Flying with children

[hugshugshugs]

Planning a long distance flight with an infant and preschooler. Any advice?

You can take snacks, just not liquids or pastes over 100ml (apart from formula or baby food needed for the flight).

For babies feed milk (breast or bottle) on takeoff or landing. It helps with the pressure in their ears. For older children bag of chewy sweets.

Go to the pound shop and buy half the toy aisle. Sticker books, small plastic toys, etc. Whenever dc start getting antsy just produce a new toy or book.

Dowload their favourite TV shows on ipad and use over the head earphones for preschooler. Also get a few games on there.

Try and book nighttime flights. That way they'll sleep for most of it hopefully

Raisins make excellent snacks. Small and bitty so can take a good 15 minutes to eat one by one.

More nappies than you think you'll need (sometime the cabin pressure can somehow lead to the most explosive poos). Full pack of wet wipes.

Change of clothes for you, 2 or 3 sleepsuits for the baby, one for the preschooler.

A baby sling for the airport. I used to pile our hand luggage on the pram and carry ds. Whist dd stood on the buggy board. It means that if you have to walk to get the pram from baggage reclaim at the end of the flight you still have your hands free.

I used to take 2 bags for hand luggage.

One bag was packed with kid stuff, toys, games, a few muslin squares, nappies, wipes, snacks.

One was packed with the changes of clothes, the sling and a couple of pashminas (the make excellent blankets).

My kids never screamed or even cried on any flight (first one when my son was six weeks, and we once flew to Australia with a 20 month old and three year old). People still don't want to be anywhere near you.
The worst experience was on a flight to Spain which left at 5.45am, meaning I had to get my kids up and to the airport for 4am check in. They were still fine and were playing together in their seats, maybe a little loud but not so much I even thought about shushing them. When getting up to leave an older guy (yes, in my experience @LaChanticleer it is the 70 plus passenger) said loudly 'people don't know how to bring up children these days'. I was fuming. We are all strangers locked in this steel tube for three hours and was it really beyond his ability to understand that two kids below age 8 might be a bit tired/bored/restless? As it was they were a bit loud playing together but that was it. It still burns today and I wish I'd called him out on it.
I've also had an (yes, wait for it @LaChanticleer) older woman tell me my four year old was a 'nightmare' at a Christmas pantomime - his crime was standing up to sing along! Her grandkids (I assume) sat there mute without any joy.
Bring snacks and a few toys and be prepared for an endless flight telling stories and playing games. Ignore everyone who gives you the side eye.