How to prepare for a trip with a child?
- When planning a trip with a child, it is worth finding out what rules apply to the airline you intend to use when you want to book seats next to each other on the plane. You should not leave the matter of being seated on the plane until the last minute before departure, as it can cause great inconvenience both for families with children who did not get seats together and for other passengers forced to change seats so that the children could sit with their parents. This applies to both check-in and early seat selection. Depending on the airline's policy, family seats may be guaranteed or charged extra, but you always need to first contact the airline's ticket office / call center and report the need to be seated with the children on the plane.
- Traveling by plane takes from several dozen minutes to even several hours. It is worth stocking up on items that will make the journey pleasant for the children. In order for a child to use them during the flight, they must be packed in hand luggage. Therefore, one should remember about the size and weight limitations of hand luggage and about the regulations regarding items prohibited in hand luggage (e.g. replicas of weapons). You should also take into account the comfort of other passengers, so it is not recommended to take on board toys that generate sounds or throw smaller elements. When sharing electronic devices with children, it is worth equipping them with comfortable headphones.
- Taking a compact travel pillow on board is also a good solution for both younger and older passengers. On the occasion of sleeping accessories - it is worth getting a blanket or a sweatshirt with long sleeves. When preparing the aircraft for flight on hot days, crews tend to set the air conditioning to the lowest possible temperature to cool the passenger compartment as quickly as possible. Sudden, drastic changes in the ambient temperature can cause respiratory diseases and other ailments.
- Young children (up to 2 years of age) travel by plane on their guardian's lap. It can be very tiring for the carer on longer long haul (e.g. transatlantic) cruises. Therefore, it is worth finding out at the carrier's cash desk / call center whether a cradle can be installed in a given type of aircraft. The cradle allows you to place a small child in it for the time of a stabilized flight phase. The cradle is always provided by the carrier.
- Most airlines allow you to take a stroller or car seat for free as part of a child's ticket. It is worth finding out what else the youngest passengers are entitled to free of charge by contacting the ticket office / call center of a given airline. Interesting fact: prams and car seats are checked into the luggage compartment as checked luggage, however, for several years now, many specialist stores have also offered prams specially adapted for transport in the passenger cabin of the plane. Such a stroller folds to the size of hand luggage, so you do not need to part with it during the flight, and also takes up less space in the trunk of the car or in other means of transport to and from the airport.
- We would like to remind you of a good way to deal with the effect of pressure changes in the passenger compartment of the plane - clogged ears: it is worth getting some sweets, i.e. hard candy.