How to Cope With a Long Flight With Children
How can you fly long distance with three kids without losing your mind (or a savings account)? Here’s what we’re watching this week.
Every Monday, we address one of your pressing personal finance questions by seeking advice from several financial experts. If you have a general question or money issue, or just want to talk about something PeFi-related, leave it in the comments or email me at [email protected].
This week’s question comes from ThisFoolBeFreddy :
My question is: how to survive on a long flight with children? We have a flight from east coast to west (and vice versa) arriving a couple of months later with three children (4, 6 and 10) who have never flown before. We’ll have tablets and games, but I’m worried about what you can’t prepare for. How will they react to being in the air, sitting in one place for a long time, etc.? Is there a way to get the seats side by side without giving away more money? Any advice would be appreciated.
This is what individual experts usually say about a problem that affects each person differently: if you need personalized advice, you should see a financial planner.
All about planning
Traveling with kids is never easy, but there are a few things you can do to make your trip more enjoyable. First, bring snacks and toys that children would not normally be allowed to take with you. You can use them to inspire good behavior or, when all else fails, some good old-fashioned bribery. “Collect a few things your child desperately needs (and usually can’t have) and use them as bargaining chips,” writes Amy Tara Koch in the New York Times .
While you want to treat them, keep practicality in mind as well: muesli bars, fruit snacks, grapes, etc. It will be easy to transport and eat on the plane.
However, chewing gum, hard candy, and even drinking water will be helpful during takeoff and landing to help with pressure changes. And don’t forget to have tissues, stickers, dramamine, dressings, headphones, drinking cup, Purell and wet wipes on hand. You mentioned that you bring your tablet with you, which is smart – perhaps consider bringing an audio jack splitter so you can watch with your child (or two of them might be watching the same).
Make sure you take advantage of priority boarding, especially if you have young children. Entry agents tend to be very good at allowing your family members to sit on board together, and you can often bring more than your standard carry-on baggage with you and one personal item per person (for example, a diaper bag will not count as carry-on baggage. so think about anything you can store there except diapers).
If you and your spouse are pre-tested by the TSA, children under 12 may also be pre-screened. Consider including older children yourself to save time and effort. Many travel cards, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve, include pre-validation as an annual fee.
Save money on flights
When it comes to saving money, there are several things you can do. One is maximizing credit card travel rewards and frequent flyer miles. For example, Southwest offers an additional pass after you earn 110,000 points in a year. If you and your spouse travel frequently, this could give you two free family travel passes.
Another option is to get a joint airline credit card. Southwest has some decent card deals with Chase, and CreditCards.com points out that American Express’s Delta Reserve Card gives you one free companion ticket every year (just note the $ 450 yearly fee). There are many passes available, so check which one will work best for you and your family before checking in. Hotel credit cards can also help you save on overnight stays if you travel frequently.
This means that your kids will also check into frequent flyer accounts. Note that this can be tricky to do online depending on the program, but here is some information on how to hack online forms from different operators. And some carriers allow you to accumulate points , which can be useful both for family travel and for traveling alone, if mom or dad needs to go somewhere.
The seating is a bit tricky. Although Congress passed the Family Flying Act 2016 requiring airlines to accommodate children under the age of 13 with their parent or guardian, the actual ruling has yet to be written, according to USA Today . “The airlines say they seat families together whenever possible, but they are also motivated by the fees they charge whenever someone reserves a seat.” You can view the rules of each airline here .
To make sure you are sitting together and not paying more, you can request it at check-in or call a few days before departure. If you make it to the boarding gate without asking for seats together, you can talk to an agent there, or even better, ask the flight attendant on the plane who is most likely to help. One final tip: USA Today suggests offering someone a drink so they can switch with you, or slip them a few $ 20 bills. It’s still less costly than paying an airline seat assignment fee. ”