While most people dread flying, flying with children can be even scarier. Hearing people make comments about your crying baby during a particularly tense time can turn your flight into a nightmare. However, flying with children no longer needs to be the horror it once was. Try the ten tips below in order to make family travel time easier and more enjoyable.
Travel at Night or During Naptime
Although most parents only consider booking cheap flights that are short in duration, these types of flights are not always best when flying with children. By simply scheduling a red-eye flight, or flying during a child's naptime, you can make your travel time calmer and easier, and your neighbors will thank you for it.
Take a Reclining Stroller for Smaller Kids
It's a good idea to take a stroller that reclines into a horizontal position instead of an umbrella stroller when traveling with your child. By doing so, you allow the child to sleep at any time during your vacation and as an added bonus, you can use your stroller as a baggage carrier while in the terminal since airlines now let you check strollers at the door of the plane.
Make sure to Buy Snacks and Drinks in the Airport
Although food and drinks in airports can be painfully expensive, airlines no longer allow travelers to take water and food past security checkpoints. However, you can take them on the plane. By simply spending a few extra bucks in the terminal, you can ensure your child stays well fed and happy during your flight. This is especially important since shorter flights no longer offer meals, and longer flights serve one to two meals maximum that may not be served until several hours after takeoff.
Make a Kids Travel Pack
Bring a backpack of toys, games, and books for your child that he or she can play with while on the plane. Raid your local dollar store a few days before the flight, and your child will be obsessed with all the new toys in that bag. If you let them pack the bag themselves while firmly stating that they can only play with the toys on the plane, you will have a child who is ready and excited to fly.
Walk Up and Down the Airplane at Least Once an Hour
Not only is this a good idea for a parent's blood circulation, it is a great idea for children's boredom. They will get a change of scenery, thereby breaking up the monotony, plus they can meet other children on the plane, and you can arrange a mile-high play date for them.
Invest in Technology - Take along a DVD Player or Gameboy
If you do not have a DVD player, now is the time to buy one. A DVD battery lasts an average of one and a half hours. That's an hour and a half of a comatose child who has no idea where they are. Buy a new video right before you leave, and they will watch it several times while in flight without getting bored. Just make sure you get the headsets with it, or the stewardess will ask your child to turn it down. You can also bring along a second battery at a cost of about $50 and buy yourself an extra hour and a half of peace in flight. Add this to naptime, and you will have a child that is a perfect angel the entire flight.
Also, if your child is into video games, consider getting them a Gameboy to be used only for travel purposes. Again, you will have a child that is eager to fly, and this works especially well with teenagers. Just don't forget to bring the rechargers!
Take Infant Tylenol for Young Children and Children's Tylenol for older ones
Although some may frown on the idea of drugging your child for something as simple as a flight, I highly recommend it. Just like adults, the pressure of the cabin can give a child a headache. A bit of child's Tylenol can greatly relieve the pain and help them to sleep when they may not be able to do so otherwise.
Book the Right Seats
Yes, there are right seats for children. Nowadays, most parents book towards the back of the plane. They believe it will keep their children from distressing the lowest number of fellow travelers. This means, by booking towards the back, you will likely only bother other traveling families (who will be more tolerant) and you may find other children for your child to play with.
The other booking must is to try to select seats that are in rows of three even if there are only two of you. By booking two seats in a row of three, you have a higher chance of someone not taking the third seat and you give your child the chance to lie down in flight. If there are two adults and one child, place the child in the middle and each parent will be able to have ample elbowroom.
When Flying Long Distances, Consider Changing Planes with at Least an Hour Layover
The longer the flight, the more trying this may seem to an adult. A simple eleven-hour flight to Europe can turn into sixteen torturous hours if you do change planes. However, changing flights allows your child to get a change of scenery, stretch their legs, use a normal bathroom, eat, and even play at a playground since many airlines now offer play areas. Making the child enjoy traveling will ensure that you also enjoy the trip.
Take gum for older children and bottles or pacifiers for babies
This is another absolute must. The pressure in the cabin can be extremely painful for a young child. Be sure to carry pacifiers (or baby bottles for those who won't take pacifiers) so that the child can relieve their own ear pressure and be happier throughout the journey.
And just remember, when traveling with children…it IS about the destination and NOT the journey.
Good flying.
