. For breast-fed babies, a feed at these times will do wonders for their ears (and help them to get off to sleep, if they’re anything like my kids).

For the keeping the kids happy and occupied on the flight, hopefully a lot of potential problems will be taken care of by the excellent things you have packed and by the activities provided by the airline. smile_regular I think most airlines on international flights have movies on demand on individual screens which will keep the kids entertained for hours. In my opinion, this is not the time to worry about how much TV your kids are watching! If Guerita wants to watch Lady and Tramp 8 times, the I let her. She loves the activity packs they give you and there’s lots of distractions like drinks, meals and announcements. I didn’t think they still did in this day and age, but on our last trip the flight attendant took Guerita up to the cockpit to see the pilots and controls. She thought it was really cool.

As for getting your child to sleep, that’s going to depend on how they normally get to sleep. Generally, I try to keep the routine as normal as possible, with books, or a breast feed or rocking to sleep - whatever you normally do at home. I know Rocky and I are going to be spending a fair bit of time pacing the aisle with Chiq. I tend not to be too strict about when they go to sleep on the plane. There’s only so much you can do to get a 4 year old to go to sleep when there’s movies to watch or exciting things happening around them.

When you have a stopover

So, I’m obviously not at all qualified to tell you the best way to handle a stopover after my last nightmare. Most of the lessons I learnt after that are in the tips above, but the most important things with the stopover are:

timing
not too much luggage
try to avoid doing it alone with 2 or more kids!

That last one is sometimes unavoidable, which makes the first 2 even more important. In the comments to A Cautionary Tale, Kin mentioned she had seen a lady flying with a 7 year old and a baby who had paid someone to meet her at each airport to help her with the kids and bags, which sounds like a good idea. If I had to do another long haul flight with the kids on my own I would definitely look into this for the stopover. I have sometimes asked the airline for help but I’ve not always found it that helpful. One lady who met me at the gate to help with a quick transfer was not even permitted by her employer to lift or carry any of my bags, which begs the question as to what use she was at all??

So, there you have it - all the tips I can give anyone for flying with kids! Obviously it’s not rocket science and it’s just my experience. I’m always honing the process and I’ll probably have more tips to add after our next mammoth journey. Hopefully I will not have any more horror stories to share with you!

I’d love to hear your tips for what makes your travel with kids easier. I’ll take all the advice I can get. smile_tongue