PWMTrav

My 18 month old daughter hit Silver on 12/27.

Her first (seated) flight was PWM-DCA in March of this year, and her silver qualifying run was on the back leg of a BOS-PHX RT. She has one stamp in her passport, Canadian, when we drove to YUL for our NEXUS interviews. No total meltdowns in the air this year, but a couple of close calls. Unofficially, she flew more segments in F than Y thanks to our CPUs and mileage upgrades.

I'm guessing she's not the youngest, nor the highest tier infant/toddler elite. I figured it's slow around here this time of year, so let's have it - tell us about your little elites.

WiscAZ

Congrats! How old was she when she started flying? I've been lucky to avoid flying with my almost 9 month old daughter but we are planning on our first trip over Memorial Day.

PWMTrav

First flight was a little north of 5 months, I think. Was an easy hour non-stop to my folks for Christmas in Philly. Try a short flight and see what happens - chances are, its not as bad as you think it is. The biggest change is that you're on the entire flight - no relaxing. Your job is to keep the kid distracted, as distracted kids are way less likely to melt down. Fly in F as much as you can, having a FA nearby at all times has helped us a lot - a combo of my daughter really liking people who pay attention to her, as well as veteran FAs having great techniques to keep kids busy. You'd be surprised what two plastic drink cups can do.

At this point, if we wake her up at 5am to go to the airport and I tell her we're going on an airplane, she gets super excited.

phlwookie

My niece and nephew have been AF elites since before each hit their first birthday on account of their parents being American but on long term assignments in Paris. They come home several times a year on the company, usually in business, plus the family tries to take at least one "exotic" vacation per year, which usually winds up being at least 4,000 miles from home. It adds up. They're veteran little travelers now (ages 3 and 6) and get annoyed when they have to fly in coach because the food is "inedible, why do they punish people like that, we didn't do anything other than pay for the flight" according to my niece the 6 year old. Kids call it like they see it ...

I accompanied them on a JFK-CDG flight as I needed to be in Paris anyway for business and my nephew was only 9 months at the time. My job was to be the backup in keeping them occupied, but it being an overnight flight, we had them pretty busy all day and they were out cold before we left the Canadian Maritimes.

whimsey21

My daughter hit elite when she was just under 2 (She is 9 now); her younger brother never got status because he's always traveled on miles for long trips. But both had their first flights when they were 2 months old, and were on planes continuously since then. Both kids have only been on long international flights in C, and have been completely spoiled by the experience. Recently, when discussing a trip I'm planning, my daughter told me that she wanted whichever choice would give us nicer airport lounges... It made me very proud.

BoeingBoy

In the U.S. it's hard to be elite under 2 unless the parent buys the child a seat and uses a car seat for the child. I have no idea of the rules that apply to young children in other countries so some may be easier for young children to get status.

Jim

PWMTrav

Hah, we're actually worried about that as well. My daughter has only flown domestic coach twice - once in regular Y on AA, and the other in E+ on UA. Without the additional legroom of E+ or F, she was really kind of miserable as getting down in our little row is fun for her. We haven't flown international yet, but that's coming this year.

It's still easy in the US, you just have the option not to We fly a lot of TCONs as a family, so not getting her a seat just wasn't an option. Holding a baby/toddler for 5 hrs is very rough, as I recently learned on a PHX-BOS redeye when my daughter insisted she sleep on me or not at all. In coach, it also means no stranger in the row since we're a family of 3.

Lovethecabin

Our son's first trip by plane was at 3 months old. We were ticketed next to an empty seat so we could use his car seat. After that trip, we decided to always buy him a seat. We were lucky as he was such an easy going baby, he almost always fell asleep soon after take off and we never had a meltdown or other bad behavior.

BoeingBoy

As we both said, it's not hard to be elite under 2 years old - a seat for the child and fly enough. What I said was that it's hard if the parent(s) don't buy a seat for their child.

Jim

PWMTrav

Hah, yeah, that is absolutely true. When our daughter was on the way, we figured it was nice to have the option to just hold her for free. Then we flew and realized that free came at a huge cost

apeortdz

I have enjoyed reading this thread. My wife and I are childfree but I truly believe we would have similar stories if we had children. I love the stories about how the kids are spoiled with the extra room, better meals, and nice lounges. Makes me smile!

Lovethecabin

When we were planning our first flight, it was my husband who insisted on holding our son (because he wanted to, not for the savings) and said no seat was necessary. It was the agent at check-in that noticed an empty seat and re-assigned us. I don't think we were in the air 30 minutes when my husband declared that we would buy a seat for him every trip.

GaryZ

Our youngest had his first flight at 3 months-old. Eventually, needed extra pages for his first passport

We used one of those strollers with the retractable wheels and remember those quizzical looks we always got when we would wheel it to the seat and strap it and him in - especially from the EU FAs.

Although he likes sitting up front with Dad, he hates FC/J food and still prefers whatever they are serving in the back. But, each flight I always remind him that Dad didn't enjoy the the 'big seats' until he was much older in life...

PWMTrav

Hah, no kidding, I didn't fly F until I was like 28. It was on the DCA-BOS shuttle for a job interview, and I think the employer booked last minute because it ended up being a Y-fare (as in, fare bucket) op-up'ed into F. From there, my wife and I realized we flew TCON enough to keep status if we did it with one airline, so I we both used trial preferred and that was that.

I believe I (the husband) was also the guilty party on my daughter's first flight. I wasn't trying to save money, I just insisted it would be MORE of a hassle to get a seat, strap in the car seat, etc, than just hold her. WRONG! She's had a seat ever since.

What is this wheeled contraption that you roll to the gate then strap into the seat, and where can I purchase it? I'm carrying a car seat like a sucker, and she's getting big enough that it'll be a toddler seat soon. I need wheels!

GaryZ

It's called a: "Sit N Stroll - Convertible Car Seat and Stroller" -you can Google it. Looks like a big transformer, but converts into a tidy car/airline seat...comes with the appropriate DOT stickers, so if questioned, you can show them it's approved for airline travel. As I think about it, that old stroller of ours could have probably qualified for FF status