How many airplane seats?

My husband and I are (gulp) going to be taking our twins cross-country for Christmas. The boys will be about 9 months adjusted at the time. I saw that the 1st Year Handbook said buy a seat for each baby. Is that what people generally do?

 

I voted 3. One for you, one for DH, one for a baby and then you & DH can take turns holding someone.
If you can afford 4 by all means but tickets are expensive and you wont be able to get away with less than a seat per person after they turn 2 anyway.
DH & I flew 8 hours to Hawaii with our twins when they were 10/11 months old. Having a whole row (3 seats) worked great for our family.

 

I said 2 because I've done it that way, a baby on my lap & a baby on my husband's lap. But I do think if you can afford it, at least one extra seat, if not two, is ideal.

Oh, and if you do just book 2, you & your husband will likely not be able to sit together because there is only one extra oxygen mask per row, so they only allow one lap baby per row. You can sit across the aisle from each other, though.

 

I voted for 4, but I think it really depends on whether you think they will sit/sleep in their car seat for long periods of time. We've gone on two 5 hour trips via plan when they were almost 2 and then almost 3 years old, so they were older than your children...but we found it to be very helpful to have 4 seats. It definitely wasn't easy because you have to carry the car seats on board while you carry the children. However, once you're settled in it's nice if they are able to fall asleep in their car seats. If you know that your children cannot sit in the car seat for long periods of time and/or sleep in them...I would vote for 3 seats.

P.S. If you do bring the car seats on board, ask the stewardess for seat belt extenders. It will make it much easier!

 

We flew with the twins when they were 11 months old. The flight was about 4 hours and we had them on our laps.

 

We have flown several times when the boys were under the age of 2. We never bought them seats.

 

I voted "rent a plane" because I would definitely do so.... in my dreams of course! :lazy:

Haven't travelled with my twins so far to post other options

 

I voted 2 b/c that's what we have done. We got a direct flight so that helped a lot. The boys were 15 months and not quite walking. We lucked out and each had a row to ourselves on the way there and an empty middle seat on the way home. I agree with others. If $$ is no object, get 4, but it is possible to do it with just 2.

 

DH would NOT be happy about sitting by himself with one baby (either on a lap or in a seat). Frankly, neither would I! So, the three times we've flown, we have bought 3 seats so we can all sit together.

However, after our last flight (a non-stop cross country, the boys were 11.5 months), I'm thinking renting a plane might be a good option!

 

I am going with my singleton 8 month old from Australia to LAX to Canada. Lap baby. I will be travelling alone. I put down 3 seats since if you can afford it you might have one asleep in the carseat. Is there restrictions on which carseats ? if that is the case and your carseat doesn't work, I wouldn't spend the money for a second carseat and additional seating. Likely the babies will want to be with you or your Dh on your lap anyway. It will just be one day of mess.

ideas to travel... bring lots of diapers more than you THINK you need, ziplock bags for poop diapers, those chain pacifier holders to attach toys to baby, the chain links and attach toys. A lightweight folding umbrella stroller. I've read if it is too big it will be classified as luggage. Each having your own single umbrella stroller (that folds back flat to rest) would be ideal and much more worth the money than an extra plane ticket ? You would be able to tour easier than a double wide stroller and less attention, if one is sleeping they won't wake the other.....

Heather

 

Thank you everyone for your help! We're currently thinking 3 seats, especially since the plane is likely to be crowded at that time of the year. I'm sure I'll be back on this topic in a month, panicking about traveling!

 

I never buy seats for my under 2 yr old kids when we fly, it's too expensive!

We are flying mid january and bought 4 seats, for me, the hubby, and the older 2 kids who will be nearly 8 and 3.5, the twins will sit in our laps.

Ditto Tina about the oxygen masks thing, some won't enforce the rule about the extra passenger has to be on the side/row with the extra oxygen masks, but travelling when my dd was 3 months old, we had one flight attendant who wouldn't even let me pass her to my hubby on the other side of the aisle (there was only 1 extra mask on one side of each aisle), when I had to use the bathroom hubby had to get up and move to my seat to hold our dd while I was gone.

 

Honestly I wouldnt buy any extra tickets. We have flown with the twins as lap babies from England to Idaho twice now. It was not bad at all. I mean we didnt really sleep at all on the flight, but the babies slept the whole time and did great. Tickets are so expensive and Im pretty sure the babies would have wanted us to hold them a lot anyway!

 

I can't imagine being able to afford any extra seats. If and when we fly with the twins, we will only buy 2 seats.