Airplane travel with children

Air Travel can be very difficult with young children.  My children are now 5 and 7 so it is getting easier.  We don't have to lug car seats or diaper bags through the airport anymore!  However, we did travel with our children a lot when they were young so I wanted to share my experiences and tips.

**   Try your best to book your flight on Jet Blue.  They have large leather seats and best of all- DirecTV!  The kids can watch Nickelodeon, Disney or Discovery Kids Channel while you watch an adult show.  If you are on a different airline, buy an inexpensive DVD player and 2 new DVD's for the trip.  This comes in handy when you are sitting in the airport waiting to board the plane or in case you have to wait around for delays.

**   Try to get an aisle seat so the children can stretch and walk up the aisles when they get bored.

**   Bring 2 small carry on bags, 1 for activities and 1 for snacks.  Bring lots of fun things like activity books, small hand held games, crayons, pencils and card games. Crayola Color Wonders are great for smaller children.  Fill some snack size plastic bags with a variety of snacks.  Stay away from chocolate or anything that can make a big mess.  This will eliminate you having to dig for a wipe or dirty their clothes.  Try to avoid milk and juice and stick with water.  Again, if there is a spill, no big deal.
**  Wear a fanny pack around your waist to keep your tickets and picture ID.  This is helpful to keep your important documents handy instead of mixing them in with all the kid stuff. 
**  Don't forget to include a large handful of wipes in your carry on bag. 

If you are traveling with a stroller and car seat 

You are going to have to take your child out of the stroller when you go through the security checkpoint.  You will also have to fold up the stroller and put it on the screening conveyor belt.  You do get to walk the stroller up to the plane.  Right before you get on the plane you leave your stroller there and it will be there when you get off the plane.  This makes it easy because you can strap in your child when walking through the airport. 

Now that my children are older they only use seatbelts.  But if you need to take car seats here are some tips. 

**   With smaller children you can walk through the airport with the car seat on top of the stroller.  You can also take the car seat right up to the plane and leave it with your stroller.  Both will be there when you get off the plane. 

**   If your child is too small for a seatbelt and needs the car seat on the plane, then you'll obviously have to bring it on the plane with you.

**   If your child doesn't need the car seat on the plane but does need it for a rental car, you can check it with your luggage.  We used to wrap them in large black garbage bags.  Then when we picked them up with the luggage they were easy to carry to the rental car company.  This kept them clean and it was easy to just rip open the plastic and throw it away.  Bring an extra bag in your luggage for your return trip.

**   If you are renting a car, try to get a rental car company that has cars right in the airport.  This will eliminate the need for you to have to catch a shuttle bus while carrying the car seat, carry on bags and additional luggage that you checked.  Some rental car companies rent car seats, but from what I've seen they are pretty gross.

 Have lots of patience when traveling with your kids.  Remember to leave a lot of extra time for bathroom breaks, security checks, plane delays, etc.  Let us know if you have any travel tips to share with other moms!