Once we had kids I never planned to fly with them. I grew up doing road trips with my family - driving all the way to the Grand Canyon from Indiana (to be clear, I didn't do the driving, I was 12) and figured we would also just do road trips once we had kids. We took about one flying trip a year in the 7 years we were married before kids and I thought that was that.
Then two years ago my husband was getting sent to a work conference in Boston and, while we initially planned to take the Amtrak, we ended up flying with our 3½ year old and it was fantastic! He was a great age to fly - could carry his own backpack, didn't require a stroller, was easily distracted with snacks and the tablet during the flight. And we had also done a 30ish hour round trip Amtrak trip earlier that year (and this year). A 2½ hour flight felt like nothing.
However, we never planned to fly with a baby. NEVER.
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| Maybe this is why you are supposed to strap the baby in the seat, even when it's just in the stroller... |
So our 7 month old has now been to New York, Las Vegas, and ridden on airplane. Feats I didn't hit until I was 27, 24, and 22, respectively.
I'll write more about the whole Vegas trip once I finally get through pictures (Is Las Vegas the most ridiculous place to pull your kid out of school to visit? Yes. As far as the continental US goes, it is.) but for now I'm going to talk about flying with a baby because for a long time (basically my whole adult life until 2 weeks days ago) I was terrified at the idea. But, like most things I worry about, it turned out to be just fine!
Among the things I worried about:
-checking a stroller
-checking a carseat
-getting through the airport with all our gear
-getting formula through security
-getting all of us through security
-keeping a baby relatively happy for the ~5 hours we were on a plane
-keeping his ears happy with a bottle or pacifier
-would he scream the entire flight?
-irritated cries or looks from other passengers
-and what the heck was I going to do with two kids in Las Vegas while Dad was in training? (That post is coming).
To start: we didn't buy a seat for Sam, that saved us over $200. And we probably would have ended up holding him most of the flight anyways.
We flew Spirit which is a super budget airline with the tightest seats I've ever seen. But they let us check a stroller and car seat for free, even though they were for a non-paying passenger. We took our travel system stroller and the infant carrier Luke had used but was "expired" 2 months ago so we had bought a new carrier for Sam in the middle of the very crazy day we met him.
This is also the carrier to took to New York, reasoning if something happened to it (when the baby wasn't in it), it wouldn't matter because it's not our main car seat, Sam has only used it on these two trips, times when he didn't need to be secured in a car seat.
One way we checked both the stroller and car seat at the gate. The other way we checked the seat when we checked in and the stroller at the gate. It was a bit of a pain getting the stroller and seat through security (we were also carrying on formula and so security was already an extra pain) but it was super nice to have the stroller to stash bags, sweatshirts, etc. as we made our way through the airport. With all the fumbling of getting through security it was also nice to have somewhere to put Sam while we were trying to get jackets and shoes back on. It was definitely easier to check the seat and then only having to gate check the stroller. And the stroller wasn't destroyed as I worried it would be, maybe those are just meant to be thrown around?
Getting Through the Airport
We had the stroller with us until boarding both ways and it was very handy. Matt, Luke, and myself each had a backpack, baby stuff distributed between Matt and I. I also had a wristlet for my ID, all boarding passes, some cash, lip balm, etc. We took our front carrier which was shoved in the bottom of the stroller until right before boarding when we put Sam in it and kept him in there until the flight attendant told me he couldn't be in it for take-off. Which I don't get because that seems safest - to have him strapped to me who was buckled in, but whatever.
It helped that we packed light (we had to) and having the front carrier was SO helpful for getting on and off the plane. I didn't have to worry about dropping the baby but also have 1-2 hands free for boarding passes and such. If you are flying with a baby, I highly recommend having a carrier, even if it's just used to get on and off the plane.
Security
This was the worst part of flying with a baby. Once we made it through the second time, I really felt like it was the greatest accomplishment of my life - making it through security with a stroller, baby, formula, and NO tears.
Current TSA rules allow for reasonable amounts of formula or breast milk through security. We had bought a case of these pre-mixed formulas on a Target sale and took 3-4 of those on the plane with us (the rest were in the checked luggage), some individual powder formula (like these), two bottles (one with water in it), a two bottle sized cooler bag, a trial size tub of formula (which also needed checked) and an ice pack. Of all of those things, the thing that made them the most suspicious were the sealed, purchased pre-mixed formula. They told us they would either have to dump them out or basically strip search us and go through all our stuff. Then they retested and discovered they had been testing them wrong and we were fine. With all the liquid rules I expected them to be more suspicious of the water we were taking through in bottles but nope.
Airport security is not fun and getting all the extra stuff, unstrapping a baby, etc. made it extra stressful but we survived. Just emerged a lot sweatier. You will need extra time if you are taking formula (and I assume breast milk) through security but we also got to cut the line (the TSA agent instructed us to) so the time probably evened out.
Surviving the Flight
I had found enough suckers in our stash for Luke to have one for both take-offs and for both landings. Then went through the first one before the plane was away from the gate. So that didn't work super well but he can also handle gum and so he never complained about his ears.
For Sam we fed him for both take-offs and landings and pretty much anytime he was fussy. We had multiple pacifiers with us and stuck those in his mouth a lot too. He did fuss a little on the plane but we made sure we took plenty of formula and tried to get him to sleep. We also changed his diaper right before both flights so we wouldn't have to attempt that in the tiny airplane bathroom (which worked, no 35,000 ft diaper changes needed!)
We landed in Vegas at midnight our time and both boys had slept part of the flight but not nearly all the sleep they would have gotten in their beds at home. I just didn't expect to do anything on the flights besides keep the boys happy and so I was excited I got in a whole hour of reading, in the 9-10 hours we spent on planes for this trip.
The people sitting around us may have not been pleased with being seated near two kids but nobody gave us looks or comments and the boys flew really well. We didn't expect Luke to be a problem, old pro that he is, but Sam had me anxious and it was fine. I'm not itching to do it again but it was fine. (It might also help that I over worried and over prepared, the reality was much better than the worst case scenarios I had imagined.)
Other Things That Helped
I used A LOT of gallon Ziplocs in my packing, to keep things separate, since we all shared one checked bag. One Ziploc in our backpacks had 6ish diapers, travel wipes, and diaper cream samples so when I needed to change Sam before the flight I could just grab that Ziploc and not fumble through my whole backpack. We also had all the formula in a Ziploc in our carry-on so it was easy to pull out for extra security screening and when we needed to get a bottle ready.
Half-way through our flight to Vegas, when it was about 10:30pm our time, I had had a cold for weeks, and I remember closing my eyes and thinking "I hate this." The pressure changes made my sinuses miserable and I was tired. I knew it was still going to be hours and a lot of work before I could go to bed. I used to love flying but it certainly is different with kids along, especially a baby with all of his needs. Really, my sinuses and lack of sleep probably would have made me grouchy, regardless of kids, on a flight.
BUT, looking back, I'm really glad we did this whole trip. I'm glad we conquered my great fear of flying with a baby. That we got a few wonderful days in the desert far away from home. I didn't realize until we were home and had a good 8 hours of sleep in us, how relieved I was the trip was over, that we had survived it all. I'm really glad we went but also really glad we are back home. I don't expect we'll fly again until Matt is sent on his next work trip, which, luckily, should be when Sam is DEFINITELY done with bottles and maybe even out of diapers.
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