Traveling with your family can be stressful. Here are some tips to help you have  Stress-Free Air Travel with your Family

How to Have Stress-Free Air Travel with Family

When it comes to having a family, one of the biggest challenges can be travel. It’s already difficult to navigate the airport just as one individual, but imagine trying to do it with a whole family! Road trips and small outings can already be difficult with little ones, especially if they’re toddlers or infants. However, getting to experience a whole other area, new landscapes, and getting to see those “first” experiences with your child can be absolutely memorable.

Even though air travel can be difficult, it’s worth it in the end. While it’s true it can be incredibly stressful to prepare for a family adventure vacation, these tips will hopefully help you out in having a less stressful time.

Have an early flight to avoid crowds

So, this is going to depend on when you and your family are traveling, but this could be a very helpful option. For starters, if you’re traveling with your family close to a holiday such as Thanksgiving or Memorial day, then this tip may not help. But, if you’re traveling with family outside of peak season then this could be for you. Early morning flights are not only cheaper, but they’re less crowded. This means less pushing and shoving. It usually means emptier flights, fewer lines, and in general, that whole fast-paced travel option is thrown out the window.

Pay for seats so the whole family can sit together

If you’ve ever been on a flight or even seen shows that involve a flight, then you may be more than familiar with families being separated on flights. It’s common, but it usually happens if the family doesn’t pay for the seats they booked. Just don’t assume that you’ll be sitting with everyone you booked with just because you purchased tickets. The entire flying experience with your family is going to be significantly easier if you do this. Even though it can be a bit pricey, you’ll be thanking yourself.

 

Downloadable boarding passes for the whole family

Airline boarding passes have been around for years, but they were never really convenient for everyone, especially those pieces of paper. They’re easy to lose, rip, or tear. Downloadable boarding passes are a great way to avoid the hassle of checking in at the airport and waiting in line. They are easily accessible from your mobile device, so you can quickly show them to security or gate agents when you need to. It means fewer things you need to hold, so the fewer things to stress over losing.

Try to pack lightly when traveling

Packing lightly is the best way to save space in your luggage and be able to carry more things with you. With that said, here are some items that you should never pack when traveling.

Never pack these items when traveling:

– Heavy coats

– Extra winter clothes

– Extra shoes

– Extra luggage

The fewer bags, the better. Plus, it’s going to make travel significantly less difficult to handle as well. Of course, if you have strollers, then that can entirely be an exception.

Learn the ends and odds of the airport

This doesn’t mean that you need to have a whole map memorized of your airport or the airport you’ll be traveling to. However just getting a firm understanding of the process such as how to navigate it, where things are, and what could potentially cause delays could all significantly help out. While it may sound like a stretch, you could even look into Operational Readiness Activation and Transition to help you and your family out when traveling by air. Overall, just stay informed, it’s going to massively help.

Visit the restroom before flying out

When it comes to air travel, those planes can be a hassle. First off, people are standing in line trying to get into the restroom. The little rooms are a tight squeeze, plus, they usually don’t seem to be very clean either. Your want to ensure that all of your children have used the bathroom well before the flight. While their little bladders may need to go again during the flight (depending on the duration of the flight itself), just being able to go before the flight can help. So before boarding begins, just take your little ones to the restroom.

Avoid layovers

Nobody likes layovers, and they’re a parent’s worse enemy. If possible, try your hardest to book a direct flight. The more connecting flights mean the more stressed out you may be in. But getting a direct flight will instantly alleviate the potential stress that you’d be in. Connecting flights usually heightens the chance of long layovers, canceled flights, and even worse scenarios.

 If you have a baby, the constant flights could cause physical pain. How so? Well, this is mostly due to the pressure that babies feel during take-off and landing. So, if you absolutely need to have connecting flights then you’ll need to have around two to four hours in between each.

Look into priority boarding

So, some airports will have a security section meant for families, it’s not like TSA pre-check but it can be just as fast. While this is great, you may want to boost it up a notch by paying for priority boarding while booking your flight. This usually isn’t necessary, but if you’re traveling with small children, it’s going to make the process a lot less stressful. This can be a nice head start with making the flight stress free.

Look into curbside check-in

While this may depend on the airport you’re going to, curbside check-in can be fantastic! If you’re traveling with an infant or toddler then you know you’re going to have a whole bunch. This can include diaper bags, strollers, food, toys, and a lot more.  While packing around all of this luggage is already going to be one of the biggest hassles, curbside check-in can come to the rescue.

Porters will usually be there just waiting to help. But of course, you’re going to have to call up the airline at the airport you’re flying to just to check to see if this is something that’s available or not.