ellenyc

I realized after I booked my flights that part of the itinerary is on a CRJ-900, which has a 2-2 seat configuration.

My twins are almost three, and very good travelers. Still, I'm nervous about the seating on these flights. One will have to be across the aisle from me.

Do airlines (specifically, NW) ever let people switch flights for this reason? There's an itinerary later in the day with A319s.

Thanks for any guidance... other than hoping for a kind, grandmotherly type in the adjacent seat.

CDTraveler

Your best bet probably is to call NW and ask if toddlers are allowed to sit by themselves, or would the airline prefer you to switch flights so you can supervise both your children at all times?

ellenyc

Great idea... thanks so much for responding.

Eclipsepearl

I've done this but I was alone with three small children so we had to sit 2 and 2 on a small aircraft with this seating. It also happened on another flight but not on a small plane. We were split up, 2, 2 and my husband behind us.

I'm a former Flight Attendant and I've never heard of anyone having to switch flights because of toddlers not being able to sit together on their own. Ideally, the parents should be close by, but I don't know of any official restrictions. I never had any when we flew.

I'm wondering whether it wouldn't be better to put them together across the aisle. You would see them better and you wouldn't have the problem of one child having to sit by a stranger while the other gets to sit with you.

Well, that's what my kids would do (and they're not even twins! Close in age but they came one at a time). I was next to the little one but this arrangement worked well. The two older ones were able to play together.

That also means that the stranger (if the seat doesn't stay empty) would be next to you, by the window and not have to get "involved".

What's cute is that my kids ended up next to a nervous flier when we were split up. I hope it helped. They didn't explain that their mom used to fly for a living nor list all the countries they've visited. The woman noticed that they were very much at home on the airplane and asked "Aren't you nervous?" and my son replied "Oh no. We're used to this!"

6rugrats

I am interested to hear how this was resolved, because I would think two children this young would not be allowed to sit together because they would not be able to handle the oxygen masks if that became necessary.

Eclipsepearl

On such a small airplane, the aisle isn't very wide and I could have leaned over and helped my children with the masks if it had been necessary.

Actually, the masks are really easy to handle. A toddler would need help in adjusting the straps but they could grab it and get it to their face on their own. The masks fall down pretty low. They would probably follow what everyone else were doing so no instructions would be necessary. Once the parent has their mask fitted, they could lean over and help or the children can continue to they could just hold the masks to their faces if there is bad turbulence (often the case in decompressurizations).

ellenyc

Hi guys... thanks for all the suggestions and thoughts on this.

We wound up sticking with the original flights. One boy sat next to me, the other across the aisle. On both flights the fourth seat was empty (well, in one case after the teenage girl decided she wanted to move!) so we didn't bother anyone. The boys were incredible... they love flying, so I told them if they didn't keep their seatbelts buckled, or played with the trays / kicked the seats, that the pilot wouldn't let them stay on the plane.

Not my first choice, but in the end it was all fine. In the future I will remember to check for this, as it was easier when we were sitting together and I could entertain them with a DVD.

TrojanHorse

i'm a little late to the party but thought I'd chime in anyway

I have two boys 21 months apart and this has never been a problem. Actually it makes things easier. this splits them up perfectly. As long as they had their games/toys etc, aisle seat, aisle, aisle seat, window seat with me in the aisle seat between them reduced the risk of fighting 1 million fold. they were self entertaining and there were no issues. It actually beat three across seating where I'd end up in the middle so they didn't fight

as for the bright comment about controlling both of them... ..... a parent cant' control a kid all the way over across the aisle???

Eclipsepearl

Well I can!

Actually, my children have flown a lot so they know to keep a lid on it during take-off and landing. Plus, the toys, DVD player, etc. which would be the object of any likely fights are put away.

Once the plane is cruising and the seat belt sign goes off, they it's a lot easier to monitor the situation. You would have to make it clear that they are to stay seated with their seatbelts on for those two portions of the flight, and be reasonably sure they'll do it!

Mine are close in age and actually want to sit together so if there are problems in flight, I just need to threaten to separate them. Sitting next to Mommy is boring so that usually does the trick. I also threaten to take things away...

For really long flights, I bring suprises so often, if they're not behaving, I simply tell them they're not getting anything until they shape up.

I was nervous on the Ovda (Israel)-Paris flight because my two older ones were next to that woman and her child. I was almost willing them "please don't fight! please don't fight!" It was worse because they were actually a row forward across the aisle to my seat so I couldn't see (NOT recommended, have them directly across or even behind) but it went well...

I try to get us all together when we can but if you really can't manage to get everyone in the same row, do not despair!

tonerman

I think you can, at least my kids (6 year old twins) know that they need to behave on the plane or there will be hell to pay later.