Hints for flying with a 15-month-old

[firsttimermd]

Hello! I am thrilled to be heading to WDW in Sept, but I am travelling with a 15-month-old child and was hoping for a few helpful hints for the flight before we head out. I am not getting a seat for her since almost everyone I have talked to said there was space on their flights once they got to the gate and they got a seat anyway. If not, I'll deal, but I'm hoping for the best. We only have a 2 hour flight and it is exactly during her naptime, so I'm praying for it to go well. I do have a few questions:

Do you take your stollers, and if so, do you put them in a travel bag to check them?

Ditto with your carseats.

Are the diapering facilities decent?

What about taking drinks on the flight?

Ideas for help for ear pain? Is a pacifier or drink the only option.

Also, how is getting through security these days? Any ideas for ways to simplify that?


Thanks so much for any ideas/input!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

It's been a while since I traveled with a toddler but here goes.

Hello! I am thrilled to be heading to WDW in Sept, but I am travelling with a 15-month-old child and was hoping for a few helpful hints for the flight before we head out. I am not getting a seat for her since almost everyone I have talked to said there was space on their flights once they got to the gate and they got a seat anyway. If not, I'll deal, but I'm hoping for the best. We only have a 2 hour flight and it is exactly during her naptime, so I'm praying for it to go well. I do have a few questions:

Do you take your stollers, and if so, do you put them in a travel bag to check them? You take the stroller to the gate and have them check it there. It will go under the plane and will be waiting for you when you disembark the plane at your destination.

Ditto with your carseats. You can also gate check your car seat. Just let the attendants know at the gate desk and they will give you a sticker for your stroller and car seat. I don't know where your are flying from, but there are seldom empty seats on a plane bound for Orlando. I personally would reconsider buying a seat and putting your child in a car seat for the flight, not only is it safer, it will probably be more comfortable for you rather than having a squirming 15 month old in your lap.

Are the diapering facilities decent? There are no diaper changing stations on the plane. You're either changing them in the seat or on the floor. There is no room in the bathrooms to change diapers.

What about taking drinks on the flight? TSA allows forumla and bottles to be brought on the plane. In addition individual size baby juice bottles may be brought on. Do not fill your sippy cups with liquid, you can fill those after you get through security. Any other liquids such as milk or water may be purchased after your get through security, do not try to bring those through.

Ideas for help for ear pain? Is a pacifier or drink the only option. If your child is still using a bottle, let them suck on it during take off and landing. Otherwise a pacifier or sippy cup should do. I used to give my DD benedryl before we flew. It would keep her ears clear. If your child eats those Graduates fruit chews, that could work too. .

Also, how is getting through security these days? Any ideas for ways to simplify that? Security is security. Just make sure that you have any liquids out separately from your bags. Be prepared to take your child out of the stroller, be prepared to take your shoes off. Be prepared to have your camcorders and laptops out and open. Just be patient and you should be fine.

Thanks so much for any ideas/input!

Most of all relax and you should have a good flight.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

There are no diaper changing stations on the plane. You're either changing them in the seat or on the floor. There is no room in the bathrooms to change diapers.

This isn't always true. I have been on some planes where there is a pull down shelf over the toilet for diaper changing.

 

[Siouxstone]

If you end up getting a seat for your carseat, one tip that I've had great luck with is splitting up at boarding. I usually go ahead of DH & DS and set us all up. I have time to stow gear, hook up the carseat and get a sippy cup ready for take off. I also get out a few choice toys for the flight. DH brings DS on when they are almost done boarding. When we get off, DH takes DS off first and goes to change diaper while I regather everything, unhook carseat and tote it all off. Hmmm, Mom or Sherpa?

 

[tjmw2727]

First of all don't worry, a 2 hour flight is going to be easy and you won't be the only family on the aircraft to Orlando with a child !

As for empty seats - I would not plan one one. We fly monthly (dh more) and I can't remember the last time we had empty seats on an aircraft that were not filled with standby passengers. If you want to use the carseat then I would buy a seat, otherwise be prepared to have the child on your lap. Even if there are a few empty seats they will usually not let you have one unless they can make the same arrangement for every lap child flying (IME).

You can use your stroller in the airport and up to the gate. When you arrive a the gate tell the agent you need to gate check the stroller. You will get a tag for it, leave it at the door of the aircraft and it will be delivered to that same spot at the destination airport for your use. You can use a bag but I never did. I just removed anything extra including the hood and packed them in my checked bags. In addition to folding the stroller secured I shut with a bungee cord just in case. You can also gate check the carseat.

Most aircraft do have diapering facilities in the lav - you can usually figure out if you will have one on your flight by using the airlines website or seat guru.com.

You can take breastmilk or formula through the security checkpoint for a baby but in my experience only if its in a baby bottle and only as much as "is reasonable" for your flight. You can then purchase as much milk/juice/water/soda as you like after you clear security. You can also bring as much powdered formula as you like and then purchase water to mix it with after you clear security.

Here is a link to the TSA website area that addresses liquids and traveling with a child:
http://www.tsa.gov/311/index.shtm

Most kids won't have much ear pain - Sipping and or swallowing are the best so if the child isn't thirsty then try something they can chew and swallow. At 15mos you may want to try something like gerber type gummies or fruit snacks. While not ideal for everyday they would be a fun distraction and help with any discomfort.

My best advice for security is to pack light, follow the guidelines, and be patient. Everyone will have to take off shoes and jackets (even the baby) so we wear slip ons and zip front sweatshirts. The stroller will have to be folded and put through and you wil need to remove your 3-1-1 bag if you have one and your baby bottles. Here is the page from TSA regarding clearing security with children:
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/children/index.shtm

I would recommend checking the TSA website prior to your trip for any updates and changes as well.

Have a great trip.
TJ

 

[firsttimermd]

Goodness--thank you all so much for all your valuable time with those responses. What a wealth of information!!! I love the idea of going ahead with what I can pack-mule on into the plane and having DH follow. I am going to have to seriously re-evaluate this seating for little one. I guess I really didn't think about Orlando specificially being so busy and with everyone telling me how dead it is at that time of year, I didn't even think twice.

One last question, do you do advanced seating or wait to get to the gate and check in for seat assignments and are there any tidbits about requesting seating that I should think about.

Thanks again for all your time!!

 

[Kies99]

Do you take your stollers, and if so, do you put them in a travel bag to check them? As mentioned, you can take your stroller through security to the gate. At the gate you'll get a pink tag to put on it. You'll leave it (Folded up) at the entrance to the plane itself. It'll go under the plane and then be waiting for you when you get off the plane.

Ditto with your carseats. Check your carseat. We have travelled with two car seats. One we put in a cloth bag and the other we put in a plain garbage bag. Make sure to have your name and address as well as a phone number on the seat itself. We also do one of those free tags when we check in. These then are usually found in the baggage claim where the oversized luggage is, not on the carousel (though sometimes they are).

Are the diapering facilities decent? We've never had to change on the plane. We make sure to change them just before going on and we never had a problem.

What about taking drinks on the flight? You can take a bottle with you through security as long as the child is with you. It can be more than the 3oz's allowed, but I'd try and take only enough to get you through the flight.

Ideas for help for ear pain? Is a pacifier or drink the only option. We always scheduled our flights for nap times or feeding times. The best way we found was to give the bottle as the plane was taking off. Never had issues with the ears.

Also, how is getting through security these days? Any ideas for ways to simplify that? My suggestion is to try and take as little as possible and check the rest. Take enough wipes/diapers/formula to get you to MCO and you can then grab out what you need from your checked bags.

One last question, do you do advanced seating or wait to get to the gate and check in for seat assignments and are there any tidbits about requesting seating that I should think about.
Do advanced seating and hope it doesn't change. Also, don't worry about buying a seat. While it's nice for the room, it's only a 2 hour flight and between you and DH you can pass the child back and forth if you need a break. It'll save you money for spending at WDW. We never bought a seat when the kids were little and we never had a problem.

 

[Minniemouse07]

My biggest piece of advice would be to purchase a seat for your child and use the car seat.

Here is a great page w/ lots of info about using car seats on airplanes, and here is another link (same site) about using them rear facing if possible!

Dd flew at 17mo for her first trip (just under 3hrs) and slept BOTH ways! The hum of the engine puts her out every time!

When we went down at 27mo there was a family in front of us w/ an older lap child and she was ALL over the place. The mom kept looking back at dd sleeping soundly in her seat for the entire trip!

Good Luck!