HOW TO SURVIVE AIRLINE TRAVEL WITH YOUR BABY

How To Survive | Baby Airplane Travel Tips

Now that you’re prepared to pack your travel survival bag it’s time to get your head in the game and employ our best tips and hacks for airplane travel with a baby.

1. The Middle Seat Hack

This is a tip that only works if you are traveling in a group of three. Like most families traveling with a baby, you’re no doubt taking advantage of your baby being free to fly on your lap, until they are two years old.  It’s an amazing perk, but depending on the temperament of your child, it can be exhausting holding them on your lap for long haul flights. Our little one was never content to just be held. He always needed to be moving and using his body to explore. Because of that, we always employed the middle seat hack. When booking flights, we always booked our seats as a window and aisle, hoping that the middle seat would remain clear and you end up with a whole row to yourself.  Some people believe that it’s a useless hack since airplanes are so packed now, but it has worked for us several times. And really, what do you have to lose by trying? The key is to book flights that aren’t as busy and to book your seats closer to the back. Think about it, if you’re forced to choose a middle seat, are you going to sit in the back or the front? When booking flights, I always look at several flight options and check out the seating maps to see how much is available. I have to weigh the pros and cons, but if it’s a long haul flight I will often choose something that has better seat options even if it means a slightly longer flight.

The middle seat hack is especially useful if you are traveling with an older baby who is now mobile. Carrying a six month old on your lap who, by and large, can’t move is one thing.  Carrying a one and a half year old wild child looking to partay is a whole other ball game. Honestly, if you can afford it or have airline points to spare, get the extra seat for them.

If you try this airplane hack and it doesn’t work, you simply need to ask the person in the middle seat if they’ll swap you for your seat. I’ve never had a problem with this, as any half sane person would rather have an aisle or window seat than sit sandwiched between a baby and two people.

2. Nursing During Takeoff or Landing

This is a tried and true tip that is twofold in it’s effectiveness. Nursing or bottle feeding not only serves to alleviate the pressure on their sensitive ears, but it also helps them to fall asleep which is really all we want them to do on an airplane, amiright? Since babies don’t know yet how to swallow or yawn to clear their ears, nursing or being bottle fed is the most effective way to be sure their ears aren’t suffering from the air pressure. Not every baby is sensitive to this, but nursing during take off was the best way for me to ensure he wasn’t uncomfortable and was the most optimum time for him to fall asleep. If you have an older baby or child that has sensitive ears on airplanes, a great product to help them clear their ears is Eustachi.

3. Gate Check your Stroller and Carseat

For most US airlines, you can check your car seat, stroller, and carseat base for free. It is considered a safety device so airlines are more accommodating with those needs. We always packed our car seat base in a box and would check it when we arrived at the airport. For our stroller and infant car seat we preferred to gate check it so we could easily maneuver our babe around the airport. There’s a lot of back and forth over whether you should bring your car seat on the airplane with you or not. In my opinion, the decision should be solely based upon the unique behavior and disposition of your child, because the choice to bring one or not is going to be different for everyone. For us, it was always better to bring our car seat on the plane as it was the ONLY way he would sleep on the plane. That being said, this only works if you have paid for them to have their own seat. We never paid for an extra seat, but we did employ the above middle seat hack and would check at the ticket counter before boarding to see if the seat was still available and explain why we were inquiring. They would often tell us to check back in right before boarding. If it was available we would bring it on and if it wasn’t we would drop it off at the gate before boarding the plane.  If your baby sleeps easily on you and you don’t mind holding them, then it’s probably best you not bring your car seat onto the plane and check it when you arrive. They are cumbersome and not exactly easy to schlep around, but for us it was always worth the hassle if he would sleep for an hour or two.

4. Dress Them in Comfortable Clothing

This may seem like an obvious tip, but we have definitely made the mistake of dressing our baby in clothing that was too warm. You want breathable natural fiber clothing that is easy to take on and off, think zippers and not intricate tiny buttons. While I tend to be freezing on airplanes, most babies run hot so it’s best to let blankets rather than clothing take care of any temperature issues. 

5. Pack and Leave Early

If you’re one of those people who believes they will have time in the morning, you need to adopt the pragmatic realist point of view and pack all your stuff the night before. Then do yourself a solid favor, and leave extra early. The goal is to arrive relaxed with time to spare, not to arrive frazzled, stressed, and ready to kill the TSA agent. That never works out. I remember arriving dreadfully late to our flight and the prim and proper ticketing agent in her Mary Poppins “practically-perfect-in-every-way” voice telling me, “You know you should really give yourself more time to get to the airport.” MURDEROUS RAGE. Do you know what it takes to put pants on a baby! Instead, I said “Thank you, that’s great advice.”  She had my airline tickets, I wasn’t about to piss her off.

But really, you should pack early and give yourself more time to get to the airport.

6. Proof of Age

Most of the airlines we flew with didn’t require proof of our child being under two, but there are a few who do.  So, make sure you have something that proves their birthdate, like a picture of a birth certificate or an insurance ID. We learned this the hard way when we flew with Southwest and I didn’t have any proof of him being under two. I mean, besides the fact that he had no teeth and couldn’t walk. Weirdly enough, she accepted my Facebook post that announced his birth. 

7. Airplane Cups

When all else fails… airplane cups. Say the iPad dies on you unexpectedly and all the toys you brought have unexpectedly been eaten by a rogue airplane squirrel (by the way, that could absolutely happen) then my last ditch effort to keep him occupied is to collect plastic cups and straws from the flight attendants. Depending on their age and coordination, you could let them play with pouring water from one cup to the next or just plain old stacking them.  I would say that hack has earned me 30 minutes of play time.

8. Don’t worry. Be Happy.

Making the most out of being stuck on the tarmac for two hours!

When traveling you have to adopt and cultivate an attitude of going with the flow. Things will go wrong. It’s Murphy’s Law that flights will get delayed, babies will have epic proportions of diarrhea, bags will get lost. To the best of your ability, you have to let it go and chalk it up to the realities of airline travel.  The more stressed you get, the more stressed your baby will get.  They take their cues from you and if you want a relaxed baby, you’ll have to channel your own inner knowing that any hurdles you come up against are indeed temporary and you can choose to be miserable or you can choose to make the best out of a tough situation. We’ve experienced it all.. being stuck on a tarmac for two hours with our cranky over tired infant who cried the ENTIRE time we were stuck there. Lots of angry glares. We’ve sat through four hour delays waiting for the moment our baby would turn into a demon because he didn’t nap. We’ve also experienced easy breezy flights where he slept in his car seat for two hours. It’s important to carefully plan beforehand and then give it all up once you’re there. 

9. Please Don’t Apologize