Flying with Kids About This Page:

[jackieurban]

See what Dave said about turbulance - above - and take it seriously. I know it is more expensive to buy a seat for a lap child, but I have flown a lot and seen enough rough air to know that this is a potential danger. We bought a seat for our 10 months old and she will be in her strapped in car seat, facing backwards. Just keep it in mind.

[sharon1970]

I am dreading our flight in October as we will be travelling with my ds who is 2.5 years and has never flown before. We've already chosen our seats as there are 11 of us in our party and I am the lucky one to be sitting next to my son.

Our airline provide a special seat to put into the plane seat for our ds and i'm really hoping that he is going to find it an adventure and just sit still and watch the television or be absolutely petrified and just sit there and hold my hand - which he does when he isn't sure of something.

I am also taking 9 presents - we have a 9 hour flight from the UK - for my ds and dd who's 6, so that they can open a new present each hour of the flight to hopefully keep them occupied. I'm going to try and take snacks with us and cartons of drinks (if i'm allowed to take them onto the flight), though our airline is very good with providing snacks and drinks for you.

As a last result i'm taking phenagens (sp) incase I really need it to try and make him sleep for a little while!

Good luck.

[sweetyface77]

DD (6) gets really antsy while confined in her seat on the plane. I tend to fly with Jet Blue because they offer the Direct TV to keep her entertained. I also have her pack her backpack with markers, crayons, color books, story books and a few toys that don't have many pieces. I take a craft tray and put it in her backpack (they are lightweight) in order for her to keep her crayons, etc from rolling all over the place. I'll be bringing my laptop this time and will bring a few games and things for her to play with. My other plan is to bring a "gift" of small toys and such that she will receive while on the plane. 3 hours doesn't seem long, but we are taking our son (only 2 months old) on this trip, so keeping our daughter entertained is important! Good Luck!

[AngelLily03]

We flew with DD to Orlando when she was 20 months and were able to hold her in our lap. She would not have tolerated the car seat. To make the trip easier we brought our portable DVD player with a few brand new DVD's of her favorite shows, so they were new to her. I also got some dollar store toys and didn't let her see them until we were on the plane. Snacks were a must! When possible I sat by the window with DH next to me so there was a buffer between us and other passengers.
My Dr. also said benedryl was okay to help her sleep. She slept Boise to Chicago, watched DVD's Chicago to DC, and slept DC to Orlando. Couldn't have asked for her to behave better.

[lukeandbrookesmom]

We always got the kids their own seats, even as infants. It is the safest possible choice in my opinion. We also used the CARES system and found it worth every dime!

[poohbr2015]

We just got back from our disney trip. It was our second flight with our ds who is now 18 months. We did not purchase him a seat either time and did fine. When he was 8 months, he slept both ways and this past week at 18 months, he sat on my lap and looked out the window, watched a dvd and had snacks, then on the way home, he fell asleep as we took off and slept the entire flight in my lap, no issues and he is 34 1/2 inches long so not a tiny child!! We figure we will have to start buying him a seat possibly on our next trip since he will be 24 months in April so why no take advantage of not having to pay for him a couple times and putting that money towards more fun at disney!

[Carousel96]

DD has had her own seat since her first flight when she was 6 weeks old.

We kept her occupied with books, mini magna doodles, snacks. Crayons are great (color wonder markers better) but an adult needs to keep tabs on the supply so they don't get dropped and roll away.
Magnetic paper dolls worked well on our trips, and card games like go fish.
If you have a layover, take something for that time too. We found a small beach ball was great -- we could find a corner and roll it back and forth, and it flattened when it was time to board.