Tips for flying with a 16 moth old

[goofy810]

My DD is great when we take her out she loves to run around with us and went on her first cruise at 12 months old however that cruise was local so we drove and didnt deal with flying, we just booked a cruise out of Vancover and will be flying for 5 hours from bwi, i have the Ipad but not sure how ear phones will work and we didnt get her her own seat as it was gona cost to much, can anyone give me any tips for flying with a 16 month old?

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Read the Thread I started called

 

Flying with a 15 month old. We just had a horrible experience with a 15 month old from BWI to Las Vegas. The parents were not comfortable, the child was miserable the entire flight and I highly recommend buying your child a seat.

 

I personally would cancel an excursion or cuts costs elsewhere to make your travel more comfortable. I can assure you that a 5 hour flight is boring for adults and really boring for a child. There will be no wiggle room- flights are completely full these days and it is highly unlikely that there will be an extra seat.

[newbiecruiser09]

Agree completely with the previous poster--find some financial way to get your child a seat. I may try it for an hour or two flight but for 5 hours ( which may be more if you are delayed at either end on the ground) everyone (you, the child, the person/people on either side of you, the person in the seat in front of you who will be probably kicked incessantly by your childs legs etc) will be MUCH happier/comfortable with everyone in their own seat.

 

iPad is a great idea. See if you can get a full head set instead of ear buds. We found one at Radio Shack that our DD used (she was 6 and still did not like the ear buds). Also pack some snacks that transport easily and don;t get too messy (goldfish, cheese sticks, etc)

[Lvu2cruz]

I found it to be ok to have my child in my lap for a cupped howers mt to ak and mt to tn. I brought a things for her to do snacks and drinks. I stared traveling with my daughter at 1 month.

[travelhound]

We haven't done it yet, but we will with a 21 month old in December. I was getting nervous for a 3.5-4 hour flight from Minneapolis to Miami so I checked to see how much it would cost to get a ticket for dd on our flight. It was a couple dollars under $1000! That's not happening.

 

I've been reading a lot about it and here are some of the tips I found.

- Get some new toys and/or activities that can be brought out about every 30 minutes or so. Dollar store toys were a suggestion.

- If you have a choice to make the flight around nap or night sleep time that will suck up a huge chunk of time.

- Snacks - for sure.

- Movies or TV shows on the iPad that are new but also familar. Our dd loves Elmo so we're bringing some shows she's watched dozens of times and loves them every time.

- If you Google toddler on a plane you'll come up with a lot of good articles with suggestions. I found a couple of good toys there - one is a puzzle with ribbons attached to the pieces so they don't fall. Another was a little stuffed toy with lot of buckles all over it. My dd will love that. She's constantly playing with her stroller buckles. Find something you know your child likes and try to exploit it.

 

Good luck! I hoping we won't be one of those “what were they thinking” posts. :)

[Kerry's Girls]

Keep in mind there are times when electronics are not allowed to be on, so have other amusements available. When flying with my toddlers, I let them have treats they didn't usually have and brought a large variety of small serving sizes they could hold themselves so whenever they got restless I could hand them something new. They especially liked eating pringles out of the can, lollipops, that kind of thing. Bring empty re-fillable water bottles to fill once you're past security so that a) you don't have to depend on service from the flight attendants, especially when there are delays and b) so you don't have open cups on your tray table. One of my girls would not wear headphones at that age, but they were actually fine watching their portable DVD player without much sound. I also brought my own plastic grocery bag to use for trash because otherwise we had a mountain of it under our seats.

 

When flying with a lap child, it's important to have your carry on bag well organized - the goal being everything reachable without actually having to see it. I would also choose a seat at the back of the plane so it would be easy to get up and stand around without having our path blocked by a beverage cart or something.

 

All the best,

Mia

[rebeccalouiseagain]

You aren't looking at the right airline. Minneapolis to Florida is not $1000- no way. You can also fly into Ft. Lauderdale which is far superior to Miami airport and taxi to Miami.

[hollster8]

I just recently flew (alone..eesh) with my DD who was 12 months. For us buying her own seat was also not an option, it was too expensive, so I'm not going to tell you to get your LO their own seat. Not helpful.

 

That being said...

 

Here are some things that kept her entertained on our 4 hour flight:

 

-pipe cleaners. She loved bending them, twisting them, and we made shapes with them.

-a drawing pad and pen

-PAINTER'S TAPE. Weird, right? No. My DD loved sticking pieces of tape all over the seat tray, window, arm rest, my arm, etc. It was just like stickers because caused no damage and easily came off.

-I also brought an iPad. DD was content to watch her shows without headphones.

 

We also walked up and down the aisle when we were permitted on the flight we had an aisle seat. I don't know where you're sitting, but my DD is a wiggly worm so I tried to get an aisle seat when I could (on the flight back we had to do window, but she liked looking outside) so we could get up and down without disturbing too many other passengers.

 

One thing I found the other people around me appreciated was that I told them before we took off that I was going to try my best to keep my daughter well-behaved, and that I realized it was probably a let-down for them to discover they were next to a baby. After doing that, the people around me became very helpful and understanding because they knew I wasn't going to just let my DD sit and cry.

 

We are flying in November and DD will be 17 months. I'm going to use some of these same tactics then. My DD didn't cry much at all and when she did it was because she wanted to get up but couldn't because the seatbelt light was on.

 

In short, bring some interesting/new things and make sure the people around you know you're going to try your absolute best to control your LO.

 

Good luck and happy travels!

[rebeccalouiseagain]

The person that said they were flying from Minn-Miami. I did a search of Sat-Sat for three weekends in December and the most expensive flight was a nonstop for $ 530- so I don't get where you found $1000 for tickets. I'm curious what week you are flying and why you were given that outrageous price.

 

 

We always fly southwest even if the flights are more expensive. Parents with kids age 4 and under board first and basically have the pick of the seats. Also- Southwest does not charge for the first checked bags which if you each have a seat means each person can check a bag for free.

 

With Southwest you can always change your plans for no cancellation fee- which I love.

 

My son have flown on approximately 30 roundtrip flights on Southwest and we have always had a great experience from start to finish.

 

We NEVER travel during the holidays there will be so much stress from start to finish. This is something people with small children need to understand. Holiday travel means long lines at the check-in and security- everything is twice as much- hotels, rental cars, cruises and airfare. Also- this is the height of flu season.

 

We have to travel when school is out now but when my son was a tot we traveled off season and saved big money and enjoyed the trips far more.

 

*** Please keep in mind that people on here are not trying to give you advice because we as passengers don't want to be bothered with your child. I think everyone wants what is best for the child and secondly the parents. So you will do as you please to save $$$ but for me a vacation should be fun family time and if you are dreading the flights and are absolutely wiped out before the trip even begins, why bother? That's a huge waste of money too.

[goofy810]

I would love to not hold my DD for the whole flight (im sure it will be me not my wife as DD only sleeps in my arms not the wife for some reason, it was fun at first but now not so much) however there are 2 issues first is the cost we are doing this trip cheap and dont have the option of getting a second seat, and if we did the second issue and bigger one is we are flying then taking a train to vancover then getting on the ship and if DD had her own seat on the plan that would mean brining the big car seat and hauling it along with everything else through the airport then the train and lastly storeing it in the small cabin on the ship ( do they make a small folding travel car seat ?)

[grandma*knows*best]

We always fly southwest even if the flights are more expensive. Parents with kids age 4 and under board first and basically have the pick of the seats..

 

Parents with children on WN do not board first. They are allowed to board between the A and B group; one family member with the child age 4 or under. It must have been a long time since you flew WN, because this has been their policy for quite a while now.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

I just flew on Southwest on Thursday night and they were letting families with small children board before us- but we were in B group and you are probably right that they do it between A and B. Sorry for the confusion. The point is- they are great for young families. I flew Southwest on three flight over the course of three weeks (6/30/12-7/19/12) We fly Southwest every time we fly, which is at least once a year.

 

If you are traveling with a child- you always end up bringing more stuff than usual. The trip you are planning is quite a long trip with a child. We are doing the same trip next summer (Millenium b2b out of Vancouver) but we are going to break up the trip with an overnight in Seattle because it is too long of a day for us to try to fly and make the ship from BWI. You do have to have an FAA approved car seat on the plane. It has to say FAA approved on it.

[travelhound]

The person that said they were flying from Minn-Miami. I did a search of Sat-Sat for three weekends in December and the most expensive flight was a nonstop for $ 530- so I don't get where you found $1000 for tickets. I'm curious what week you are flying and why you were given that outrageous price.

 

 

 

I'm not sure why you think I'd make this up. You don't know when we're leaving or when we're returning so how could you search for our flights? We already paid points for our two tickets. At the time we reserved them several months ago it was only 30K points. The price then was just under $600, so that's why it was 30K. Now when I check for the same flight (obviously I'm not sending our 21 month old on a different flight or to a different airport) a ticket is $946.60. That's for the 6 pm flight on the departure. If we flew on the 1:30 flight it's even worse - $1151.60. We don't fly SW because there are no non-stop flights from MSP to Florida and two flights are worse than one non-stop. If you are interested in searching for our flight to confirm my honesty, it's Delta 924 on 12/26 and Delta 2322 on 1/6. It has dropped about $40 since I last searched it a few weeks ago, but it's still almost $1000.

 

hollster8,

I like the pipe cleaners idea. That would be something new that dd has never played with. I've also read about painters tape but I saw a post once that someone had it taken away by TSA because they said it could be used as handcuffs. Weird.

[ebandive]

I just recently flew (alone..eesh) with my DD who was 12 months. For us buying her own seat was also not an option, it was too expensive, so I'm not going to tell you to get your LO their own seat. Not helpful.

 

That being said...

 

Here are some things that kept her entertained on our 4 hour flight:

 

-pipe cleaners. She loved bending them, twisting them, and we made shapes with them.

-a drawing pad and pen

-PAINTER'S TAPE. Weird, right? No. My DD loved sticking pieces of tape all over the seat tray, window, arm rest, my arm, etc. It was just like stickers because caused no damage and easily came off.

-I also brought an iPad. DD was content to watch her shows without headphones.

 

We also walked up and down the aisle when we were permitted on the flight we had an aisle seat. I don't know where you're sitting, but my DD is a wiggly worm so I tried to get an aisle seat when I could (on the flight back we had to do window, but she liked looking outside) so we could get up and down without disturbing too many other passengers.

 

One thing I found the other people around me appreciated was that I told them before we took off that I was going to try my best to keep my daughter well-behaved, and that I realized it was probably a let-down for them to discover they were next to a baby. After doing that, the people around me became very helpful and understanding because they knew I wasn't going to just let my DD sit and cry.

 

We are flying in November and DD will be 17 months. I'm going to use some of these same tactics then. My DD didn't cry much at all and when she did it was because she wanted to get up but couldn't because the seatbelt light was on.

 

In short, bring some interesting/new things and make sure the people around you know you're going to try your absolute best to control your LO.

 

Good luck and happy travels!

 

I LOVE the pipe cleaners and painters tape ideas!! We are taking a road trip next month with our 16 month old, and will definitely be bringing those!

[mikesteg]

Parents with children on WN do not board first. They are allowed to board between the A and B group; one family member with the child age 4 or under. It must have been a long time since you flew WN, because this has been their policy for quite a while now.

 

That is correct. Family boarding is between A and B groups. 60 pax in a group, but A1-30 (I believe) is reserved for the "A-list" which may only have 10 or 15 if you get the right flight, so (in theory) you may have anywhere from 30 to 60 people boarding in front of you. Combined with the people already on the plane, and the fact that most people will take an aisle or window, and we still frequently wind up at the back of the plane in order to get an empty row.

 

It's always good to check in at 24 hours to try to get A group, even with family boarding. If you do happen to get A50-something, you can always skip the line and wait for family boarding.

 

But, we've never had a major problem and we still LUV Southwest. :D Free checked bags and the four of us have been able to fly a round trip for ~40,000 points a few times.

 

The other benefit of WN: because seats are not assigned, the seats next to the infants are the last to fill so in many cases our kids were able to have their own seat even though we didn't pay for them. I $ure mi$$ tho$e day$. :D

[DG2007]

My best advice is BE PREPARED TO ENTERTAIN your baby the ENTIRE TIME! We last few with our older daughter when she was 14 months and luckily she slept a lot but when she was awake it was constant work to keep her entertained. We made sure to pack lots of snacks, toys and books, and once through security we bought water, juice and milk to keep her happy and hydrated. We got the usual "Oh god, not a baby" look when we boarded but at the end of the flight everyone was praising us on her behavior! She fussed a bit but we quickly squashed it by playing with her or fixing whatever else was bothering her.

 

We usually fly Southwest too - in fact we leave tomorrow for NH (a 5 hour non-stop flight for us) with our older daughter, now 2.5 year old and younger daughter who is 15 months. We like that we board after group A but before group B, we head straight for the back of the plane since it's the least popular (usually), seems louder and closer to a bathroom. We have found usually people avoid sitting with us unless the flight is full so we usually get a seat for baby without paying for it. I'm taking a bag full of snacks and toys/books. There will probably be no relaxing for either me or my husband but that's how it is when you have kids.

[keyarra]

My 19 month old son has flown at 7 months from Seattle to Heathrow, at 15 months from Seattle to Orlando, and at 18 months from Seattle to Orange county. All flights as a lap child. He did great. I time the flights for naps time. He had one fit on the last flight but only cause he was tired. On the Heathrow flight the other passengers had no idea he was even there. I had my bag packed well but not over packed. Lots of snacks, a couple of dum dum suckers, juice boxes, dvd player...( that didnt help at all). Just roll with the punches. I was able to rock him in the back of the plane while the seat belt sign was off. I also brought baby Tylenol for his ears. Good luck and have fun!!

[grandma*knows*best]

I've also read about painters tape but I saw a post once that someone had it taken away by TSA because they said it could be used as handcuffs. Weird.

 

Try using a package of Post it Notes instead.

[familytrip4us]

Keep extra lightweight clothes handy

Bring lots of dipes and wipes

Keep snacks and milk on hand

Rotate toys during the trip bringing out new ones periodically and putting away the played with ones

Music, games, audiobooks, movies are all entertaining

Pipe cleaners

Post its

colored pencils or crayons

 

 

The biggest thing I found flying with little guys was to be prepared for them to be on my lap by bringing a sling which I would put around me and them almost like a seatbelt. I know that in times of turbulence this kept them much safer then me holding them on my own (rough turbulence and I would not have been able to hold them) and no one made me take it off because it looked like a blanket. I also brought a carseat on the chance a seat would be available. Maybe something like the Combi Coccoro Carseat plus the frame so you could use it as your stroller on the ship as well (still cheaper than a ticket).

http://www.albeebaby.com/combi-coccoro-flash-stroller-frame-in-beige.html

http://www.albeebaby.com/combi-coccoro-convertible-car-seat-carrot-cake-orange.html

[flhokie]

You aren't looking at the right airline. Minneapolis to Florida is not $1000- no way. You can also fly into Ft. Lauderdale which is far superior to Miami airport and taxi to Miami.

 

Depending on the dates in December it very well could be right. In addition to the holidays, winter vacations and cruises there are a lot of events there at that time of year (college bowl games, etc.).

 

Plus, if they already purchased tickets for the adults they are limited to tickets for only the flights they are booked on (no ability to "shop around") as they wouldn't book the baby on another flight.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

She explained that she and her husband were using their points and had already booked. That makes sense.

[flhokie]

One thing that helped me when flying with my daughter was having a few diapers and wipes separated out in separate zip lock (or any type of bag) that I could just grab and take to the lavatory when it was diaper change time.

 

Also, ask the flight attendant early on which, if any, lavatory has a changing table. I found that none of the Boeing aircraft we flew had changing tables (that is challenging even when they are tiny), but all the Airbus aircraft had them (huge help).

 

As others have said, the most important thing is to be flexible and try not to stress about it. I fly every week for work and have found that the majority of passengers will not get upset over crying little ones as long as the parents are trying to get the child to calm down, etc. Other passengers tend to get upset about it when the parents are ignoring the upset child (reading, sleeping, etc. and pretending it's not happening) which clearly won't be you since you are already asking for help to make the experience the best possible :)