6 Airport Travel Hacks When Traveling With Kids
Skip the lines: most airports around the world (though few in the USA) have special lines for families with kids. This includes check-in lines, security lines, immigration lines and priority boarding. Most of the domestic flights we’ve taken in the USA don’t have these, but any other country that we’ve travelled to, we’ve been given priority. All you have to do is ASK. Anytime there’s a line, find someone to ask and just say “is there a special line? My children need to hurry to use a bathroom, or eat, or whatever excuse you can come up with.” Don’t forget to be polite and smile. Smiling goes a long way.
Ask to be moved to the front of the plane, preferably in the bulkhead: Get to the airport early and at check-in, ask if there’s any better seats. The closer you are to the front of the plane, the faster you can get off the plane (and get to immigration first). Don’t assume they will give you good seats, you need to ASK. Also, if you have a lap infant, ask at Check-in if there’s any extra seats that they can block for your lap infant. If that doesn’t work, ask at the gate and also when you board the plane. More times than not, they will accommodate you. But if you don’t ask, you don’t receive.
Bring water bottles and fill up at airports: Water can be expensive and also, it can take forever to get water on the airplane. If you don’t have a sippy cup, just bring an empty plastic water bottle and re-fill at the airport, after security. Some airports will let you bring full kids waterbottles through security, if you say it’s for the kids… not all though!
Get a Priority Pass so you can access the lounges: we always hit up the airport lounges. We try and go towards the back of the lounges, as not to disturb others. We change the kids in the lounge bathrooms, feed them there and also take food from the lounges (like bread and snacks). It’s a great way to save money, utilize time and have somewhere for the kids to hang out.
Bring a re-usable bag: throw a re-usable shopping bag in the bottom of the stroller or in your carry on. This way, after you go through security, you can separate some of your items so when you board the plane, you can easily access things. Often, my bag is stuffed and it’s so hard to get stuff out of it. By bringing another bag, you can better organize yourself for easy access.
Buy a container of peanut butter and a bag of bread. Don’t waste money on getting them food when you’re out, (at least mine don’t eat much). We always bring peanut butter (or butter or jelly or whatever) and bread and make sandwiches.