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5 Flight Tips to Follow When Traveling with Young Kids

May 11, 2019

I think as parents we can all agree that at times (or maybe for you ALL the time) vacation is fun, but the process of traveling there with the little ones can be stressful. I’ve traveled with my daughter Laila consistently the past 3 out 5 years of her life and I’ve picked up so many tips along the way to help ease the sometimes overwhelming feeling of traveling with kids. I’m using my experience that has personally worked for me and also the experience of watching so many overwhelmed parents at the airports and on countless flights stress themselves out from being ill prepared. Below I’ve outlined 5 flight tips that have been a huge help when traveling by plane with Laila, and hopefully they’ll help you with your future travel plans.

  • Prepare

The prep phase is key when traveling with kids. Take the time to get familiar with any special rules or accommodations for adults traveling with young kids. Some airlines allow priority boarding for kids under a certain age or special family boarding times to ease the process of getting your luggage and kids on board with as little fuss as possible. This option can be a huge help when dealing with tired or overexcited little ones. If you’re used to checking your bags in an effort to keep your hands free, be sure to remember to bring at least one carry-on with a change of clothes for everyone in your party. On one of our flights to Chicago when Laila was a baby the formula she was drinking upset her stomach and she threw up spoiled milk all over the both of us (luckily, we had a row to ourselves on this particular flight). Of course, I had a change of clothes prepared for Laila in her diaper bag, but I never thought to “weigh” the bag down anymore with a change of clothes for myself. So, I had to on the flight and smell like spoiled milk (us parents know how awful that smell is) until the flight landed and I was able to get to our checked luggage at baggage claim. Another recent scenario I’ve come across to stress preparing a carry on with a change of clothes for everyone was on our trip last year to Florence, Italy. We had been traveling for 10+ hours only to find out multiple bags (including ours) were left in our layover city to accommodate the plane’s weight limit. We had a super early morning excursion planned for the next day and our bags wouldn’t be delivered to the hotel until the next afternoon. After checking into the hotel, we had to make our way into the city to shop for new outfits, talk about a waste of time and money. Beyond clothes, one other key item to bring is a pack of wipes. I cannot stress enough how helpful wipes can be before flights, during flights, and after flights. They come in handy when wiping down germ infested tray tables/armrests and any potential mess your kid is bound to make.

  • Seat Assignments

If you and your kid are the only people flying, I recommend grabbing a window and middle seat as your two assigned seats. If you’re lucky you’ll end up with an entire row! From my experience placing Laila in the window seat and using the middle seat as my own seems to work best. I always allow a certain amount of time for Laila to play on the flight, but she knows our rule is that on each flight she has to take some form of a nap. I’ve found the best way to have her nap between our two seats is to lay her head in my lap and have her aim her legs and feet toward the window. She’s pretty tall so she’ll put her body is sort of a fetal position. The importance to me of having her feet go towards the window is that Laila will stretch her legs and move around a lot in her sleep (no matter where she is), so having her body in this position ensures she isn’t kicking a random stranger.

  • Activities

When looking at the actions and responses of kids with idle time on flights and in airports you would think they were experiencing true hardships. Having activities available to entertain your child is one of the most important things to remember when traveling on a flight. I like to bring a variety of options to choose from when traveling because Laila can be fickle about what is interesting to her at the moment. Laila is old enough to carry her own backpack so I make sure to fill it up with a coloring or activity book, crayons, her child safe headphones, and something else small like a card game. I always bring her tablet as well, but I carry it in my bag so that her bag doesn’t get too heavy. We use these items waiting at the airport before flights, on the flight, and they’re also helpful in keeping her busy during layovers.

  • Snacks

Have you seen the prices of snacks at the airport?!? I consider myself to be a pretty frugal person, so whenever possible (meaning 99.99999% of the time) I pack snacks I know Laila likes before heading to the airport so that she isn’t complaining about hunger. This is especially important for international flights. Although multiple food items are included on most international flights (low cost carriers have snacks, but they typically are an additional charge), Laila is often too picky to get full on airline food. The last thing you need after traveling for hours upon hours is a hungry kid at your side. On domestic flights, I’ll pack enough items for the flight and a possible layover or flight delay. On international flights though I typically bring an entire duffle bag full of our favorite sealed food items. We always use TSA precheck when going though security so there’s no hassle with keeping all the food in my bag. There have been a couple of instances depending on the airport where TSA precheck was closed and when going through regular security they required me to take all the food items out of my bag and place them in bins to be screened. To make this process easier, I’ve started putting the items in large freezer bags and then inside my duffle bag in case I ever need to quickly take them out the bag and then put everything back up quickly for security (this can also come in handy in certain international countries that require you to take everything out as well).

  • Patience

The most important tip I have for any parent traveling on a flight with a child is to prepare for the trip mentally beforehand and exude patience with your little one. It’s easy to forget sometimes that our kids are in fact kids and won’t always travel with ease and that’s okay. If your child is tired, it would make sense that they will become fussy. If your child is hungry it makes sense for them to complain. If your child’s ears are affected on the flight, it’s logical for them to respond to the unusual pain with tears and sometimes screams (especially if they aren’t old enough to communicate that they are in pain). If you know your child is used to going to the restroom multiple times in a certain time period, ensure you get to the airport early enough to take them to the restroom before boarding a flight that way they aren’t saying they need to go during times of the flight when it’s not safe to get up. If you know your child requires naps to be their typical bubbly self, try to plan your flight time around that time so they can easily nap on the plane. Above all else, practice patience with your child and take the time to prepare for all possible travel scenarios based on their individual personalities!