Advice, please
 

Hi, all. I'm new to FlyerTalk and new to flying with children. Heck, I'm even new to having children -- my son is 4 months old. Can you please offer advice on our first trip?

My husband's not coming, so it'll be just the baby and me. I've bought him his own seat and will bring and use his car seat. And of course I'll be boarding with a 55-gallon drum of formula, six extra outfits for each of us, and a six-ton bale of diapers. I'm a little apprehensive about managing all this with only two hands, and I want as much time as possible to get settled without getting flustered.

I've read that a lot of airlines have done away with pre-boarding for families with small children. I called my airline -- Northwest, I admit with great trepidation -- and the disinterested agent told me they do still allow it. Can someone please confirm that? I would hate to be surprised at the airport.

Thanks -- I'd appreciate any other advice you can offer, as well.

Welcome to Flyertalk. :)

Don't know about NW preboarding. Maybe someone else does.

Do you hold elite frequent flyer status? That will get you on early even if pre-boarding isn't allowed.

As for other, general advice: i suggest reading thru this forum - your questions have been discussed in the past few months.

Have a great trip. :)

Preboarding
 

:) NW does allow preboarding and for the most part the fA are very helpfull. I had been traveling with my son since he was 6 months. NW is one of our favorite mainly because their staff is extremely helpfull. Make sure to gate check your stroller. I have also found the packing a complete outfit including a diaper in a ziploc bag makes handeling emergencys easier.

Thanks, lfasgrl. That's helpful. I was ready to gird my, uh, loins for a polite tussle at the airport, but I'm very glad that won't be necessary. :eek:

And thank you for the welcome, FWAAA. I do not, alas, hold status — I don't fly NW frequently at all. I did read through the forum and found it full of useful hints, which kept me from asking yet another question about where to change a diaper...

1. on the lap of my seatmates;
2. on the floor in the aisle of first class; or
3. in the galley during meal prep.

I've pre-boarded with my small son on NW. I too have found the FAs to be very helpful with wee ones. Good luck!

I am sure one of the lavs will have a diaper changing shelf.

Good luck

I don't know about NW mainline, but I recently flew one of their CRJ's and there was no preboarding. Since I was with my wife, and could boad ahead of her to get the bags stowed and the car seat installed, it didn't matter, but make sure you politely ask them when you arrive at the gate.

At both DCA and MKE, the gate attendants were not especially helpful and gave me the "you must check that" attitude for the car seat, to which I politely responded that I have paid for a seat for my 11 month old and intend to use the car seat. The flight attendant outbound was fine, but didn't offer to help with installing the seat (which barely fit - Britax Marathon). The flight attendant on the return flight also didn't offer any tips on installing the seat, but atleast let us get up to change a diaper even though the seatbelt sign was on the entire flight.

As for car seats, if you are still using an infant seat, you should be ok fitting it in but I don't recall whether or not you use the base. If you are using a bigger seat, then you might need some help, as our seat barely fit within the 31" pitch of the CRJ and when the person in front of us jammed their seat back it pushed the baby seat into an awkward position. For either, just make sure you spend five minutes at home before you leave familiarizing yourself with the way the seat straps in with a lap seatbelt (that is if you use the latch system in your car).

As for changing diapers, the lavatories should have a drop down table.

Also, I am sure others have told you this or you have read it here, feed your baby during takeoff and landing so that the pressure equalizes in their ears. Hopefully this will keep them from crying.

Finally, for some reason NW issued my wife's ticket on my reservation and did a seperate one for my son, which even though I then called them and asked that the iteneraries be linked, it added a bit of hastle at check in. The attendents at check-in at DCA seemed a bit perturbed when I asked them where the third boarding pass was and it also threw check-in for a bit of a loop at MKE.

Thank you very much! What a helpful response. We'll be using an infant seat and according to my measurements it should fit, but I'll be prepared to meekly ask the person in front of the baby not to tilt her seat quiiiiite so far back.

And prepared to grit my teeth in impotent annoyance if she declines!

I'm not a fan of preboarding with babies/toddlers/preschoolers.. i have two and the longer they are out running around in the waiting room the better for me...

Overhead space isn't a problem as with two kids and a short wife we have plenty of room under the seats (we want everything accessible anyway)

Once i get the car seats in, i don't buckle the kids in until i absolutely have to. I let them stand in the seat, sit in my lap etc.

My goal, have them buckled down as short a time as possible.

This is good advice...
 

As a FA and an aunt to a 14-month-old toddler, I have seen it too often that the parent immediately buckles their child into the car seat during preboarding and expects the child to wait patiently, often 30 to 45 minutes, until departure time?!?

It's best to get the car seat installed, have a FA verify that it was installed correctly, and then let your child blow off some steam out of the car seat until the FAs are told to prepare their doors for departure.

Take care!

Keep in mind too, that even on airlines that normally allow preboarding, in some cases the gate agents may not allow it for a certain flight. I live in Orlando, and I have often seen NW and other airlines not preboard because of the large numbers of families traveling with small children, since half or more of the flight would be "preboarded". Also, when flights are delayed, they will sometimes skip it to "expidite the boarding process".

I agree. My wife and I are both elite so I usually preboard with the seat and get everything set up first. She comes on the plane last so he gets to run around outside as long as possible.

Keba

is this main luggage or not?

Boarding pass--with seat or infant?
 

Newbie (to flying with infant) question for Keba, stef, Thucydides and anybody else who's done this before :D : as an elite preboarder (UA 2P), if I take my son's carseat on board to buckle it in and get baby paraphernalia settled, do I take baby's BP with me or leave it with mom and baby for when they board? Not sure how to handle that.

Leave the BP with Mom.

You will preboard with the carseat, the FA will question whether you had purchased a seat (which they will assume that you didn't) and/or they will tell you in a semi-rude tone that you have to put it in the window seat.

The process should be very smooth. Only problem I ever have is that my wife does not wait long enough before boarding and baby (now 20 months) still spends extra unnecessary time on the plane.

Keba