Sneak peek: How can you make summer travel easier?

Tip #2:
You may know that if your child is under 2, you are not required by domestic airlines to buy aseat, and since we don’t have Heidi Klum and Seal’smoney for a whole row of seats for your underage crew, you may havethough you’re going to have to suck it up and put the babes on laps.Because airlines have a tendency to overbook flights and are flyingfewer planes, it’s rare toget an adjacent empty seat. But there’s always a remotechance- when you get to your gate, be super duper nice to the gateattendants before boarding and they may help you if they can. Arrive atthe gate early, let them know you have an infant and would appreciateit if they canmove you near any empty seats so you can can use it for your child.Board last and if there aren’t any available empty seats, you can gatecheck the car seat.

Pop Quiz: Which son is Heidi Klum carrying: Henry or Johan?

For the answer and lots more tips for travel via airplane, click here.

Photo by Bauer Griffin.

Comments

It’s Johan, that cute little snuggle buggle.

- Nicole on June 19th, 2008

They look so much alike, but that’s johan

- brooke on June 19th, 2008

johan! he’s adorable.

- annie on June 19th, 2008

That’s Johan, he’s so cute. Just like his brother and sister.

- stéph on June 19th, 2008

In Europe, you don’t have to buy a seat for children under 2 either, but when you travel with an infant, they usually have you board first and try to put you in the first row

- Aelys on June 19th, 2008

Two things I have noticed since I travel from the East Coast to the West Coast often to visit my parents. One, although airlines no longer announce it, parents traveling with small children can still board first with business and first class. Second, empty seats are quickly becoming a thing of the past with the high gas prices. If you can afford it by taking money from something else in your travel budget, like eating out only twice a day, buy your child a seat for long flights. It is safer for everyone and it is a far less stressful trip for all.

- molly on June 19th, 2008

I think it would be negligent not to mention that electing not to use an FAA approved restraint with your young child on a flight puts your child at a much higher risk for injury or death than if they were restrained. The APP and FAA both strongly recommend the use of restraints for children under 2 on airplanes. Also, infant fares are half of the price of adult fares. I always paid the extra money when my children were that small. I would much rather be a couple hundred dollars poorer than have to bury my child because I was too cheap to buy a seat.

- Trish on June 19th, 2008

That’s Mr. Johan! And I love that picture of him…adorable.

- jasmine on June 19th, 2008

It looks like Johan. What a cutie!

- Joanne on June 19th, 2008

I had the best travel experience ever thanks to a VERY sweet booking agent. My DH and I had some travel credit that we needed to use so I couldn’t book online and had to call the airline directly to use it. I told the woman that we would be bringing along our little girl (she was about 20 months at the time so flying for free). This is what she told me, “I will put a hold on the seat next to you so that it won’t get booked. The only way someone will be assigned that seat is if the entire plane sells out.” Let me tell you that we had an empty seat with us for all of our flights on that trip (4 total, with connections). I was worried because I thought the planes would be pretty full, but they never sold out and we always had that empty seat. So, basically we got it for free. Now, I try to tell everyone about it because it was a great experience! I did have to pay something like a $15 convenience fee to do it over the phone, but it was totally worth it. I highly recommend everyone call and request the same be done for them if you are travelling with an infant. I would have never known they could do that if I hadn’t talked to that super sweet booking agent!

- Amy on June 19th, 2008

Def Johan, he’s a lot smaller and has darker hair! He looks more like Heidi in my opinion.

- Jess on June 19th, 2008

They all look so different IMO. Definately Johan.

- Emma on June 19th, 2008

i think they look completely different too!

i paid for my daughter’s seat – it was SO much easier than holding her the entire time. and if you are taking on a car seat – it’s a full adult fare price – not a discounted one. my daughter was less than 7 months when we last flew.

- meghan on June 19th, 2008

Some airlines that used to do “cattle call” boarding are now allowing people to pay extra for “business class” tickets that let them board first. People with kids are now part of the general “cattle call” and are *not* allowed to board early. I was in the second group boarding, the last time I flew with this airline, and the overhead bins were totally full. The bag with the baby’s toys wound up in the back of the plane, far away from us. It was awful, but the airlines are cutting flights and packing passengers onto the remaining flights, so free seats are quickly becoming a thing of the past.

- beatrice on June 19th, 2008

Wow, he’s adorable. That’s definitely Johan. He has such beautiful skin color. In this pic it looks smooth, creamy, and radiant! What a beautiful family :O)

- Dani on June 20th, 2008