EasyJet and changing bags

[MessyHairDontCare88]

We're off to Italy in a few months and planning on going with easyJet. The only thing that is stopping me booking is the hand luggage situation, the website says that cabin bag space fills up quickly and all other bags will be placed in the hold. Fair enough but I have a 2 year old and a 9 year old who will get extremely board if they have nothing to do for 3 hours because their bags have had to go in the hold, and being that DS will only be a little way over 2 he will still need his changing bag/the items from it. Does anyone have any experience of this aside from having to book the seats with the 2 cabin bag allowance?
TIA

You need to book the bags!

That's insane for a changing bag! Nappies and wipes in pockets it is!

They usually allow small bags under seats in front so as a worst case your older child could have a small bag with some activities in and you could put the bare essentials in a handbag?

Other tactic would be to make sure you have speedy boarding or whatever and also get to gate in good time and send DH(?) to queue.

If you are first on, there will be space for a changing bag!

If your luggage fits underseat you should be able to keep it.

So if you can pack stuff you absolutely must keep in a smaller backpack and everything else into a max capacity bag (bags generally more capacious than suitcase) thats one way of tackling it.

Another is to take something small and foldable like this. they should allows you to take essentials like nappies and baby milk out of any cabin luggage that needs to go in the hold. Small tablet in kids coat pocket and problem solved. I actually take a couple of foldable luggage in my suitcase just in case. Take up little space and surprisingly handy.

Book speedy board and then you can take two bags per person.

Another option is to book easyjet hands free. Book your cabin sized luggage into the hold and go through the airport hands free. I reality youll actually have a small handbag sized something for passport etc. What your meant to do is then take a small bag out of the cabin luggage when you check the bag. But as long as it small they dont seem to check if it actually fits. Keep it slimline just in case. We did this and it was fab not having to manoeuvre luggage in tge airport or loading the airplane

That's all made me feel much better, thank you. DD9 will be glued to her tablet I should imagine, it's the rather more excitable DS2 that I'm concerned about. Will definitely need cars and dinosaurs!

Coat pockets with zips or cargo trousers are good for cars and dinosaurs!!

My kids have tiny Decathlon back packs. I pack their cabin bags with room to put the backpack in the top, but then book hands free. I wasn’t asked to show the bags fitted into the cabin bags. Same for me with my small handbag

I'm thinking of installing hooks inside my coat a la dodgy watch salesmen from movies!

not a bad plan!!

I have an obsession for coats with zips, im quite good at picking them up second hand too. One fits 3 passports in one pocket and phone+ wallet in another. We also all got collapsible water bottles in our santa stockings this year. They really are a game changer

You sound like my kind of person, my coat pockets are a treasure trove of toys, tissues, cough sweets, general snack and whatever else the kids fancy shoving in there

In which case you wont mind my sharing that backpacks and bags generally hold more than suitcases on 4 wheels. but some soft 2 wheel suitcases (amazon karabar cheapo) are as capacious as backpacks (although they arent the easiest to maneuvour). When mine were closer your kids ages i could get 2 kids 2 adults 5 days cold winter wear in three maximum dimension cabin luggage leaving a smaller backpack free for hand luggage stuff. Which might work well for you.

If you invest in your luggage osprey do a "transporter" duffle which is fantastic. Also works as a backpack,survived without a mark being slung in the hold (straps zip away), and folds down into its own pouch wgen empty . Last time we travelled 1 adult 2 teens on the bag plus 2 four wheelers (we need the manoeuverability and neither teen can carry a big back pack for health reasons), 5 day very cold weather gear. That included a wheelchair footmuff in the osprey! We went handsfree and each had a small bag for waterbottle electronics and medication. Its amazing how much you actually can fit. We roll and pack cube too which maximises space...

They let kids in first so you’ll have room for your bags

Never put an iPad in the hold - they don’t survive the pressure