Subject: flying

Does anyone have any good advice on flying with our kids? We are taking our first "flying" vacation with Jennie in about 6 days! I plan to bring lots of favorite foods and photo albums. Has anyone had any psrticular problems in the air?

Thanks,

Janice (Jennie 15+)

Subject: Re: flying

We have flown a number of times with Hannah (age 5), and never encountered any extraordinary difficulties... other than what one always expects flying with a pre-schooler. Providing lots of snacks kept her busy some of the time! On a flight from Vancouver to Auckland,NZ I did try giving her chloral hydrate, a supposed sedative. What a mistake... it just made her feel uncomfortable but did not help her sleep. Since then we just work hard to keep her entertained. One difficulty is that she tends to kick the seat in front, so if possible one or other of us sits in that seat. The airlines have always been really accomodating when we have explained the situation.

Subject: Re: flying

Janice,

I've flown several times with Taylor (age 4 1/2). My best suggestion is to ask for the bulkhead seat. This is the 1st seat in the coach section. The advantages - no one is sitting in front of you so you don't have to worry about your child kicking the seat ahead of you and disturbing anyone & there is more leg room and space on the floor so that they can sit on the floor and play for a while (Jenny might be too big for this!). Taylor does very well on planes, especially with plenty of snacks and her brother and sister there to play with her. Good luck and hope you have a wonderful trip!

Robbin

Subject: Re: flying

Both time we have flown with Kelsey, she loved it. I bring something 'chewy' to make sure her ears do not get plugged. Also, we usually ask for the bulkhead - it has a little more room.

Good luck.

Subject: Re: flying

A quick note on flying - we have been flying with our son since he was 2 weeks old! He loves it. However, he gets very wired up and his routine gets thrown way out of wack. Last Sat. my wife and son left to go out west for the CASS conference at 8:00 pm. He didn't sleep a wink on the flight. We have found that when he was younger some Tempra would help him settle down. He loves books, so we bring lots with us. Our other experience is that the airlines are extremely good and help us when we travel. We usually trtavel Air Canada and I can't say enough good about their help. Also, as you know, AS kids are incredibly "charming" and I am sure this helps immensely.

Subject: Re: flying- reply

Janice- It may be too late... but try to get the bulkhead seats. Perhaps the flight attendants could ask someone to trade with you. It is so nice to have extra "feet room"- otherwise you have to worry about kicking, bumping the person in front! We went to Hawaii in April- we had the bulkhead seats- but Whitney- in a flash- stuck her hand between the seats and tried to grab the Coke of the person sitting behind her!! It spilled and we nearly died!! Arm youself with some apologies! We put Whitney's tray in front of us on our "holder" (fun to balance) and let her eat one thing at a time!! Of course, she sits between us!!

Actually, it hasn't been that difficult! Take magazines! We have tried to use antihistamines- especially on red eye flights- in hopes that she'll sleep... no luck.. too much excitement!

Have fun!

Subject: Flying

Thanks to everyone who gave us flying tips. We're back and all went well! Jennie behaved beautifully. We had the bulkhead on two of the four flights and were always escorted on the plane first. We even had one delay of 3 hours and had to hang around the airport for 6 hours! Thank goodness we had her stroller. Because of the delay, we missed our conection in Chicago and had to take a bus to Milwaukee. She loved that too. United would have put us up at the Hilton in Chicago, but we had Jennie's meds in our suitcases (last time we do that!) It was 2:30 a.m. before we got home and Jennie was the only one who remained bright eyed and bushy tailed! It was so much fun watching her face all lit up as we took off and landed. Now we know we can fly anywhere with her!

Janice