[MERGED] Flying transatlantic with a toddler (Was The Big Trip ...)

I'm one of three children and my mother used to have to fly with all of us on a regular basis, the flight's were always made easier for her and us by helpful flight attendants, don't be afraid to ask for help. Where possible we would fly at night so once the excitement of getting on the plane had worn off we would go to sleep. She would always dress us in comfy practical clothing and have a bag of crayons and paper to keep us entertained when we were awake and hard boiled sweets for the take off and landing to help with popping ears. Good luck!

I'm one of three children and my mother used to have to fly with all of us on a regular basis, the flight's were always made easier for her and us by helpful flight attendants, don't be afraid to ask for help. Where possible we would fly at night so once the excitement of getting on the plane had worn off we would go to sleep. She would always dress us in comfy practical clothing and have a bag of crayons and paper to keep us entertained when we were awake and hard boiled sweets for the take off and landing to help with popping ears. Good luck!

Interesting thing about the flight attendants...One of my friends over here is a BA cabin crew member. She said they are not allowed to touch people's children or help in anyway. She said she personally just ignores the rule and will help out parents/hold the baby for short periods even so the parents can use the bathroom or whatever. But, very interesting that airlines specifically have flight attendants not helping, because of "safety regulations," apparently.

Just wanted to report on my experience with my 2 and a half year old during our move earlier this week. Although it wasn't picture perfect, I suppose it could have been much, much worse considering the fact that he was sick for the entire journey.

I kept him occupied on the flight with videos downloaded onto the iPod, coloring books, his Thomas trains, etc. He didn't touch his food (although he was coming down with a bug at that point). He never really got a good sleep because he had a hard time getting comfy in his seat. He cried off and on for the last 30 minutes or so of the flight b/c of a combination of fatigue and the fact that he was livid to have to wear a seat belt  We had a quick layover & connection in Amsterdam which was a little hairy only because he wanted to sleep in his stroller and not have to get up to go through security again (who could blame him!)

We made sure we were the last ones off the plane for both flights. It ended up being a strategic bonus to wait to deplane because that put us at the end of the line at immigration. Since we were all entering on our Tier 2 visas for the first time there was a little bit more of an involved process (fingerprints, extra questioning) with "checking in". But our little guy was golden all throughout!

My stomach had been in knots for months anticipating this aspect of our move and I'm glad it's over. But at the end of the day, it really wasn't that bad at all If we could survive the journey---with a sick and crabby kid in tow-- anyone can.

Nobody's posted on this thread in quite awhile, but I wanted to share my experience. I went to the US in January this year and it was a NIGHTMARE. My son was 6 and a half months old at the time. He's usually a very good natured baby, but he cried more often than not on the flight to Detroit. It was a pained cry, so I think his ears were hurting him. He slept 2 half hour stretches on the whole 8 hour flight. There were 4 babies and he was the definitely the most upset. I spent a lot of time standing up and rocking him back and forth, but nothing would really calm him. I took his car seat so he could sleep in that because he's never been one who likes being held for very long, but he just couldn't seem to get comfortable. Even when he slept it was very fitful, he'd cry out in his sleep every couple of minutes. I felt sorry for him and, honestly, for myself! I cried when we made it through customs and saw my parents waiting. My mom said she didn't know if it was because I was so happy to see them or just relieved the trip was over, I said it was definitely both, haha.

The flight home was not nearly as bad. He didn't seem like he was in pain at all. It was an overnight flight this time and he slept for the first 3 hours. He was awake after that, but he wasn't too moody at all. At one point I had him laughing so much one of the flight attendants came to our seats and said she could hear him from first class and she just had to come get a look at him. The flight attendants were extremely friendly and helpful on this flight, where they weren't on the first one. I've never been on a flight where I was pleased with every flight attendant until this one. They couldn't have been nicer.

I'm going back in November this year and I'm pretty nervous. My mom is going to visit us in October/November and I'm going to fly back with her so I only have one way by myself. My husband can't take the time off work to come with us. My son will be 17 months by then and I won't be taking his car seat (the one I took this time is one that attaches to the pushchair. I can't see lugging a bigger car seat through the airport by myself, it's hard enough with the luggage) so I'm nervous about how he'll be sitting in the airplane seat and whether he'll be able to sleep like that or not.

Hopefully other people will have nothing but great experiences flying with their little ones. I just kept telling myself it can't last forever. Word of advice, don't stare at the clock, it makes time go by so much slower!

JudesMom, you may want to consider a CARES harness, that's what we did for Jean Christmas 2009 when she was 19 months and had her own seat. 

Thanks SlicesMissus! I'll have to look into that.

I hope this thread isn't too old to get a reply in....

I'm traveling with my 1yo in August/September from CA to England. She's fairly active but certainly not a terror. I will be by myself for the 10 hour plane ride.

So, am I CRAZY for considering booking her as a lap child? I really can't afford another $650 attached to my plane ticket right now. Plus I don't have a carseat that would fit in the plane seat, so I'd have to buy one of those as well (and I just got a new one).

My biggest concern is not being able to reach for anything, like my bag, if it's under the seats. And of course her getting squirmy. But I've NEVER flown transatlantic either way without having an empty seat next to me. I may have just been lucky.

SO...please tell me, are such things possible, or am I dreaming?

ETA:I realize I won't be able to eat, or move, or breathe. I don't mind as I am great at being inert. I just don't want to excessively annoy my child or those around me.

It's not that bad.  People are very understanding.  The flight attendants usually help as well.

It's not that bad.  People are very understanding.  The flight attendants usually help as well.

I'm with Geeta, its not that bad. I have always flown with my kids as lap children until I had to pay for them. The way I look at it is that its only one day out of my lfe...but I just bring toys, a dvd player etc and if I need the toilet, I just ask a flight attendant to help, or someone sitting next to me. Or, as I have done before...have a wee while holding one of the kids! crazy! Also, I take what I might need out of my bag in the beginning of the flight, and put the kid on the seat while I get stuff. It won't be as bad as you think! I always fly alone with both of my kids and never find it too bad! Good luck!

I'm sure this has been answered already but I haven't seen it: Are you required to bring a carseat for those under 2? We're going to Phoenix in December and we've bought one seat for the girls and the other will have to be on our lap. I can't fathom having to lug around our heavy carseat.

I'm sure this has been answered already but I haven't seen it: Are you required to bring a carseat for those under 2? We're going to Phoenix in December and we've bought one seat for the girls and the other will have to be on our lap. I can't fathom having to lug around our heavy carseat.

It depends if the under two has his own seat or not....if not, no, but if you have bought an extra seat, some airlines (like Air New Zealand) require the car seat, some don't. You'd have to check on their website.

We're taking our first trip back home after five year on Tuesday and will have the three year-old and 14 month-old with us, so it should be an adventure to say the least.

One idea that I've had which wasn't as big of a thing when the thread started, is that I'm also bringing a tablet where I've downloaded all dd's favourite games like talking tom and a bunch of you tube copies of peppa pig and other shows she loves. The battery life is way better than my phone. Here's hoping it helps!

We're taking our first trip back home after five year on Tuesday and will have the three year-old and 14 month-old with us, so it should be an adventure to say the least.

One idea that I've had which wasn't as big of a thing when the thread started, is that I'm also bringing a tablet where I've downloaded all dd's favourite games like talking tom and a bunch of you tube copies of peppa pig and other shows she loves. The battery life is way better than my phone. Here's hoping it helps!

We used my husbands Netbook for just this. Loaded it up and worked brilliantly...for the 7 hour life of the battery  , we just made sure we charged it up at the airport before boarding and it was a lifesaver.

I thought of one other thing we're doing that will (hopefully) make the trip a bit easier.  We live four hours away from London, where we were able to get our best tickets.  We considered our options for getting down to Gatwick.  When it was just the two of us, we always took National Express down rather than paying for all the parking, but the thought of a long, crowded bus ride in the middle of the night with two babies was just too much to bear.

In the end we chose to drive, but instead of using a car park by the airport, we are doing something different this time.  We've booked a hotel/parking package for one of the airport hotels and will go down the day before our flight.  Hopefully this way we'll have a good night's sleep, a nice meal, and we won't have to leave at two or three in the morning, drive four hours and then find the car park and how to get to the airport--all before even starting our 14 hours of flights and layover time.  It will all be sorted the day before and we'll just take the shuttle, which only takes five minutes from the hotel to the airport, and the hotel is giving us a free cot, so we don't have to pack and unpack that.

The total price of our hotel for a family of four and parking for 2.5 weeks is only £40 more than just the parking at the airport at its prebooked price.  It's about £150 less than the price for just showing up at the airport without pre-booking a spot online.  Off-airport parking is a bit less, but not a whole lot more.  I am still getting the hotel room for a lot less than a regular room rate for a family.

There were packages that cost even less than the one we chose because they use a local car park rather than the hotel car park, but I decided that I had more than enough to be getting on with that day, so paid a little extra for a hotel where I could use their own car park.  Even doing that, I think I got a good deal.  I just thought I'd pass it on since I hadn't heard of using hotels for parking at an airport until this year, and I think it will make the overall journey a bit easier and cut down on that worry about what might happen if something goes wrong during the journey down (such as road accidents, traffic, car troubles) because I'll be down there a night early.

We looked into hotel parking but it was too costly. In the end we did something similar, we drove down to Heathrow, got a hotel nearby the day before we left and the day we came back. We used Purple Parking which I totally recommend. It was £80 for a months parking which I thought was very good and the company was professional and super easy to use.

The hotel turned out not to be a fantastic idea, though. It was our first time in a hotel with the girls. We were forced to bring our own cots as they couldn't guarantee two would be available and that wasn't a chance we wanted to take. The girls didn't like going to sleep when they knew mom and dad were right there. We only used the hotel for a few hours when we got back into London because the girls refused to sleep more than 2 hours, so I ended up driving back to Leeds at midnight (which turned out to be fantastic because there was no traffic).

The flights to and from Phoenix were ok. The worst part was security. Heathrow was a breeze and they let us keep the girls in the buggy. Phoenix was a PITA. They made us not only take them out but we had to have them go through the arch one by one and they were terrified and screaming. Plus they insisted we put our DOUBLE buggy through the x-ray machine and after we pointed out that it was simply too big for the x-ray machine, the guy became a complete ass and told us to go through security where the buggy would be waiting for us. We had to wait for 20 minutes. You can imagine the scene: both Jon and I trying to get all our stuff together (because we found it was not possible to travel light on the way back) with two kids who were alternating between screaming and then running away thinking it was a great game to go back through the security arch. Stress city. Thank god that's not a trip I do often.