More firsts, Zachary's first flight is booked! He will be visiting grandma and meeting grandpa and uncle Gus (his grandparents' dog) in Michigan in September. And since there was space for it on the online ticket purchase form (yes, even for an infant-in-arms), we got him a frequent flyer number as well. If they actually grant mileage when you're sharing a seat with mommy and/or daddy, there may finally be compelling competition for the somewhat bizarre practice of going on mileage runs, which a friend's then-fiancee explained to me a few months back. (Don't knock it -- the fiancee's participation in this frequent flyer "sport" allowed said friend and her now-husband to fly to New Zealand for their honeymoon on miles. First class no less.)So with a flight in his near future, it's time to start figuring out how to actually fly with a baby. Multiple friends have said travelling earlier is easier than later. We'll see, I think there's still a fair amount of gear involved, though at least things like toys and multimedia entertainment won't be needed. From what I've read/been told, it sounds like carrying on/gate-checking the car seat and snap-n-go rather than a full-fledged stroller is the way to go. Since he'll be just about a month old, we elected the infant-in-arms thing for this time as far as the actual ticket. As I understand it, while he doesn't actually get a seat booked, if seats happen to be available (despite indicators that flights are more overbooked than ever), the airline reps will try to hook you up with a separate one.
Next up is the fun of getting through airport security. The TSA actually has a decent webpage for travelling with kids here (my favorite tip: "NEVER leave babies in an infant carrier while it goes through the X-ray machine.") I was particularly curious about the whole liquids issue, since everyone's heard stories of people having to actually ingest their medications and liquids to demonstrate to the security screeners that they weren't threatening. Nice. But sayeth the TSA:All items including formula, breast milk, and juice will be inspected, however, you or your baby or toddler will not be asked to test or taste breast milk, formula, or juice. Our Security Officers may test liquid exemptions (exempt items more than 3 ounces) for explosives.
Thank goodness they've made things more reasonable, though I'm sure we'll still be leaving plenty of extra time to get through security.
Meh heard a great suggestion from one of the other mothers at the mommy and me film on Thursday -- when flying with her child, this mother brings multiple pairs of earplugs along, and offers them to everyone sitting in their immediate vicinity on the plane. How awesome is that? I think we'll try to do the same. We're also taking a day flight to try to avoid bothering the poor red-eye folks trying to sleep. Hopefully between all of these strategies, the flights won't be too bad, for either other passengers or Zachary.
Please let us know any other travel tips you've got for flying with young infants! (And don't forget to vote on Zachary's nickname -- looks like Zack has pulled into the lead!)
4 comments:
Hi M and S-I will tell M all about Iain's early flights--he had many by the time he was two. They ARE easier before they are walking.
db
You should nickname him Zed. You know, the british way of saying "Z".
Zed was actually on my list as well - plus it works with Zachary David (ZD => Zed).
Woo hoo! Babymiles. It should be a new frequent flyer club.
Having traveled in the company of friends with babies and been present for WAY too many discussions of the topic, I will offer the following controversial advice: always fly with accessible baby decongestant and Benadryl. Benadryl is mildly sedative and can assist in getting kids to sleep; decongestants are helpful to baby ears, particularly during descent.
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