Help flying with children?

Pretty much any parent will at some point be worried about how they’re going to cope when flying with children.  I remember out first overseas holiday which was to Cyprus, around about a 4-5 hour flight.  The boys were 1 and 3 and I was worried with all the fears that come with taking children on a plane.  The main fear was upsetting the other passengers.

In the run up to taking the flight, I did as much research into different advice other people could offer and see if I can apply the same techniques.I came across many tips and tricks but only recently I’ve discovered this guide to flying with children where you can download a printable ebook.

The book breaks down into sections like how to entertain little ones at the airport, short haul flights, under 2’s, 3-6 year olds, 7 and above and even has celebrities giving their own advice on flying with children!  Here’s one from Chris O’Donnell

“With five children to take on holiday, Chris has said he is happy to fly in the economy section of the aircraft, so he doesn’t feel too bad when his kids need to walk around the aircraft to stretch their legs.”

This book would have been super helpful for our even longer trip to Florida, which I was dreading….how to keep a 4 and 6 year old entertained for 9 hours!  Luckily outgoing was not too bad as the excitement was there and thankfully lots of suitable movies and TV programmes!  But coming back, it was hard and tiring.  Both struggled to go to sleep and when they did fall asleep it was only a couple of hours before the plane was due to land so inevitably they had to be woken up….I would like to apologise to those passengers for the screaming that came from our row!

Have you any tips on travelling with children that you found worked particularly well?

Written in collaboration with cheapflights.