5 Tips for Flying on Airplanes with Kids

Wondering whether traveling by airplane with your kids is worth the hassle? We get it. We have found that flying with our kids is totally worth it and actually pretty hassle free, as long as we are prepared. Here are five things we do to make flying with our young kids a breeze.

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We Pack Lots of Snacks

If you are a repeat visitor to this site, you are probably seeing a pattern. We carry snacks everywhere including airplanes. You might be surprised by how many popular destinations allow you to bring your own food (like Disneyland or the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago). Airports and airplanes are no different.

We pack sandwiches, snack mixes, breakfast/protein bars, apples and suckers (for take-off and landing). We always bring food with us when we travel, and we bring empty water bottles (we like these ones) we refill at an airport water fountain after we pass through security.

We Fight Germs While Flying With Kids

While we are eating those snacks, we try to avoid picking-up germs from the airplane. Like many people, we travel with hand wipes, specifically these Purell ones.

We also know that kids are not great at keeping their snacks off of their tray table and on a tiny airplane napkin. So, we cover the tray tables with these silicone place mats.

We clean the mats before we travel and keep them folded-up in our carry-ons. Once it’s time to lower those tray tables, we plop the mats on top. They easily cover the surface and stay in place throughout the flight. As a bonus, the little lip around the border catches rolling objects and the grippy surface saves us from some spills.

We All Carry Entertainment

We have each of our kids pack a small backpack with items they might want during the flight. They pick some favorite snacks and a water bottle as well as entertainment.

Everyone brings a notebook and crayons or pens. We also bring card games like Uno, Rat A Tat Cat or Sushi Go! (Cards can get a little tricky on planes, but they are fun in the airport and at our destination.) Reusable stickers sets like these ones are also surprisingly popular with our kids and keep them entertained for long stretches. Similarly, Color Forms are an old classic with new faces that are kids love.

We Bring Car Seats on the Airplane

Yes, you can rent car seats, but we prefer to bring our own. We know our seats fit our children, are not expired and have not been in any major accidents (which are three good reasons to replace a car seat). Once we get to our destination, we are able to use our seats in rental cars or ride shares.

When they are little, our kids use their car seats on the flight. According to the FAA, this is the safest way for the youngest children to fly. Plus, we find that our kids are more comfortable (and can even sleep) in a familiar seat.

Our regular car seats are pretty heavy, so we have lighter ones we use for travel. They still meet safety requirements, but they lack the extras (like quick tightening straps or luxury padding) which can make seats heavy.

We use an older seat similar to this one from Cosco (not Costco).

Our older kids sit directly in the plane seats, but we do travel with boosters for car travel at our destination. Here is a light backless booster option from Cosco for older kids. )A booster is only for car travel: it cannot be used on an airplane.) We also have one of the these for using in cars while on vacation (again, not on the airplane).

Everyone has their own opinion on whether to bring their car seats along, but we find bringing them is the best choice for our family.

We See Air Travel Through Our Kids Eyes

Our favorite tip is about something our kids bring with them without even trying. Flying with kids is our favorite way to fly, because we get to see air travel through their eyes. What seems like a hassle to adults—taking an airport tram to another terminal—is an exciting train ride for kids! Looking at our kids as they look out the airplane windows reminds us that flying is practically magic.

We are privileged to be able to experience travel through our children’s eyes. So, while traveling with kids does take a little extra preparation, we feel fortunate that we get to do it.

Thank you for reading our advice on flying with kids.

We hope that you have found this helpful. For a look at our favorite Southern California airport near Disneyland check out this post, and for advice on visiting the Disney parks with kids, see this one. Finally, to make sure you do not miss future posts, please subscribe below. Thanks again for reading!