gregseattle

Trip report from traveling with the guys in Dec/Jan (Two year old twin boys)

+pack food. Can't count on much any more, gotta bring it. Lots of little baggies of treats worked well. The hot sandwich (I guess soon to be disc. on UA) was not much of a treat for the guys. Boxed raisins offered an extra distraction of opening and picking them out of the box.

+stickers. Got a bunch of little ones at target before the trip. Anyone on the a,b seats of the coach bulkhead of a 777 might see some remnants of my kid's handiwork on the monitor arm. btw, gotta like the 2 side seating on the 777 with kids.

+similar vein, wife got post-it notes of several colors and those "sign here" flags notes and those worked well too

+playland on the second level of the middle of DEN. We've used this for a while (2+years) and it is still good.

+inmotionpictures.com Very worthwhile.
be sure to reserve in advance as they're not having much in stock lately and you want to lock this down if you make a promise to your wee little ones, ...

+UA willingness to board and deboard me. I board early with the carseats to install them, then fight the crowd to get off the plane. And then be deboarded. There is a deboard button on the gate reader if you have an agent that doesn't know how to do it. Then you can board at the call for final with your kids and (hopefully) that will give you a few extra minutes to get your kids in the right mode...

Otherwise, a good trip!

l etoile

When my son was a little older than your boys, we still brought along the stickers, but instead of him using them he gave them to children in the places we visited. They were quick ice breakers and helped my son find playmates pretty quickly even when they didn't share a common language.

Wishing you and your family many more happy trips together.

JS

Question -- why do you need to install a car seat, leave the plane, and then return?

Tsukiji

Sounds like your travels went smoothly. My husband does the same with the carseat - he boards first and installs it and my daughter and I are the last on board. He doesn't have to deboard as we only have one little one. I assume that is why you deboarded - to help you wife with your twins.

Those stickers are great - we have them packed in our travel bag and ready to go! One other great thing we use are the crayola special markers - can't remember the name, but they only mark on the special paper sold with them. So, kids can scribble away, but no mess. We only use these for flying with our daughter, but she loves them.

Cheers,

Vanessa

gpension

I have 4 1/2 year old twin girls, and have done many of the same things over the years.

I try to travel mid-day, around lunch, so they could eat and nap. They don't nap anymore, so I bought a DVD player (It's for me as well), and loaded up on movies. I reserve three seats together for me and the girls, and my wife sits across the aisle.

You also may want think about giving them something to chew on during the descent. When my girls couldn't do gum, we gave them jelly beans, which was the highlight of their trip.

I also boarded early, then went out to get them, but once they got older, I stopped it - more of a hassale then benefit.

gregseattle

Sorry it took me a while to follow up.

Actually I carry on and install two of them, we have twins.

mrs gregseattle plays with the kids at an open space nearby the gate. That way they can run around a little more and exert energy so the plane ride seems less constraining. I always check with a SD at the gate first to get ok, and try to be the first one on boarding so I don't have to spawn my way too much upstream.

With twin boys, it is always easier to deal with one task at a time. So as we can eliminate the one step of getting two carseats on, and fastening them into the seat, we are at least 1/3 more efficient when we board, which I think helps the other pax out.

JS

Thanks for the response. I put my kid in a seat with just the lap belt at 18 months.

Yours are 2 years old, right? Why bother with the car seat at all? I just check mine and pick it up at baggage claim at the other end.

Tsukiji

JS- I use the car seat because it is recommended by the FAA. A little one in a lap belt might just slip out in turbulence. Also, it is a familiar place for her to sit and she knows there are rules with a car seat - no kicking seats and no messing with the buckles.

From the FAA website:
"Proper use of an approved child restraint system (CRS) on an aircraft enhances child safety in the event of an accident. A CRS also provides protection for a child during turbulence. The FAA strongly recommends that all children who fly regardless of Their age, use the appropriate restraint based on Their size and weight."

http://www1.faa.gov/fsdo/phl/tipsfor.htm

gregseattle

I was thinking you were making a joke about the kid, checking it and getting it at baggage...

Ours are more prone to sleeping in the carseat. It is still a trick we use if all others are exhausted. (drive them around in the car)

It is kind of a home-away-from-home thing. I think.

RS

I'm with you JS. I don't understand this at all. A relative of mine uses them for even older kids. This is overprotectiveness.

By the way, I would definitely not do it if the FAA recommends it! A normal size two-year-old is not going to float away in turbulence with a properly worn seat belt. Two years is plenty old enough to learn about using a seat belt.

erik123

Maybe the FAA can recommend that rude adults be placed in car seats instead of the kids.

cmccool

I have 6 year old b/g twins. I always reserve window and aisle in consecutive rows. More times than not, we end up with 2 whole rows. The kids like to switch sometime during the flight.

Our last flight was on jetBlue with the DirectTV at every seat. We did not have to open the kid's bags once during the flight. Usually, it is a continual game of switching books, games, snacks. jetBlue rules on entertaining kids!