Here it is, the start of my official notes on flying with a baby or small person. Since we are spending maternity leave in Lanzarote but normally live in London with my husband being from Seville and me from Australia but born in New Zealand and with my extreme love for travel you can imagine that we spend quite some time in the air. And now we have a baby to help make those journeys even more special (forced smile). Because what could be more fun than being confined to a tiny chair for 13 or 14 hours with a baby on your lap also?! Not much beats that!
But let's start smaller than such a grand voyage. So far, we've successfully flown twice with the little wolf so here's the first story. I'm including info on the airline and how far we flew etc in case we later find out there are better airlines to fly with or huge differences in how to prepare for the hours you are in the air. Then standby for the next in the series which is when wolf was seven months and we flew Lanzarote to Seville on the dreaded Ryanair. Gasp - who would do such a thing to themselves?! Well it wasn't all that bad but wait and see.
Okay so the low down.
Checkin and baggage allowance: We had brilliant luck in that the lovely lass behind the counter was a baby person and rather than giving us a hard time about our borderline luggage weight she took some of our hand luggage and processed it as free check-in as well. Tip: take the line with the most likely baby person standing behind the counter and prop your little person up to say hello - works wonders in many things! Monarch gives you 20kg each FREE to checkin and they throw in an extra 10kg FREE for the baby so it's really great for when you need to lug a lot of things around. But don't be trapped, you only get 5kg hand luggage regardless of whether you use the free 20kg...my advice, check in everything you can to free your hands up and wait the extra time at the other end to reclaim your bags. Prams and car seats are totally free but travel cots go as part of the weight allowance. EASY!
Boarding: We were kind of hoping to board early because we had the little wolf in tow but we weren't given that as an option so we staggered on with everyone else. We didn't have a pram with us so can't tell you how they handle that but we did pre-book allocated seats which definitely takes a bit of stress out of the moment. My big fail here was my hand luggage. Yes, I met the 5kg restriction but I had SO much unnecessary stuff which inevitably was flying out of my bag and falling all over the place; including a sombrero (FAIL) and a coffee in my hand (MEGA FAIL), toys for the wolf...what? He couldn't even hold a toy at that point?! Who knows what I had in my bag but it was too much and I'll never do it again...except I did on the next flight! Fail once more... never again!
The flight: As we boarded the plane we were handed a baby seatbelt - all very easy to manage and no drama there. The wolf was making some whingy noises and I cringed as people glared at us boarding, wishing us and especially our baby away. But, once in our seats, I gave him a little feed and he promptly fell asleep for the rest of the flight, including take off and landing. I was all prepped to feed him during both but there was no need. He fit snugly in the seat with me and I propped a jacket up under my arm for extra support and even got a little shut-eye myself! The only annoyance on that flight was the tiny tots behind us that wouldn't shut up and the older baby a few rows up whose parents decided it would be a good idea not to follow the strict rule of not changing your baby in the seat...the shitty smell wafted towards us but was quickly sorted by a replacement seat by a less than impressed stewardess whose face contorted in a way that suggested she may at a stretch love an animal, but never a child.
The disembark: Nothing to report, very easy. He woke up as we landed, I fed him for a couple of minutes on the plane while waiting for the doors to open. We popped him in his sling with his Papi and wandered off to baggage claim.
So, all in all, a four hour flight with a five week old (mine at least) is not a scary feat. Keeping in mind that I had A with me. Babies that age tend to sleep and eat most of their days away so it's probably the perfect time to board a plane.
Here is a photo of A and my FIL just after arriving in Lanzarote, with the sling we traveled with him in. Which reminds me, putting baby in a sling is great because they generally don't make you take them out to go through security which gives you your hands free and is very helpful at that point!
But let's start smaller than such a grand voyage. So far, we've successfully flown twice with the little wolf so here's the first story. I'm including info on the airline and how far we flew etc in case we later find out there are better airlines to fly with or huge differences in how to prepare for the hours you are in the air. Then standby for the next in the series which is when wolf was seven months and we flew Lanzarote to Seville on the dreaded Ryanair. Gasp - who would do such a thing to themselves?! Well it wasn't all that bad but wait and see.
Okay so the low down.
Checkin and baggage allowance: We had brilliant luck in that the lovely lass behind the counter was a baby person and rather than giving us a hard time about our borderline luggage weight she took some of our hand luggage and processed it as free check-in as well. Tip: take the line with the most likely baby person standing behind the counter and prop your little person up to say hello - works wonders in many things! Monarch gives you 20kg each FREE to checkin and they throw in an extra 10kg FREE for the baby so it's really great for when you need to lug a lot of things around. But don't be trapped, you only get 5kg hand luggage regardless of whether you use the free 20kg...my advice, check in everything you can to free your hands up and wait the extra time at the other end to reclaim your bags. Prams and car seats are totally free but travel cots go as part of the weight allowance. EASY!
Boarding: We were kind of hoping to board early because we had the little wolf in tow but we weren't given that as an option so we staggered on with everyone else. We didn't have a pram with us so can't tell you how they handle that but we did pre-book allocated seats which definitely takes a bit of stress out of the moment. My big fail here was my hand luggage. Yes, I met the 5kg restriction but I had SO much unnecessary stuff which inevitably was flying out of my bag and falling all over the place; including a sombrero (FAIL) and a coffee in my hand (MEGA FAIL), toys for the wolf...what? He couldn't even hold a toy at that point?! Who knows what I had in my bag but it was too much and I'll never do it again...except I did on the next flight! Fail once more... never again!
The flight: As we boarded the plane we were handed a baby seatbelt - all very easy to manage and no drama there. The wolf was making some whingy noises and I cringed as people glared at us boarding, wishing us and especially our baby away. But, once in our seats, I gave him a little feed and he promptly fell asleep for the rest of the flight, including take off and landing. I was all prepped to feed him during both but there was no need. He fit snugly in the seat with me and I propped a jacket up under my arm for extra support and even got a little shut-eye myself! The only annoyance on that flight was the tiny tots behind us that wouldn't shut up and the older baby a few rows up whose parents decided it would be a good idea not to follow the strict rule of not changing your baby in the seat...the shitty smell wafted towards us but was quickly sorted by a replacement seat by a less than impressed stewardess whose face contorted in a way that suggested she may at a stretch love an animal, but never a child.
The disembark: Nothing to report, very easy. He woke up as we landed, I fed him for a couple of minutes on the plane while waiting for the doors to open. We popped him in his sling with his Papi and wandered off to baggage claim.
So, all in all, a four hour flight with a five week old (mine at least) is not a scary feat. Keeping in mind that I had A with me. Babies that age tend to sleep and eat most of their days away so it's probably the perfect time to board a plane.
Here is a photo of A and my FIL just after arriving in Lanzarote, with the sling we traveled with him in. Which reminds me, putting baby in a sling is great because they generally don't make you take them out to go through security which gives you your hands free and is very helpful at that point!
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