Top 10 Tips For Flying With Kids On A Plane

Posted on 17th Nov, 2023 by Renu Dahiya , Updated 9 months ago

On an overnight flight, You might have experienced the nightmare of having your kids go astray. It makes you the center of attention for all the wrong reasons. Everywhere you look, people raise their eyebrows while you are trying to calm your child. This circumstance is a haunting dream for many travelers. It deters many potential explorers and damps the exposure of kids. Here in our guide, we’ll go through some amazing tips for flying with kids on a plane or to help things go as smoothly as possible. 

10 Best Tips For Flying With Kids On A Plane

Talk To Your Kids Fair And Square

Well, this may seem a vain endeavor; trust us, it’s not. By talking, we mean to include the kids in your travel plans. See, most parents think that their kids aren’t mature enough to discuss this stuff. However, talking is more about painting a picture in their minds and preparing themselves for the flight. You need to include them in the pre-booking phase and showcase your excitement for the journey. 

Tell them how you feel,e.g: “I’m excited about this trip.” Ask them about the trip,e.g: ” How do you feel about going to Hawaii?”. Set up their expectations for the flight, for instance, “Oh Danny, we’re going to see clouds up close, isn’t it amazing?” or “if you feel any pain in your ears, let me know. It’s no big deal, this happens to me as well”. Basically, you want to prep them before the flight.

Main Point: When you discuss with your kids, it makes them feel included during the trip and reduces sudden outbursts.

Pre-book And Delegate As Much As Possible

If there is one mantra that works well for a manager and a parent during international flights, it is this, “Delegate, Delegate, Delegate!”. What we mean by this is to limit the number of tasks and activities as much as possible for the F-DAY(flight day). You may be a seasoned traveler in the past and booked everything on the spot. You may be dismayed by the idea of delegating the travel itinerary to a travel agency. But guess what? Things have changed. 

You can’t be spontaneous while traveling with kids. By delegating all the tasks to your travel agency, you can savor your time with your loved ones. Start off by booking Bulkhead seats or bassinet seats (if you have a baby). Delegate your travel itinerary to the destination city by a credible travel agency and see if they provide airport pickup service. If your child is going on a solo trip, delegate the security and responsibility by booking Unaccompanied minor flights. Yes, these are the real deals when it comes to your child’s solo trip.

Main Point: Booking ahead of time is having 1 less thing to worry about while enjoying yourself with your family. Don’t try to be a Superman by doing everything alone when you can have a team of avengers (experts).

Strategically Plan Your Flight Schedule

While you may want to travel to the destination as fast as possible. It would help if you considered the needs of your children while traveling with your family. You should look at the flight times and match them to your kids’ schedules. For instance, if your baby sleeps at 9 pm, catching a late-night flight at 12 or 1 am is bound for a disaster. On the other hand, if you can get them on the plane for a late flight right around their nap time, they might sleep like a baby (pun intended) for the whole flight. 

Matching the flight timings and the body clock of your kids will make them livelier. So you need to be cautious while planning your flight dates and timings. Also, while traveling abroad, try to book layover flights; it will save you some extra cash and give some relaxation to the kids from the cramped spaces of the plane. Moreover, layover flights are easy to catch instead of connecting flights as you get plenty of time to move your stuff along with the kids.

Main Point: Keep your child’s body clock in check while traveling on a flight. Make sure you have plenty of time to catch a connecting flight while traveling with children.

Reach The Airport In Advance

To Avoid the race against time, try to move in advance on the day of your flight. So many parents have been the victim of last-minute delays that it’s becoming an adage. Seasoned travelers who are well versed with time crunch schedules become easy targets of time after becoming parents. You don’t want to be the group that is aimlessly running across the terminal while searching for your flight 10 minutes before its departure. So move early with your schedule; it will save you not just early seats but your sanity as well. 

As a protip, you could put your watch 30 minutes ahead in time. Furthermore, by reaching early at the airport, you can also take advantage of early boarding. Hearing the early call for your boarding ahead of other passengers is, quite frankly, the only privilege you’re going to get while traveling with kids. It’s the airline’s way of telling, “We understand you’re going to have a grueling five hours. So why don’t you toy around the cabin and cram your hand luggage in our little hanging compartments before everyone else?”

Main Point: Plan your trip by considering the unforeseen delays that can happen while moving with your kids.

Have Snacks Or Meals To Munch

Yes, you heard it right. It may seem unnecessary as airlines pay a lot of attention to child meals these days. But kids are a ball of energy. They need something to nibble on every now and then. So they need food frequently. Now you may say, “But there’s quite a lot of food on the flight, and it’s just a 10-hour journey”. Well, let us ask you this, have you seen a kid ordering a custom-made roast beef sandwich from the flight menu? 

Not a chance; kids are the fussiest inflight eaters. Even with pre-booked meals, you can’t be 100% sure if they’ll pass by the kid’s taste buds. So, don’t leave yourself at the mercy of inflight food and travel with a ticking tummy bomb. The one thing that can turn your trip upside down is a hungry kid screaming for food at over 32000 feet altitude. So pack some of your kid’s favorite snacks in zip-lock bags. Grab some Twinkies, potato chips, M&M’s, muffins, pretzels, snickers, gummy bears, and the usual kid stuff according to your child’s preferences.

Main Point: Never underestimate the power of an M&M to curb a tantrum. Just pack some snacks, It’ll keep your child at ease during the flight.

Pack An Entertainment Bag For Long Flights

Time travels at the pace of a snail when your kid is grumpy and exploding around the aisle of the plane. Most parents don’t recognize the inflight entertainment needs of children while accounting for off-flight fun activities. Children want something to pass their time. You can take your kids for a walk in the aisle every now and then but for how long? 

So, pack a separate bag for entertaining the kids during the flights. When you come to think of it, this is a simple strategy to keep your children busy. Also, charge up your electronics to full capacity before leaving the home. Gadgets can be a nice distraction both for you and your kids.

Main Point: Have a fun bag for your kids unless you want to be their emotional punching bag during the flight journey.

Carry A Pouch Of Basic Medicines

You know how much toll a long overhaul takes on your body while traveling to distant locations. Now think about how much impact it could have on your toddler. One of the quickest ways to ruin your mood on a flight is having your kid get ill. Be it a stomach ache, cold, infection, or a new allergy you recently discovered, You need to be prepared to handle it. 

Don’t worry you don’t have to notify the TSA officer about your medication unless it’s a liquid. To make your kid feel good, you must have some over-the-counter medications necessary to carry while traveling with a child. Over-the-counter medications may consist of :

• An itching cream
• Medicines for Headaches, stomach aches, motion sickness.
• A pill for cough and cold 
• Prescription medications according to the child’s health.
• children’s gravel or Benadryl after consulting with the doctor.

Also, make sure to take the medication in its original container or packaging along with the prescription from your family doctor. 

Main Point: Pack some medicines to handle your child’s health at 30000 feet. It will keep you and your family safe from any unexpected encounter with diseases.

Help your child settle on the plane seats

As soon as you are on board, move the less frequently used carry luggage in the overhead compartments. You don’t want to have all your luggage piled up on your already limited seat space. Try to make your kid comfy on his plane seat and give him his favorite pass-timer toy or gadget. Meanwhile, slide the entertainment bag below their seat or under the seat in front of them.

This will save you from hanging around the overhead compartments while looking for stuff your kid wants to play with next. Plus, this gives your kid the autonomy to play with the items as they please. Also, don’t forget to give your kids earplugs headphones, or cotton balls to cover their ears. Keep the neck pillows and blankets in close range to hand them over when your kid wants to rest. Additionally, you should have some moisturizer or lip balms in your satchel as air conditioners on planes can be quite dehydrating. 

Main Point: Settling your kids is important as this would calm them before the flight takeoff. You need to strategically put the stuff in places based on the frequency of their demand from the kids.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

As per our survey, most of the parents who communicate properly suffer from fewer issues on a flight. Firstly, you need to articulate the guidance provided by the air hostess. Usually, the parents traveling with children below 3 years get a special chat with the stewardess. So, make sure to ask all your doubts that you may have during this chat.

Secondly, You also need to be open to conversations with other parents who are traveling with you with their kids. It will make a world of difference as you will get a travel companion for your air journey. You can ask them for some baby stuff, children’s gravel, and some extra baby wipes in case your baby makes a mess.  

You may not meet them again but being surrounded by like-minded parents will give you some comfort. At the very least you will be in the company of someone with whom you can exchange frustrated glances while your toddler is bursting for some uncertain reason. 

Main Point: Communication is the key to successfully navigating the air journey with your kids. It also helps to enhance your wisdom if you are willing to listen to other parents.

Stay Calm and Carry your own

You need to accept the fact that things don’t go 100% according to our plans. This can’t be closer to the truth when you travel with your children. For instance, your child might get lost in the airport or you may forget the latest favorite toy of your kid at home or your teenager may get into a heated argument about baggage items with the security staff. Thus, you must keep your calm at all times while traveling with your youngsters. 

Furthermore, you need to be flexible in your approach to handling uncertain outcomes that are bound to happen in your journey.

Main Point: Keep your head cool, be resilient and flexible when things don’t go according to your plan. Your mood can change the trajectory of fun for your family during the trip.

We hope you learned some new tricks/tips from our blog. We understand that traveling with kids can be stressful if not prepared. So, the next time you plan to fly with your kids, consider this handy guide.

Need help in booking flight tickets for your next trip with your kid? Or, is your child going to travel all alone? Let us know about your requirements and we will provide you with the appropriate and affordable flight deals. We, at MyIndiaFlight, specialize in offering the best deals and discounts on USA to India flights and Australia to India flights. Our team of travel experts have years of experience that will make sure you’ll surely get the perfect deal ever! 

So, just pick up your phone to contact us or join our live chat to book your flight tickets now. We’re available 24/7!