Flying With Young Children.

Flying with young children can be fun if you plan ahead, whether it is a quick trip or a five-hour flight across the country.

Here are five simple tips that can make traveling with children easier.

1.    Get a wheeled roller for your car seat. This allows you to use it as a carry-on and an airport stroller. Check out the BRICA Roll ‘n Go Car Seat Transporter, Traveling Toddler Car Seat Travel Accessory, Go-Go Babyz Travelmate Deluxe on Amazon.

2. FedEx some of your items to your destination. With baggage fees at $25 -$35 a pop, sometimes it is just a cheap (and much more convenient) to ship a Pack and Play to the hotel. We have done this several times. It is important to call the hotel to make sure they don’t charge a fee to hold a package and ask what is the best way to address the package.

3.   Beg, borrow or buy an airport lounge pass. Free food/drinks and room for the kids to play. Also some lounges even have a kids play room.

4.   Bring new toys and load up your tablet with a ton of fun games.

5.   If your child is under two, and you can save money on tickets by sitting her on your lap. However, we have found a trick that gets your child her own seat.  Make sure to get the aisle and window seats near the back of the plane. For example, row 37 below.  It is unlikely that someone will intentionally grab the center seat unless the plane is full and if it is, I’m sure they’ll happily switch with you.  You can see how many empty center seats there are on the example flight below.  When those seats start to fill up, people are going to start taking the ones toward the front of the plane first so they can get off the plane first.  This trick is great but you will want to check with the airline to see if the flight is usually sold out, because if it is, you may want to just buy your child a ticket.