My friend Kate from This Mommy Gig is taking a bit of a trip later this year by air, with her two small children. Traveling with littles has never been an easy proposition, even before all the various and sundry TSA regulations we air travelers labor under these days. Still, it can and must be done, so here are some suggestions to make the experience less painful for all concerned.
One note before we get started: I'm a "Platinum Elite" frequent flier on Delta Air Lines. I speak Delta, sort of. Other airlines have different languages. I've cross-checked Delta's policies with Southwest's, since I also fly SWA a bit as well.
I've broken these suggestions down into a bit of a chronology.
Booking Travel: The first thing you must decide is how your children will be traveling. You don't have to book a separate seat for your child under 2 if you intend to carry/hold the child throughout the flight. If kiddo is over 2, or if you want to strap 'em into a car seat, you need to purchase a separate ticket. For a mom traveling with two littles, booking two or three seats is a tough call. You can save some money doing the "infant in arms" thing, but then you have less maneuvering room for second kiddo if you're holding the smaller one. Perhaps a baby sling would make sense for the flight, even if you don't use it regularly. If I were Kate, I would probably book three seats, put baby in a car seat on one side, older kiddo on the aisle, and sit in the middle between them.
Most airline websites can be cryptic when it comes to notifying them about "infant in arms." If there's no box to tick on the site, be sure to tell the ticket agent at the airport about your kid when you check in.
If you'll be doing regular travel with kids and you'll be purchasing their own tickets, do set them up in your airline's frequent flier program. If you're traveling across the US, that's 2500+ miles each way. If you do that twice a year, that's 15K miles for three people. You can get award travel with 25K miles, so it adds up fast.
Departure Day
Get to the airport early. Sounds like a cliche, but it's more important with kids in tow. If you're parking a car in the airport's long-term lot/garage, be prepared for a bit of a hike to the terminal. If you're pushing a small child in a stroller and expecting the toddler to walk, be prepared for a cranky kid by the time you get to the check-in desk. If you're checking baggage, you'll need to check-in for your flight at least 30 minutes prior to departure, so factor this into your walk from the car.
Checking In. The check-in process at the ticket counter is more than a bit annoying these days for most airlines. Delta, along with most other major carriers, make extensive use of computer-based "kiosks" for check-in. The flier swipes their frequent flier membership card or the credit card used to purchase the e-ticket, and the reservation information pops up. You confirm it, print out your boarding pass(es), verify your ID with the ticket agent, and check any luggage you have. If you've purchased seprate tickets for your children, you'll need to repeat the process for them as well.
While the logistics of this process aren't that bad for an individual adult, they can be a challenge for a mom with a kid in tow. Factor this, along with the crowd of people that invariably forms around these kiosks into your time calculations.
Once you've secured your boarding passes and dropped off your luggage, it's on to the next big hurdle, the security check.
Dealing with the Transportation Security Administration
Be polite. Ever see Chris Rock's bit on "How not to get your ass kicked by the po-lice" on his old HBO show? If so, you get the idea. TSA officers are by and large professional--they've done a good job of weeding out most of the jerks. You need to remember that, no matter how stressed out you are at this point, no matter how cranky your kids are, no matter what idiotic thing your spouse just did, the TSA officers at the screening station can shut your trip down cold if they choose to do so. Getting you and your kids past TSA is going to take some work. Don't be the "sippy cup mom" -- even if the TSA officers aren't ball-busters, you don't want to make a scene. Be polite. Smile. And above all, follow instructions.
Liquids. Babies drink way more than they eat. There are exceptions to the standard TSA regulation that you can't bring liquids through the checkpoint in more than 3oz containers, but you're not going to be able to bring through enough milk or juice to withstand a major flight delay. If you're starting your travel day in a major hub airport (LAX, O'Hare in Chicago, Atlanta, JFK), odds are you'll be able to purchase milk and/or juice once you clear security. Don't count on this in smaller airports, however.
The best solution to the liquids dilemma is to put together a couple of bottles with formula, milk or juice. These will get past security. If you don't want kiddo to be drinking soda or fruit punch for potentially a couple of hours during a flight delay, bring powdered drink mixes (or baby formula). You can purchase bottled water on the concourse, or, in a pinch, make your drinks with water from a drinking fountain.
in any case, be sure to pack all your liquids in 1-quart Ziploc-style clear bags. When you get up to the x-ray machine's belt, remove the clear bags from your carry-on and place them directly on the belt.
Shoes off. This means you and your kiddos. No exceptions.
Navigating strollers. Your stroller has to be able to collapse and go through the x-ray machine, just like your purse, diaper bag, and carry-on luggage. The best type of stroller for traveling with an infant is one of those where you attach a car seat to a collapsible stroller. Disconnect the seat, put seat and kiddo on ground. Collapse stroller and put it on conveyer belt. Remove kiddo from seat and put seat on belt.
Metal Detector. The best way to go through a metal detector is naked, but since that's not socially acceptable, opt for minimal clothing. The best rule of thumb is, if you don't wear any metal, you don't have to take it off. Send toddler(s) through before you. Odds are the TSA officer on the other side is a parent, they'll help, and they'll keep kid in one place for you. Wait until kiddo is all the way through and TSA officer signals you can come through, otherwise you'll set the thing off and will have to go back. If you're carrying a baby, keep kid close to you and don't bump the sides of the detector.
You made it! Now, put your shoes on, get the kids' back on, re-build the stroller, and you can head to the gate.
At The Gate
How comfortable you and the kids will be at this point depends a lot on your airport. The basic rule of thumb here is, the bigger the airport, the more creature comforts you'll find. Sometimes this is a factor of the airline, as well--for example, Southwest Airlines often has kid play stuff at many of their gates at airports like Houston's Hobby or Dallas' Love. Access to food and drink will vary as well. Before you get to this point, check your airline's website for airport information and maps. Use Teh Google and see if your airport has its own website for information. Knowledge is power.
In any airport, there are some basic steps to take once you get past TSA.
Make yourself comfortable. At a minimum, you're now looking at 30-45 minutes before boarding, if you followed the recommendations of your airline. Use this time to settle in a bit at the gate. Find a couple of chairs and plop your stuff. If there's some open carpet area, pull out a blanket, sit on the floor, and let baby crawl. Screw the dirty looks you may get from road warriors or the child-free-and-proud crowd. And the horse they rode in on. Depending on your destination, your kids will be cooped up for at least an hour, maybe a lot more than that. Let them burn off some energy.
As tempting as that carpeted area two gates down might look, resist the temptation to move down that way. Most airports are LOUD places, with generic airport announcements, TVs blaring CNN, and lots of conversations are guaranteed to drown out anything the gate agent working your flight might say. Keep within close range of the desk for your gate.
Eat, Drink, Poop. Get the kids fed, hydrated, and changed. This should keep you busy right up until they call your flight.
Take advantage of pre-boarding. Southwest always calls for families with small children before starting general boarding; Delta often doesn't. If you're on an airline other than SWA, check with the gate agent and let them know you've got small kids and a stroller. They'll take care of you, helping you tag the stroller for gate-check, and waving you on board, usually prior to their call for first class passengers.
Your stroller can't go into the main cabin of the aircraft; it must be "gate-checked." You'll leave it at the end of the boarding ramp, and one of the baggage handlers will load it into the baggage compartment. Upon landing, they'll pass the strollers up to the boarding ramp at your destination, where you can reclaim it and head into the airport.
Get settled on the plane. If you've purchased two seats, the airline will usually give you the window and middle seats, so thepoor soul passenger in the same row as you is on the aisle, and doesn't have to try to get out over you and kiddo to use the lavatory. Put the car seat in the middle, unless you anticipate that your child is going to be a screamer, then you take the middle, so you're a bit of a sound wall. Put your diaper bag under the seat in front of you, where you can grab it in-flight, then get yourself and car seat buckled up.
Be prepared for hostility. Kids often get fussy on planes. People often get annoyed. Be prepared for it--it's going to happen. Smile, nod, and ignore them. Putting on your best "fuck you" look isn't going to accomplish anything, so just smile, nod, and ignore. If you get lucky, kids will sit still, and maybe even nap. And pigs will fly out of my butt.
At The Hub
Most airlines use a "spoke-and-hub" system these days. For example, if I want to travel from New Orleans to just about anywhere on Delta, I have to fly to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta first. If I was on Continental, it would be Houston-IAH, United, Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), well, you get the idea. This means your trip may well involve two flights, one to the hub, and another to your final destination. If you find yourself having to make two hops, be sure to leave 1+ hours between your flights. If the airline's website won't let you book the trip with ample time between flights, get off-line, call them up, and explain that you're in mommy-mode. You're going to need that time to move you and the kids from gate to gate.
De-planing. When the plane lands, there will be a huge rush of people into the tiny aisles of the cabin, and lots of activity as they all pull their luggage from the overhead bins. Your best play at this point is to keep both you and the kids in your seats until the pushy people move past. Besides, you need to wait for your stroller to be brought up from the baggage compartent anyway.
Moving to your next gate. Many hub airports have trains to connect the concourses or terminals together. Keep firm hold on toddler while you push stroller and you'll be fine. If the airport doesn't have some sort of mass transit, ask a gate agent to get someone driving an electric cart to come fetch you.
Get comfortable again/Eat, Drink, Poop. Repeat these steps from above while you wait for your flight. Be prepared for delays in the event that weather or Air Traffic Control won't let you get away from the airport on time.
Do it again. Get on the plane, get settled, entertain the kids as best you can.
At The Destination
You'll go through the same de-planing ritual at your destination. This time, however, you'll move towards baggage claim. This may involve mass transit, depending on the size of your airport. Don't kill yourself here--again, you've got to get the stroller, and they have to send your luggage (along with everyone else's) to the front of the airport.
Once you've claimed your checked luggage, you're out of the system. If someone is meeting you at the airport, have them do so at baggage claim. If you're renting a car, you'll have to navigate that process, but then you're back on your own.
Congratulations, you survived. Now you can do it all in reverse to go home!
One note before we get started: I'm a "Platinum Elite" frequent flier on Delta Air Lines. I speak Delta, sort of. Other airlines have different languages. I've cross-checked Delta's policies with Southwest's, since I also fly SWA a bit as well.
I've broken these suggestions down into a bit of a chronology.
Booking Travel: The first thing you must decide is how your children will be traveling. You don't have to book a separate seat for your child under 2 if you intend to carry/hold the child throughout the flight. If kiddo is over 2, or if you want to strap 'em into a car seat, you need to purchase a separate ticket. For a mom traveling with two littles, booking two or three seats is a tough call. You can save some money doing the "infant in arms" thing, but then you have less maneuvering room for second kiddo if you're holding the smaller one. Perhaps a baby sling would make sense for the flight, even if you don't use it regularly. If I were Kate, I would probably book three seats, put baby in a car seat on one side, older kiddo on the aisle, and sit in the middle between them.
Most airline websites can be cryptic when it comes to notifying them about "infant in arms." If there's no box to tick on the site, be sure to tell the ticket agent at the airport about your kid when you check in.
If you'll be doing regular travel with kids and you'll be purchasing their own tickets, do set them up in your airline's frequent flier program. If you're traveling across the US, that's 2500+ miles each way. If you do that twice a year, that's 15K miles for three people. You can get award travel with 25K miles, so it adds up fast.
Departure Day
Get to the airport early. Sounds like a cliche, but it's more important with kids in tow. If you're parking a car in the airport's long-term lot/garage, be prepared for a bit of a hike to the terminal. If you're pushing a small child in a stroller and expecting the toddler to walk, be prepared for a cranky kid by the time you get to the check-in desk. If you're checking baggage, you'll need to check-in for your flight at least 30 minutes prior to departure, so factor this into your walk from the car.
Checking In. The check-in process at the ticket counter is more than a bit annoying these days for most airlines. Delta, along with most other major carriers, make extensive use of computer-based "kiosks" for check-in. The flier swipes their frequent flier membership card or the credit card used to purchase the e-ticket, and the reservation information pops up. You confirm it, print out your boarding pass(es), verify your ID with the ticket agent, and check any luggage you have. If you've purchased seprate tickets for your children, you'll need to repeat the process for them as well.
While the logistics of this process aren't that bad for an individual adult, they can be a challenge for a mom with a kid in tow. Factor this, along with the crowd of people that invariably forms around these kiosks into your time calculations.
Once you've secured your boarding passes and dropped off your luggage, it's on to the next big hurdle, the security check.
Dealing with the Transportation Security Administration
Be polite. Ever see Chris Rock's bit on "How not to get your ass kicked by the po-lice" on his old HBO show? If so, you get the idea. TSA officers are by and large professional--they've done a good job of weeding out most of the jerks. You need to remember that, no matter how stressed out you are at this point, no matter how cranky your kids are, no matter what idiotic thing your spouse just did, the TSA officers at the screening station can shut your trip down cold if they choose to do so. Getting you and your kids past TSA is going to take some work. Don't be the "sippy cup mom" -- even if the TSA officers aren't ball-busters, you don't want to make a scene. Be polite. Smile. And above all, follow instructions.
Liquids. Babies drink way more than they eat. There are exceptions to the standard TSA regulation that you can't bring liquids through the checkpoint in more than 3oz containers, but you're not going to be able to bring through enough milk or juice to withstand a major flight delay. If you're starting your travel day in a major hub airport (LAX, O'Hare in Chicago, Atlanta, JFK), odds are you'll be able to purchase milk and/or juice once you clear security. Don't count on this in smaller airports, however.
The best solution to the liquids dilemma is to put together a couple of bottles with formula, milk or juice. These will get past security. If you don't want kiddo to be drinking soda or fruit punch for potentially a couple of hours during a flight delay, bring powdered drink mixes (or baby formula). You can purchase bottled water on the concourse, or, in a pinch, make your drinks with water from a drinking fountain.
in any case, be sure to pack all your liquids in 1-quart Ziploc-style clear bags. When you get up to the x-ray machine's belt, remove the clear bags from your carry-on and place them directly on the belt.
Shoes off. This means you and your kiddos. No exceptions.
Navigating strollers. Your stroller has to be able to collapse and go through the x-ray machine, just like your purse, diaper bag, and carry-on luggage. The best type of stroller for traveling with an infant is one of those where you attach a car seat to a collapsible stroller. Disconnect the seat, put seat and kiddo on ground. Collapse stroller and put it on conveyer belt. Remove kiddo from seat and put seat on belt.
Metal Detector. The best way to go through a metal detector is naked, but since that's not socially acceptable, opt for minimal clothing. The best rule of thumb is, if you don't wear any metal, you don't have to take it off. Send toddler(s) through before you. Odds are the TSA officer on the other side is a parent, they'll help, and they'll keep kid in one place for you. Wait until kiddo is all the way through and TSA officer signals you can come through, otherwise you'll set the thing off and will have to go back. If you're carrying a baby, keep kid close to you and don't bump the sides of the detector.
You made it! Now, put your shoes on, get the kids' back on, re-build the stroller, and you can head to the gate.
At The Gate
How comfortable you and the kids will be at this point depends a lot on your airport. The basic rule of thumb here is, the bigger the airport, the more creature comforts you'll find. Sometimes this is a factor of the airline, as well--for example, Southwest Airlines often has kid play stuff at many of their gates at airports like Houston's Hobby or Dallas' Love. Access to food and drink will vary as well. Before you get to this point, check your airline's website for airport information and maps. Use Teh Google and see if your airport has its own website for information. Knowledge is power.
In any airport, there are some basic steps to take once you get past TSA.
Make yourself comfortable. At a minimum, you're now looking at 30-45 minutes before boarding, if you followed the recommendations of your airline. Use this time to settle in a bit at the gate. Find a couple of chairs and plop your stuff. If there's some open carpet area, pull out a blanket, sit on the floor, and let baby crawl. Screw the dirty looks you may get from road warriors or the child-free-and-proud crowd. And the horse they rode in on. Depending on your destination, your kids will be cooped up for at least an hour, maybe a lot more than that. Let them burn off some energy.
As tempting as that carpeted area two gates down might look, resist the temptation to move down that way. Most airports are LOUD places, with generic airport announcements, TVs blaring CNN, and lots of conversations are guaranteed to drown out anything the gate agent working your flight might say. Keep within close range of the desk for your gate.
Eat, Drink, Poop. Get the kids fed, hydrated, and changed. This should keep you busy right up until they call your flight.
Take advantage of pre-boarding. Southwest always calls for families with small children before starting general boarding; Delta often doesn't. If you're on an airline other than SWA, check with the gate agent and let them know you've got small kids and a stroller. They'll take care of you, helping you tag the stroller for gate-check, and waving you on board, usually prior to their call for first class passengers.
Your stroller can't go into the main cabin of the aircraft; it must be "gate-checked." You'll leave it at the end of the boarding ramp, and one of the baggage handlers will load it into the baggage compartment. Upon landing, they'll pass the strollers up to the boarding ramp at your destination, where you can reclaim it and head into the airport.
Get settled on the plane. If you've purchased two seats, the airline will usually give you the window and middle seats, so the
Be prepared for hostility. Kids often get fussy on planes. People often get annoyed. Be prepared for it--it's going to happen. Smile, nod, and ignore them. Putting on your best "fuck you" look isn't going to accomplish anything, so just smile, nod, and ignore. If you get lucky, kids will sit still, and maybe even nap. And pigs will fly out of my butt.
At The Hub
Most airlines use a "spoke-and-hub" system these days. For example, if I want to travel from New Orleans to just about anywhere on Delta, I have to fly to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta first. If I was on Continental, it would be Houston-IAH, United, Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), well, you get the idea. This means your trip may well involve two flights, one to the hub, and another to your final destination. If you find yourself having to make two hops, be sure to leave 1+ hours between your flights. If the airline's website won't let you book the trip with ample time between flights, get off-line, call them up, and explain that you're in mommy-mode. You're going to need that time to move you and the kids from gate to gate.
De-planing. When the plane lands, there will be a huge rush of people into the tiny aisles of the cabin, and lots of activity as they all pull their luggage from the overhead bins. Your best play at this point is to keep both you and the kids in your seats until the pushy people move past. Besides, you need to wait for your stroller to be brought up from the baggage compartent anyway.
Moving to your next gate. Many hub airports have trains to connect the concourses or terminals together. Keep firm hold on toddler while you push stroller and you'll be fine. If the airport doesn't have some sort of mass transit, ask a gate agent to get someone driving an electric cart to come fetch you.
Get comfortable again/Eat, Drink, Poop. Repeat these steps from above while you wait for your flight. Be prepared for delays in the event that weather or Air Traffic Control won't let you get away from the airport on time.
Do it again. Get on the plane, get settled, entertain the kids as best you can.
At The Destination
You'll go through the same de-planing ritual at your destination. This time, however, you'll move towards baggage claim. This may involve mass transit, depending on the size of your airport. Don't kill yourself here--again, you've got to get the stroller, and they have to send your luggage (along with everyone else's) to the front of the airport.
Once you've claimed your checked luggage, you're out of the system. If someone is meeting you at the airport, have them do so at baggage claim. If you're renting a car, you'll have to navigate that process, but then you're back on your own.
Congratulations, you survived. Now you can do it all in reverse to go home!
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