Traveling with Infants & Toddlers: Airports and Airplanes

[Written Sept 2013 after a friend asked for advice on traveling with young kids. Found in my unfinished drafts but still useful. Had intended this to be the first of a series of posts on traveling with kids.]

The best advice I have for traveling with the little ones is to plan ahead and try to anticipate the needs of your child/ren. Any semblance of a schedule will be thrown off, so try to do what you can to make the little ones feel warm, comfortable, fed and entertained.

The car seat and restraining the child
The good news is that car seats and strollers generally don't count against your baggage allowance! Always important to verify with the individual carrier to understand their particular rules regarding 

Before you marry yourself to the idea of bringing the car seat and installing it in the plane, think about the weight and size. I have seen parents do it successfully, but I didn't want the hassle. Forget the fact that my Chicco infant seat and base and Britax convertible seats seemed too bulky to carry on. Navigating through the narrow aisles without the baby getting thumped by a purse, wayward elbow or flight attendant moving against the stream of passengers is more than difficult. We preferred to save money by putting the baby on our laps and checking the car seat.

If you're concerned by rough handling while being loaded on and off the plane, think about how you pack the car seat. The first time, we used the plastic bag method. The gives the handlers almost exactly one place to grab the seat -- by the top where it's tied together -- and gives them leverage to swing and launch it up on top of the luggage stack. Instead, be thoughtful and pick up this car seat backpack. With straps and loops to hold onto, I'm convinced the seat will be better off. At the very least, when you're picking up your suitcase, in addition to the kids and carry-ons, you'll be able to use the seat to steady yourself. The Amazon reviews don't lie:

J. L. Childress Ultimate Car Seat Travel Bag
http://www.amazon.com/Childress-Ultimate-Seat-Travel-Black/dp/B0009RNXNA

If you decide to buy a seat to secure the toddler, I have had several friends recommend:

the CARES Child restraint system.
http://www.amazon.com/Child-Airplane-Travel-Harness-Restraint/dp/B0012E4FV8

Ultimately, we chose not to get spend the money on the extra seat or the restraint as we only fly once or twice a year at the most. For our friends who travel more frequently, this works well!

The Stroller
In deciding whether or not to bring the stroller, consider your trip. Will you be going to places where you will be doing lots of walking or will you install the car seats in a car rental and drive wherever you need to go. How many people will be with you to assist in baby handling? Do you have a long layover? Even with a short layover, keep in mind that your gate checked stroller will be handy to zoom from one side of the airport to another. For us, gate checking the stroller was awesome. We buckled the babies into our double stroller and didn't have to worry about them getting lost in the crowd. If there are flight delays, you have a place for the baby to recline. Be prepared to fold up the stroller and run it through the x-ray machine at security.

For our last trip, I thought about getting a cheap umbrella stroller for the airport. I have seen people hook two umbrella strollers together and that seems to work well for them! DADable and I are tall people, and I couldn't find an inexpensive stroller that fit our frames. So after we ascertained that our car rental could hold our heavy, huge double stroller, we brought it along. I have since parted with that old clunker for the lightweight Joovy stroller, which has all the features we love and would be much better for traveling.