3 hour flight?

my LOs will be 21 months at their time of travel....first time on a plane!!
as you know - 2 extra seats are expensive. we are willing to pay BUT...do you think for 3 hours they would sit on our laps?

maybe just buy 1 extra seat?
not sure and was hoping for some advice.

 

We've flown a lot with my two, most recently about a month ago. I think that it is well worth having a seat for each kid. My boys are pretty wiggly but they also know how to sit in their carseats--they get the drill. They would put up a big fight if we tried to hold them for the flight! But, they will relax and even nap in their carseats. And frankly, I don't need to spend the whole flight stressed and tense because my kid is rolling around and is annoyed at being held.

Just a quick tip, send your travel partner (husband or whomever) aboard with the carseats when they call for family boarding, while you push the kids in the stroller, take them to get changed etc. Try to be the last people in the jetway so the kids are on the plane for the least amount of time

 

GREAT ADVICE. i didnt know we had to bring our carseats. hahha....
thats a lot of stuff to carry - omg. my double stroller wont fit on the plane, will it? maybe i'll do the 2 umbrella strollers, then let him on the plane with the seats and let my kids crawl/run around the lobby, lol?
i am not sure what to expect at 21 months. :unsure:

 

You won't take the stroller on the plane, you gate check it at the last minute (make sure you get it tagged well in advance though) at the entrance to the plane (at the end of the ramp.) Take the double stroller it will be easier with everything else you have to carry. We always did fine with gate checking ours. As far as seats for the little ones, I know there is much debate over this issue but my feeling is they are much safer and more comfortable in their carseats. Planes can run into a lot of turbulence and in times of heavy turbulence you will not be able to hold onto your lap child! Take the example of the recent East to West coast flight that had to make an emergency landing Denver after hitting unexpected severe turbulence. There were quite a few people on that fight that were injured because they were not buckled in their seat belts. If you can afford the extra seats it will give you greater piece of mind and a lot more convenience. Just my 2 cents!

 

We are on vacation right now. We did a 4hour and 20 minute flight with seats and in their car seats. It was way better then the 1.5 hour flight we took last year when they were lap babies. As for all the stuff we used these http://www.gogobabyz.com/ to push the car seats through the airport and we rented a double bob on vacation so we didn't have to lug a stroller. We would rather not go to an expensive dinner or stay in a less expensive place and make the travel days as easy as possible. Also we stayed in a suite and gave the boys the main bedroom so they can go to bed and take naps and we can hang out in the family room. It has been great. GL. We are having a blast so far.

 

I will provide my opinion on this matter. The choice is totally yours. The last flights we took with our two were three hours long, and we took our children as lap infants as we always have. It couldn't have gone smoother. We got on the plane and within ten minutes of take off they were sleeping and slept until it was time to prepare for landing. We always try to chose our flights to coincide with nap time, and it works best, but if we can't, we go with the flow and they usually always sit well in our laps. We sit across from each other on aisle seats so we can get up and move around with them. The only trouble I had was when I went on a five and a half hour flight with them at nine months without my husband. I do not recommend that to anyone. But with two adults, I would fly anywhere with my children as lap infants. I don't consider flying in car seats much safer, since a car crash is much different than a plane crash, and at that point a car seat would be absolutely useless. I may be ignorant, but turbulence doesn't usually cause fatal injuries, so that is why I don't bother with paying for and lugging my carseats onboard. When the fasten seatbelt sign comes on, I fasten it around the two of us, since once again, hitting turbulence is much different than a car accident when being double buckled is dangerous.
Whatever you decide to do, enjoy your trip!

 

If you decide to do the 2-seat/carseat route, I have heard really good things about the Travelmate product from the company linked above. People who have used them say they're a lifesaver. They have a compatibility guide on their website to see if your carseats will fit with their product: http://www.gogobabyz.com/upload/UNIQR_Compatibility.pdf

Good luck no matter what you decide; I hope you have a great trip!

 

If possible try to arrive early or get arranged seating in the "bulk head" aisle...that's the seat with the "wall" in front of you. For the larger planes that gives them a bit of play space. Children are not allowed to sit in the exit rows...

 

ok i hate to fly. i always drink and take sedatives so i DONT need to hear about emergency landings and crashes! :80:

anyway, lol.
thank you so much for the advice so far....my kids only nap in their cribs so i doubt they'll nap in their carseats on an airplane but i would love it if they would. that would be perfect - to fly during naptime. i am nervous and see that as being a disaster if they wont sleep and they are tired. hmm

 

We flew when they were 21 months old and older brother was 5. We got one seat for one, and the other as a lap infant. We did not bring a car seat on the plane. So we had some flexibility in who sat where, etc. It worked pretty well... we have one that often wants to be held, so if we had bought a seat for him, I think it would have been wasted.

Happy travels!

-maria
DS1 5
ds2 DS3 almost 2!

 

how do you sit with your children on the plane? i just read on jetblue.com that kids cant sit in the aisle and the window. wth.....where do they sit? i wanted to sit with both of my children in the same row and have my husbadn in the next aisle.

 

My understanding is that you have to put the two carseats next to each other. One at the window and one in the middle. A carseat can block a carseat, but it can't block a person. That is currently what my plan is when we fly to WDW in the Fall. My husband will sit with our older two and I'll have the bubbas with me.

As for your original question, most of the time I am pretty laid back about parenting choices, but I firmly believe that children should have their own seat on the plane. The NTSB has recently come out opposed to the lap baby policy because they feel it is unsafe for the babies. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/09/earlyshow/contributors/susankoeppen/main6564141.shtml Turbulance is pretty common and its the leadig cause of injuries on a flight. Just last month 30 people were injuried on a flight when it hit unexpected turbulance and the news reported that one woman was thrown so hard that she cracked the ceiling. I can't imagine what would happen to a baby who was sitting on someone's lap if they hit turbulance of that magnitude. Here is the story http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/20/national/main6697254.shtml

Also, when I first researched this issue I found out that in the event of a crash landing, you are told to place lapbabies on the floor btw your feet and cushion them with pillows to try and keep them from being thrown into another row. I know a crash isn't likely to happen, but that scenario is just so disturbing to me that I'm not willing to take any chance of it happening.