How to Fly With a Baby - Adventures of Ace

Our beautiful baby girl was born abroad without our immediate family nearby. At some point, we knew we were going to have to fly overseas back to the states so her grandparents could meet her. As if raising a newborn wasn’t tough enough, we couldn’t imagine what we were in for when it came time to bring her on a plane. Flying with a baby is not easy. Needless to say, we were dreading it and it’s totally OK if you are too. Even after reading 100 articles from fellow parents and their recommendations… you might still feel only semi ready (just like we did) and again, that’s OK. This post is merely meant to share our own experience and the advice we can offer from it. Here are the things we learned about how to fly with a baby for the first time.

Our Flight Details

Route: Prague, CZ <> Seattle, WA (roundtrip)
Airline: Lufthansa
Type of ticket: Infant on lap
Baby’s age: 7-8 months

Quick Guide

Convenience Over Price

Back when it was just the two of us flying, we would often buy a cheaper flight even if it meant a more inconvenient flight itinerary. For example, when living in the Czech Republic, we often found that flying out of Berlin instead of Prague was hundreds of dollars cheaper. Even though this meant an added three hour drive to even get to Berlin, it still paid off. With a baby? Hah, forget it. Paying a premium for convenience is now a way of life. If you can afford it, fork over the extra buck to save yourself some major potential headaches.

Flight Time Matters

Double, no… triple check the flight details before you book. Do this not only to confirm the details are correct but to make sure they make sense with your baby’s schedule. The time of the flight is perhaps the most crucial. Most people will tell you to book an overnight flight when possible so your baby has an easier time sleeping. This is true but if your baby is a little older and can stay up for longer periods of time, booking a daytime flight works well too.

A lot of this depends on how long and where you are flying to. When flying from Europe to Seattle with a nine hour timezone difference, we booked a day time flight and our baby took naps throughout the ~11 hours of flying. When we arrived in Seattle, it was still “the same day” (since we went back in time) around 5pm so it was very easy to get her into night time mode since to her, it just seemed like a very long day. The bottom line is, you know your baby’s schedule the best so use this to your advantage.

Choose a Good Airline

Similar to paying for convenience, we recommend opting for an airline with a good reputation or at least avoid booking a budget airline. We flew with Lufthansa and we’re not sure if it was just a coincidence, but Alex and I have never received as good of service as we did when flying with a baby compared to flying without her. From jumping to the front of the check-in line to waived baggage fees, these little gestures from the airline truly made our flight less stressful. During one of the most anxious events of my life, each small act of kindness from the staff helped us relax. The staff is likely just taking pity on you for flying with a baby but hey, we’ll take it!

TIP: If you book a budget airline or an airline that is known to have less than great customer satisfaction, you may risk having an unpleasant experience, face surprise fees or unaccommodating attendants.

Pack Smart

Packing well does not mean you should pack a lot. You may be flying with a baby but there are ways to pack without including the entire nursery. Be mindful of the most important things you’ll need and be stocked on those items. Diapers, wipes, water (most airlines will actually provide baby water for free) and food/formula. Other than the basics, try to minimize the amount of stuff you are carrying on in a bulky diaper bag. You will already have your hands full and the last thing you need is to deal with digging through an endless amount of stuff just to find some extra socks. Other than the basics, we packed 1-2 extra clothing items (a onesie and pants), a blanket and small and compact toys.

Utilize Your Stroller

Nearly every airline will allow you to check your stroller for free or at least for a small fee. Since the airline will see you’re flying with a baby, they should ask if you’d like to check the stroller at the ticket desk (and have it follow you to your destination) or if you plan on dropping it off right before boarding. We strongly recommend using your stroller for as long as you can and throughout the airport, especially if your baby needs to nap.

Our baby best sleeps in the lying down position so we used our stroller up until the moment we boarded the plane. We also chose to pick it up “plane side” after our first flight and utilized it during our layover. We dropped it back off with the attendant before the second flight of our trip. Traveling without a stroller is 100% possible too. We saw many babies in carriers throughout the airport and even during flights as a way to calm them.

Boarding

I’m convinced that priority family boarding was created by the airline as a way for the airline to get their ducks in a row quicker before take off. Personally, my goal was to spend as little time on a plane with a baby. Why would I board early and spend an extra hour in that metal box for no reason? My apologies go out to the flight crews but being one of the last to board worked better for us. It allowed us to squeeze in any last walks, naps and play time before being confined to one space for the next ten hours. Instead of boarding first or early, we would recommend utilizing this time to burn your little one’s energy.

Try to Fly Before Baby is Too Active

There’s not much you can do about your baby’s age so this is more of an observation than a tip. Within a few weeks, the development of your baby’s activeness can change dramatically. Unfortunately, this aspect will make a world of difference in how your flight will go. During our flight to Seattle, our baby was around seven months old and recently picked up crawling. She was still learning to master some major motor skills and therefore was still quite “chill” for lack of a better word. She was even able to fall asleep sitting on our laps. During the course of the next couple of weeks in Seattle, crawling became second nature to her along with pulling herself up. Needless to say, the flight back home was incredibly different because our baby just wanted to move around… everywhere. The experience was of course manageable but if we had to choose, we’d fly again before the jitter bug kicked in.

Naps Are Still Important

Traveling can be chaotic and will obviously create a speed bump in your daily routine. With everything going on, it is still important to keep track of how much your baby has napped. If you are able to manage keeping your baby on their nap schedule, huge kudos to you. Our baby was incredibly stimulated and interested in new surroundings during our flight back to Europe. This caused her to become over exhausted (and all parents know how that ends up). If we could go back in time, we would have made more of an effort to put her to sleep earlier.

Airline tip: If your baby is small enough for a bassinet, most airlines will also offer a plane bassinet for free if you are able to reserve it before other babies on your flight do. During one of our long hauls, we were assigned seats with the bassinet. I thought our baby would take all of her naps in there but that wasn’t the case. She only ended up napping in it once and preferred to nap on our laps instead.

Do Not Fight Jet Lag

If you are traveling to and from an entirely different time zone, your baby will be jet lagged. There is no way to prevent this and that’s the reality you should prepare yourself for. We recommend not planning anything for your family for the first couple of days of your trip. Your baby can adjust more easily and catch up on their rest if you take it easy. Try to also not force your baby to stay awake… let their sleep schedule play out naturally. We promise it’ll go back to normal within a few days but you’ll unfortunately have to stick it out in the beginning. One tip that helped us get our baby back on track a little quicker is to create a completely dark environment during sleep time.