Get ready for summer travel, celebrity-style: Traveling by plane

As the official beginning of summer, end of school, and Fourth of July weekend approaches, all of us at CBB are starting to think about our travel plans for the summer. (Josh, Anya and I are getting ready for our two week trip to Italy this weekend!)

Whether it’s by car, train, boat, or plane, your first trip with your kids or your fifth, the preparation can be daunting. Unlike celebrities, most of us don’t have an entourage of nannies and personal assistants to help us manage the process, or access to private jets, but we came up with some of our favorite travel tips to help you travel like a celebrity. So grab your huge sunglasses and check out our summer travel cheat sheet to minimize the stress.

Above left: Heidi Klum leads daughter Leni, 4, into LAX. Below right: Matt Damon and daughter Isabella, 2, made his way out of LAX.(All celebrity photos by bauergriffinonline.com)

Click Continue Reading for our tip on traveling by airplane.

• Make sure everyone (including the adults) uses the bathroom and/or change diapers before boarding the plane.
• Bring empty water bottles with you and fill them up at water fountains after you pass through security.
• 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‘s money for a whole row of seats for your underage crew, you may have though 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 flying fewer planes, it’s rare toget an adjacent empty seat. But there’s always a remote chance – when you get to your gate, be super duper nice to the gate attendants before boarding and they may help you if they can. Arrive at the gate early, let them know you have an infant and would appreciate it 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.
• If your infant will be sitting on your lap, I recommend the Baby B’Air($30), which is a vest that attaches to your seat belt. If your 22+ lbchild has his own seat, you can leave the car seat at home (or check itwith your luggage) when you use CARES or "Child Aviation REStraint System" ($75). Even if you haven’t purchased a seat for your child, you can take this with you andcross your fingers that you’ll have an empty seat next to you. (Click to read our review of both.)
• To relieve ear pressure, during take-off and landing, nurse your baby or give a bottle or pacifier. For older kids, have them drink a beverage, chew gum or swallow continuously. If you or your child is very congested, you may want to cancel or reschedule your flight because the pain may be unbearable (I was once reduced to tears when I flew with a simple head cold).
• Since you’re probably not in first class or on a private chartered jet, your food options are pretty limited and quite crappy. Nowadays, most airlines charge through the nose for their subpar snacks and meals so bring your own. Pick up sandwiches at a local deli before leaving for the airport. Pack your kids’ favorite snacks for the plane so you don’t have to wait for the dinky beverage service pretzels. Cut up and freeze fruit like peaches and watermelon, make mini-bags of snacks, and dried fruit. Just make sure you leave out the nuts due to allergies your fellow passengers may have as the air in planes is limited and recirculates. If your kids drink milk, bring empty sippy cups and after you board, go to the beverage area and ask the flight attendants to fill them up for you.
• Pack a plastic bag to make throwing out your trash easier.
• There’s always a good chance someone will get thrown up on. Unless you’re Britney Spears, there’s little chance of asking someone to swap clothes with you, so bring a change of clothes for your child and a clean top for all of the adults. (Anya threw up on me upon arrival at our Amsterdam hotel hours before we could check in. I was able to grab some clean clothes from our luggage, but if it happened on the flight, I would have had to sit in stinky wet clothes for hours.)
• Some people may recommend giving your child Benadryl to sedate them but it can often have the opposite effect, making them really hyper, which will make EVERYONE miserable.
• Unless your kid is as adorable as Mariska Hargitay‘s son August Hermann, chances are the passengers near you don’t really want to see them constantly hanging over the seat or getting their seat back kicked. If you have a feeling your kids will act up, grease the wheels by bringing a bribe for your fellow passengers. When you get settled in your seats, hand out little goody bags of candy and say, "I want to apologize in advance for any naughtiness." By lowering their expectations (which are probably already pretty low because most people assume kids will misbehave), when your kid doesn’t act up, they’ll be pleasantly surprised and may even tell you at the end of the flight, "Wow, your kids are great!"

Do you have any tips for traveling by plane with kids?

Comments

Has anyone had any experiences flying with a Sit ‘n’ Stroll? Which is better, that or a go go babyz travelmate?

Thanks!

- Zara on June 24th, 2008

I flying home to FL from Japan with my 16-month old in 3 weeks and I’m so nervous. Last time I did this she was small and slept most of the time. Now she is very active and I need tips to help keep her busy!!
We have a 2.5 hr. flight from Okinawa to Tokyo…then 9 hrs from Tokyo to San Fran. then 5 hours from San Fran. to Atlanta. I appreciate all the tips I can get! I plan on taking a DVD player and my laptop because she loves Seasme street but that won’t last for 16 hours!

- stacey on June 24th, 2008

A great website for information and tips on traveling with babies and toddlers is Have Baby Will Travel (www.havebabywilltravel.com)

Surf by and check us out!

- Have Baby Will Travel on June 24th, 2008

Hi Stacey!
A good idea is to buy some new toys for her so she is more interested and kept busy for longer. They don’t have to be expensive, my 18mo son was kept entertained on the way home to Ireland from Orlando with some new dollar store toys! These can be introduced at various times during the flight so she is constantly being surprised and kept interested. It’s also a fun idea to wrap some of the toys beforehand as the paper itself will create amusement (make sure to leave one end open so security can have a peak if needs be.)

I also found that sometimes long flights are ok to allow your child to have some foodstuffs that they are not usually allowed, like my son delighted in having a small bag of crisps.

AJ also loved hand puppets and we bought some for the trip on the plane and this kept him entertained for ages, especially when his sister joined in!

A DVD is a very good idea and provided me with some quiet time while he was glued to In The Night Garden.

Walk her up and down the aisle when it is safe to do so as often seeing new people and new things can amuse them.

Overall, ignore other people if they are rude if your little one acts up. Try to calm her down to keep HER happy, NOT the other passengers. Good luck and have fun!

- Charlie on June 24th, 2008

These articles are SO useful. Thanks CBB! My husband and I will probably be flying cross country with a 3 month old in the spring and I had no idea how that would work. My husband thought it was impossible, but now I have some ideas about how to make it work.

Also, I definitely want to echo the bit about not flying with a head cold. Not only is it more painful, but it’s dangerous. When you fly with a head cold, you have an increased risk of rupturing an ear drum (according to our doctor and the doctor of a friend of ours). NOT something you’d want to deal with for sure.

And an idea for the slightly older kids is to get those travel board games. My mom got us the travel “Trouble” and that kept my brother and myself entertained for most of a long flight (he was 5 and I was 7). Board games aren’t something I would normally think of bringing on a flight, but the travel kind makes it so pieces are harder to lose/spill.

- MB on June 24th, 2008

Some of these tips are helpful but others seem a bit ridiculous to me. Going to the toilet before getting on the plane? Who would not know that that is a smart thing to do?

I had never heard, don’t take nuts on the plane. It’s also not an official rule so people with allergies can never rule out that there is no one on the plane with nuts. This means that if they decide to fly, they know it won’t but nutfree and apparently that doesn’t stop them. So I don’t understand your reasoning there.

The goody bags? We’re all adults right (well except for the kids of course!) and I find that very condescending.

- Sarita on June 24th, 2008

To Charlie: your advice to ignore other people if your child acts up is incredibly selfish. Planes are public places, if your child is disturbing other passengers it is your responsibility as a parent to keep things bearable for other people. Fellow passengers are usually very understanding and nice if they feel parents are trying to minimize the disruption for them.

- Lovely on June 24th, 2008

We just got back from a 2 week trip to Europe during which our daughter turned 2. We had been on short flights with her before and she pretty much slept the whole way. Not this time! The flight attendant said she’d never seen a kid of any age not sleep at all during the flight. ugh. She also refused to lay down for a diaper change in the plane bathroom so we had to do it standing up!

It helped that my husband and I traded off entertaining her so the other could eat or otherwise take a break. The DVD player is a must. I also recommend glow sticks. We bought tubes of a dozen at the dollar store and doled them out during the flight. Definitely changes of clothes and extra socks too. Although we were exhausted, esp since she also didn’t adjust well to the time change, we were buoyed by neighboring passengers’ comments that she was so well behaved.

- GA Mom on June 24th, 2008

I almost forgot — we had one of the straps that attached the car seat to a suitcase for transport thru the airport. It worked really well. The baby even rode in it instead of her stroller! It is definitely worth the $15.

- GA Mom on June 24th, 2008

Zara,

I have a sit-n-stroll and have used it on about four trips so far. It is wonderful. I found it will not roll up most aisles so I had to carry it with my son in it. If you are petite or not very strong, you might want to try something else. I have seen many passengers use the go go babyz, looks like it works as well too (plus much cheaper). We needed a second car seat for my husband’s car so we got the sit-n-stroll and use it in there when not traveling.

- molly on June 24th, 2008

OH and I totally second buying some new toys and books for the trip! It is the only thing that kept my active 16 mo busy!

- molly on June 24th, 2008

GA Mom, where did you get the $15 strap that attaches the car seat to a suitcase? I’ve never seen this before, but it sounds fabulous!

These are some really great travel tips!

- KF on June 24th, 2008

You know I am really not into making everyone around me feel better about me having a child and having to travel. People have children. We all know children act up and can be very excited and active and I know when my daughter does it I’m mortified and tired and just try to do whatever I can to calm her and make her happy so as not to piss every one off…but if I can’t so be it! People should be more understanding. Plus I PAID my money for the flight just like they did. Most have been or will be in that situation. They should show some sympathy for people and not be so pissy and rude. If the people on a plane are annoyed at a child being a child then Understand how stressful it must be for the mother and or father especially if they are flying alone. I know when I have to fly alone with out my hubby I”m 10x’s more stress out just off of that. I don’t need someone looking at me all snobby and pissed off just because my daughter is crying… trust me I’m already reeling from how she is acting… Im just saying have a little empathy for people.

- marcia on June 25th, 2008

We have flown several times with our kids (toddler twins and an infant). I even flew with our twins by myself when they were just shy of two. I always pack them each a little carry on that has snacks and new toys/distractions. I wrap each seperately and pull one out at a time when things start to go south. This always cheers them up and distracts them! I’ve never had a meltdown.

We also use the go go kidz contraption. It worked wonderfully. I would highly recommend it! You can even rent them if you don’t want to buy.

The hardest part was going through security. Try telling a two yr old that she has to give up her teddy bear so the security guy can send it through the x-ray machine!!!

- TwinMamma on June 25th, 2008

I’m an archaeologist, and my husband is a historian. We have traveled with our 2-year-old daughter at least every other month since she was born, and have made multiple trans-continental flights. Here are my Five Rules of Traveling with Children, tried and true, and gleaned from hard experience!

Rule no. 1: And this is the most important advice I can give: if traveling alone, and even if with a partner, ALWAYS GET AN AISLE SEAT. Whether you have a newborn or a toddler, you will find that sometimes the only thing that can help ease the restlessness and help them go to sleep is to be able to stand up and rock or bounce them or take a little walk up and down the aisles. SInce you’ll need to do this multiple times throughout the flight, the last thing you want is to be trapped in a window or middle seat, having to ask your neighbor to get up and down for you each time your child gets fussy.

Rule no. 2: If traveling with a partner and unable to purchase a seat for the little one, book a window and an aisle seat. Since middle seats fill up last, this increases the chances you’ll have an open seat between you. If the middle seat fills up and you want to sit next to your partner, it’s usually not too hard to convince someone to move over to the window, and even better, if there are other open middle seats, to move to another row altogether. This is one case where the Fear of Your Squirming Fussy Child factor can work to your benefit.

Rule no. 3: Already mentioned above, but NEW TOYS! Washable crayons, markers, and cheap books of stickers bought at the dollar store have worked wonders for us. Put them in a special fancy new case or carrier for maximum effect and make a big deal about how it’s the child’s special airplane bag of toys. Anything novel is key though. Don’t introduce the new toys until already on the airplane.

Rule no. 4: Also already mentioned, but worth repeating, is the change of clothes for yourself and the little one. I was mortified when our daughter suddenly threw up on our last flight, right there on my lap. We’d traveled so many times and this had never happened. Fortunately it was a plane full of Israelis, who love children, and mostly we got lots of sympathetic comments and a teddy bear for our little one!

Rule no. 5: Two words: Night flights.

Good luck to all you mobile parents! Someday your child will thank you for all these grand adventures that opened his/her mind and exposed her to so many new people and experiences.

- Stephennie on June 26th, 2008