#1 Travel Tip for Flying With Kids

Best tip ever :))

Thanks for tips, these are perfect!

i great idiea article good

Best tip ever. Especially if there is a delay. Once I had to sit on the plane for more than 2 hours.

I know this has probably already been said but in my experience traveling with my son, which has been quite frequently over his 5 years, pre-boarding is the way to go. I love sitting at the very back because it gives us easy access to the bathrooms, extra standing space, and the opportunity to befriend the flight staff. It is also more likely we will get the advantage of an extra seat if there are any. I love not having eyes staring at the back of my head if my son does get bored, his toys can only get lost under the seat in front of us, and it is louder to help drown out his loud, sweet voice. Finally he wants to speak to and sometimes touch everyone he passes on the way to his seat so early boarding helps speed up this process. At the end of the day you find what works for your family, if that’s waiting until the end then do that!

We do this too! What I would prefer the airlines do is let families OFF the plane first! That end wait can be grueling and when all wits are lost!

THANK YOU! I’ve never understood this – yes – PLEASE let me board and sit there another 45 minutes or so with a boy who refuses to sit, ever. Torture! I am always the last one on the plane :)

For me whether I board early depends on the age(s) and personality(ies) of the kids with me, also the time of day and whether I have a nursing baby. I’ve flown with 4 kids, one kid, babies, no babies, husband with me, no husband with me. Delayed flights, red-eyes, connections, carryons, no carryons. Electronics that worked and electronics that didn’t work. (Yikes!) Extra seats, no extra seats. Car seats, no car seats.

The biggest predictor of success for me is actually the flight attendants. If I feel like I have the flight attendants on my side, my stress level is WAY lower. I do my very best to make friends with them. Boarding early helps that.

Also– Dum-Dums!!!

Such a great trip! I am 23 and without kids but still don’t rush to get on the plane. I always travel light because I know I won’t have to wait around for my baggage. But I won’t land earlier if I board first. If I am in the middle of reading my book I wait until the queue is almost completely gone. Then, when everyone is settled I get up and board. Makes perfect sense for me to relax.

We do this too, for totally the same reasons, hell even I want to wait until the last minute to board as we’re usually doing the UK-AUS routes back and forth.

My best long haul tip apart from treating it all like an adventure is with kids to make sure you have a couple of balloons in your pocket, deflated of course!

These can be blown up easily at those tricky times like waiting to get through customs and played with, I always find those points hardest anyway!

Agreed, the most lovely photo, ! I bet that one will be a special memento in years to come Jo.

Sam x
Instagram@willowandblossom_oils

Someone said “entitled parents” about coming last onto the flight. Really? It’s hard to travel with kids no matter how old/young they are. What if it was a 90 year old grandmother who needed to get settled in with her caregiver? Would that be less “entitled”? Give someone a break. Us parents usually choose to have kids and yes, that’s our choice. But what happened to us all trying to work together for the better good? Wouldn’t you rather sit near pleasant kids that have been worn out prior to boarding if it doesn’t make the entire plane late? Haven’t you ever nearly missed a connecting flight and had to run onto a plane at the final minute? I know I have. Some days I can’t even remember my own name when I’m traveling with kids so try to be patient and understanding that people are doing the best they can. If we all practiced this idea a little more, we’d be a much happier and functional society.

Some people hate this, but I LOVE when the overhead compartments are full and they offer to check your bag at the gate. The last thing I need is trying to lift a suitcase above my head while corralling a toddler on a crowded plane. I keep a small bag/purse with snacks, iPad, more snacks, and a sippy cup and then pray for the best! :)

We just took a short flight on American Airlines for a short vacation and didn’t check in any bags. First surprise: the plane started boarding passengers early. No big deal. We like to wait until the end anyway. The less time on a plane with a little kid, the better. But we were told there was no more room in the overhead compartments so we had to check in our bag. Surprise number two: when we got on the plane, there was plenty of space in the overhead compartments! The flight wasn’t even full! I asked the flight attendant and she said it was based on a computer program of how many people boarded the plane when they stopped accepting carry on luggage. (This is the first time this has happened to us and we fly several times a year.) We may have to rethink waiting until the last minute to board.

Oh this is so smart. We’re going to have to be those parents who preboard to scrub everything down due to peanut/nut allergies, but now I think maybe we’ll send one parent to board and scrub and the other parent to wait til the last second.

Yes to this! We fly a ton (my 9 month old just had his 22nd flight- most of which were long hauls), and this was a game changer for us. When possible, I send my husband ahead with all the bags to get overhead bin space secured, and then I board with the baby at the last minute. Highly recommend this.

We are totally late boarders as well!

When our daughter was very young we would board early. Now that she’s 11, we no long qualify for preboarding. We enjoyed boarding early (never used a stroller, ever) because it wasn’t just about putting stuff away, but also a chance for her to get used to her surroundings. By the time folks started sitting down around us she’d already gotten a chance to pull up to the seat in front and take a look, etc. She was settled when they got settled.

As for other tips for flying w young children, I didn’t wrap little gifts up for her to unravel, though I did bring at least one new or special thing for the trip -usually a small coloring book or pad of blank paper. There are also these little washable markers that come on a hook. It’s great! All the markers stay together.

Many people have suggested bringing treats and gum. I don’t do salty treats like goldfish, etc. It just makes the kid thirsty, then water, then bathroom. Instead I’ll offer up gummy worms, or other things that aren’t too salty. When she was quite young, instead of giving her gum to relieve the pressure in her ears during take off and landing, I had a stash of Dum Dum lollipops. They’re small enough that I don’t feel bad for giving my young child two lollies in one flight. But hearty enough that it’ll last the duration of a take off or landing. What I’ve found w gum was that as soon as the flavor was gone, she lost interest and there was nothing left to make her swallow. Lollies work very well. But timing is key. Most parents tend to offer something as the plane rolls on the tarmac. I wait until the last minute -usually as we’ve just gotten off ground, I’ll ask her how her ears are and if she’s looking not so sure, I hand her a lollie. Works like a charm. Same for landing. I wait until ears are just beginning to pop before handing her one more.

Starting about the age of three she would carry her own backpack. She got to choose to pack two things, and I got to choose for her to pack another thing or two. Usually it meant a small stuffed friend, markers, paper, stickers, and a baggie of sweet treats like fruit gummies.

Now that she’s much older there’s way less to worry about. She packs an iPad and she’s good.

Yes! This is absolutely true! I could never understand why the airlines thought they were doing us a favor by letting us board first… I would much rather let the kiddos stretch their legs and get the wiggles out a little longer before getting on the flight. Definitely a good tip.

Agree. I do the same, but my number one advice for traveling children is different, and it is called: IPad. :)

I am with you. I hate preboarding! Even now that my 4 kids are older we are still the last to get on.

Our boys love flying so much that it’s more annoying to make them wait to board the plane than it is to make them get settled once they’re in their seats. To them, the more time on the plane the better. ;)

No! Preboarding isn’t just for you; it’s so everyone can get settled as quickly as possible. Face it: we have more stuff, take up more room, and thus need more time to settle. Plus, you have more room in which to do it.
Treat it as fun- this is the time they CAN explore the plane, the seat belts, the window shades!

-seasoned mom of two young travelers.

I am with you whole heartedly in this one. I have done a lot of flights to and from Brazil from Seattle (3 separate flights, 19-26 hours total travel time depending on the connections) sometimes alone with my two sons who are 6 and 1 and a half and we always board at the very last minute!

I only have one right now but my husbands family lives in China so it’s a 14+4 hour flight and yes we wait for the very last minute to board!

When we just had one lap child and we could pick seats in advance, we would pick an aisle and a window towards the back of the plane and we would leave the middle seat. This increased our chances that no one would be in that seat and we’d have 3 seats for our family. If someone did have that seat assigned, they happily traded it for the window or aisle. win/win.