Guide: My tips for air travel with or without children

Air travel can be stressful, even for adults. Here you’ll find a first section for adults and a second for families traveling with children. Our aim is to make your journey more pleasant and comfortable, but also for your seatmate. If you’re traveling with a baby, I refer you to this article.

Enjoy the flight!

Check in online

This will save you time and avoid long queues.

Before departure, choose the right seat on the plane

Find out which aircraft you’ll be on and choose your seat. If necessary, it is sometimes possible to change again at the boarding counter. Often, the best seats are on the sides of the plane.

• Are you one of those people who prefer easy access to the toilet or want to be able to stand up and walk down the aisles? Take the aisle seats.
• Would you rather sleep? Noise is louder at the rear because of the engines. Choose a place towards the front of the boat, and on the porthole side, to place your cushion.
• Fear of flying? Take a seat towards the middle of the plane, on the window side or in the center, where the center of gravity is stable and turbulence is less noticeable.
• A landscape fanatic? A porthole seat offers you the ultimate experience.

Are you more comfortable flying in a particular aircraft? If you’re an air and points enthusiast, choosing the right aircraft will give you greater comfort!

Check baggage policies

Airlines are getting more challenging with their baggage policies. To avoid extra charges, check the weight and size limits for hand and checked baggage. Travelling with a carry-on suitcase is becoming easier, so you don’t have to wait for your luggage on arrival. You’ll have less risk of waiting, losing or damaging it.

Tips for travelling light by plane

Use storage cubes to organize your suitcase and pack only the essentials. We often take too many things with us to reassure ourselves. It’s the perfect opportunity to treat yourself on the spot with souvenirs or clothes. Travelling light makes it easier and less stressful.

Think about your outfits for your stay, and limit the number of toiletries you use to save space. An oversight? No problem, you’ll find it elsewhere.

We recommend that you take the time to prepare your hand luggage properly. At the end of the article, you’ll find our complete download list so you don’t forget anything!

Entertainment items

Bring your phone, tablet and your favorite noise-canceling headphones for a better viewing and listening experience of your podcasts, movies and series. Take advantage of the airline’s entertainment options.

In the absence of Wi-Fi, it’s time to rest. Otherwise, take out a package to work, revise or get ahead on your tasks.

Read a book, magazine, do a crossword puzzle or other game.

Essential items

Computers, telephones and other electronic items should always be with you to avoid loss or breakage in checked luggage. Take your chargers and portavle battery to keep your devices charged during the flight. For long flights, a change of shirt and a toiletry kit can be useful, with toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant and refreshing wipe.

Finally, don’t forget your medication, both for yourself and for those accompanying you. It always pays to think ahead.

Consider taking melatonin. It can be taken to help you fall asleep and adapt more quickly to jet lag.

• Take along items for your comfort. Travel pillows, eye masks and earplugs are essentials for blocking light and noise on medium/long-haul flights.
• Hydrate regularly with water and avoid alcohol.
• Take healthy snacks (dried fruit, nuts, protein bars), as these are permitted.
• Get moving: stand up, exercise and stretch to avoid cramps and blood stagnation.
• On the porthole side, enjoy natural light.
• Dress in comfortable clothes. It’s still a little cold for some and too hot for others. Layers of clothing can help.

These days, we travel more, and over longer distances, with more or less comfort than ever before, depending on the class we’re in: it’ll be harder to look after a child when you feel blocked by space, without adequate storage and in a noisier environment in economy, for example.

For a child, the holidays start as soon as they arrive at the airport. Excitement or stress can quickly rise.

Some children may want to sing and dance while boarding the plane. While others will want to take refuge, scream or cry in the arms of one of the parents because of their fear of change.

A child is excited about everything and expresses easily his emotions while an adult has learned to control them.

Adults are almost like “bored” to get on a plane! We fit into a mould, but not a child.

As the milesopedia community mentioned, let’s not forget that you don’t have to be a child to harm other people’s space. Not all adults are disciplined, and you’ll never see them on the camera plan 🙂

They can be quite as unbearable! Some adults will simply have no way of behaving in a community, and will do as they please.

You have to accept travelling with children other than your own. As long as parents show they’re doing their best, you can’t blame them. Having travelled thousands of kilometres with our children by plane, cab, boat and train, we know what it’s like, and we’ve adapted.

Every child is different and has their character and quirks, and every parent must learn to understand, anticipate and manage their child’s needs and expectations. If a child taps the file, it’s up to the parent to react and not let it happen, for example.

Each parent will be advised to arrive prepared, calm and fit for the flight. We arrive at the airport early. We go to airport lounges for waiting, eating and entertainment. We head for the gate on time.

Rest assured, traveling with a baby from 1 month to 8 months of age is generally a breeze (especially if you’re breast-feeding). The preparation phase is more important for parents with children aged 1 to 6, as they have more difficulty managing their emotions and patience. As Sophie Reis of the BBJetlag website says, children are usually prepared well before the flight, when they start to walk.

Try to explain each phase of the airport to your child, rather than making them go through the whole process (check-in, security, customs), and make sure they let off a little steam before boarding the plane.

Once on board, a good look at the cabin layout and toilet facilities will also help. A parent can always prepare for any eventuality, and role-playing is the best way to learn, even if sometimes you can’t see things coming!

For example, when our daughter threw up on our flight to San Francisco, I didn’t have the reflex to take out the vomit bag with my son asleep in my arms. Who would have had the reflex? In these situations, few passengers will come to the parent’s rescue; everyone will look the other way rather than help the parent in trouble.

But as a passenger, you could, for example, tell the stewardess and ask for some paper for the parent and a bag of coffee to stop the smell. The flight attendants are used to this type of situation.

On the Montreal-San Francisco route, the hostess confessed to me that she had a sick person EVERY time because of the turbulence. The seat cushion can even be changed, check with the crew. There are usually always 1 extra one.

A bag to keep close to you will therefore have be to prepare, ideally at least the day before departure. If several trips follow one another, such as around the world for example, try to always restock according to this list (snacks, games, clothes).

Think of the baby carrier too, very useful for travelling around the airport in order to have your hands free (you will have to untie your baby and remove the harness to safety in general) as well as on the plane in order to rock your baby and manage to put him to sleep by example.

This general list is of course to be adapted according to each family, the age of the child and each trip. For me it is enough, maybe others will like to take more. Always ask the crew if they have a little something for your child. It could be a stuffed plane, pencils, decals. In general, they are equipped.

Finally, we advise you not to overload yourself. There are also companies like BabyQuip that can help you rent the equipment you need for your destination.

• A child who is tired or hungry will be more likely to have a temper tantrums. Don’t wait until the last moment, and think ahead: give him a hug if you can, go for a walk with him or give him a snack he likes.
• Depending on age, recreate the evening ritual to make it easier to fall asleep. For some long flights where our children have to sleep on the plane, after meals, we put on their pyjamas or a more casual outfit, take them to brush their teeth and turn off the screens to read a story before trying to get them to sleep. Falling asleep is generally more accessible.
• Divide up the children as much as possible: one parent for one child if you have two or more, and do it according to affinity. Temper tantrums will be easier to calm if there are. When we see empty seats, we don’t hesitate to move further back to avoid over-excitement.
• Avoid noisy, oversized games or small, hard-to-find parts. I recommend putting all the games in a small canvas bag that you or the children can wear. This bag will become heavier if you buy other games during the trip, so don’t overload it from the outset.
• Avoid jealousy if you have two or more children: having experienced it many times, I’ve learned to take the same thing for both: for snacks, meals and juice, or in crayons. Also, plan an electronic device for everyone! A crisis can quickly occur because of the desire for what one has and the other does not have.
• Just like your baggage, compartmentalize your backpack well to find your way around easily and especially quickly!
• Finally, you’re already doing everything right, but the situation is difficult. Take heart! Accept not having an answer to any crisis and learn from your mistakes for the next time! If passengers see that you’re doing your best, that’s the main thing. Walk around with your child, take a bathroom break, take a breather and take turns if possible. Most people will understand , and you’ll soon forget all about it once you’re off the plane.

No secret: you have to take your pain in patience!

And between us, parents also “hate” their children at times when they don’t listen. When a child is hit by something, the task is difficult for the parent. A parent already gives 24 hours a day to his child. So releases happen, and sometimes, they’re on the plane because of the accumulated exhaustion!

Be understanding.

Finally, the BB Jetlag website created by Sophie Reis is packed with information for travellers with children, including air travel. Don’t hesitate to join the Facebook group to have an exchange with other parents.

Sophie has also published “Le Guide des parents voyageurs: s’inspirer, s’informer, s’équiper, 0-12 ans. An entire chapter is devoted to air travel with children: At the airport and on the plane. You’ll find a number of practical checklists and memory aids at the end of the book. We presented it in this article.

The new edition has been available since March 27 in print, digital and even audio format, with enhanced and 100% up-to-date content. The book was Amazon’s #1 bestseller in the ‘Family Travel Guide’ category, that’s for sure!

Finally, Sophie Reis also organizes regular workshops to answer all the questions of traveling parents.

In October 2019, Sophie and I hosted a Facebook Live on the BB Jetlag page on the theme: Travelling with the family for free (or almost…!).

Would you like to travel for free (or almost…) with your points? For more family travel tips, subscribe to our newsletter and join our community on Facebook!