Staying happy & sane while traveling with a toddler by plane

If it hadn’t have been for the pandemic, we probably would have traveled with our daughter long before she was 19 months, but we just didn’t feel safe until very recently. So many people told us that traveling with a toddler would be super hard (some people said we were crazy, haha), but I always imagined that we would continue our love of travel after we had children and was not going to let that stop us. That being said, I was super nervous leading up to the trip and did everything in my power to prep as much as I could. I joined parent travel groups on FB and read every post I could to try and learn as much as possible.

Let’s be honest, toddlers are gonna toddler no matter how much you prepare, but being prepared can make a huge difference when it comes to how your kiddo handles the trip. We kept our expectations low, our energy high, and just rolled with things as much as we could. Was she perfect? No. Did two people, including a flight attendant, actually compliment us on how well she did? Yes. Did it make me feel like a rock star mom? HELL YES.

So, here is what worked for us. I hope it helps!

*This post does contain affiliate links, which yield a small commission if you make a purchase. We sincerely appreciate your support of our family and will always be honest about our opinions on any products we link.

Prepping with books and talks.

I really have to thank my mom for this. Starting a couple of months before our trip, she started talking to Ariadne about planes and flying and specifically that we were going to Costa Rica. We reinforced this and Ariadne began to talk about planes a lot. When she would see and/or hear one flying, she would look up and yell, “plane!” My mom also got her a book about planes and this Little People plane toy. By the time we left, Ariadne would often chant, “A-Rica, A-Plane,” as we went through our travels (A-Rica = Costa Rica in toddler).

Getting her own seat and using the car seat on the plane.

Technically lap infants are allowed under two, but I just knew that was not going to work for us. If Ariadne is not strapped into her car seat, she wants to be on the move. Also, the FAA does say that the safest place for an infant or toddler is in a car seat, so we felt it to be the best move for us. Two days a week, Ariadne goes to my mom’s house, which is near my job and takes us 45 minutes to an hour to get to, so she is used to being in her car seat and does well in it.

Her cushy, convertible car seat is massive and I knew we were not going to be lugging that thing through the airport, so we opted to buy the Cosco Scenera NEXT as our travel car seat. It is $60, so you really cannot beat its value. Make sure to grab a strap so you can attach it to your suitcase or stroller to wheel through the airport.

I will say that some people complain that this car seat isn’t very padded. When it arrived, I was slightly concerned she might find it weird since she is used to so much padding in her Chicco NextFit, but she literally didn’t bat an eye. She was comfy in this seat both on the plane and in our rental car (and slept in it in both). One thing to note – I would definitely pick up a couple of car seat locking clips, even if you are only traveling domestically in the US. We found that this helped us get a very tight install no matter what car we were in. A quick YouTube will show you how to use this and it is a lifesaver (I was about to give up on the seat until I realized this changed everything).

Overall, having the car seat on the plane meant that she sort of acted like it was a car ride, so it was super easy for me to do activities with her and not have her trying to run up and down the aisles. Since our flight was a short 2.5 hours, I didn’t remove her from the car seat at all, but if you have a long flight, it is recommended to take an infant or toddler out of their seat every 2-3 hours.

New toys from the dollar store.

A couple of days before we left, I went to the dollar store and picked up a bunch of small, easy to pack toys. I got little animals and dinosaurs, cars and trucks, a coloring pad, and lots of stickers. I also bought these suction toys from Target. Since she had never seen them before, they were so exciting to her on the plane and on the rest of the trip. She played with them for a solid eight days and never seemed bored or like she needed more. I also brought several of her books with us. In retrospect, the coloring pad was too much for her at 19 months (such a mess all over her hands), so I would get one of these LCD coloring tablets for her to use next time.

Shows pre-loaded on the iPad.

We have never let her use our iPad at home, but she does usually watch an episode of Dora the Explorer or Puffin Rock every day, so we loaded those two shows in case she wanted to watch. This helped throughout the trip when we were in situations where things took a long time (like the time our food took over an hour at a restaurant). She refused to wear the cute headphones I bought her, so we just kept the volume low on the plane and in restaurants and it was fine. Both our flights were daytime ones, so luckily there was plenty of other noise on the plane.

Boarding separately.

The way we boarded was crucial and I am so glad I learned this from the travel groups. When they called for early boarding for those with kids, my husband took the car seat and our bags onto the plane. I stood near the gate and waved to the gate agents so they could see me and Ariadne and they had no issues letting him go on without us. Then, Ariadne and I walked up and down the terminal while the rest of the plane boarded.

Finally, when they made a last call, we boarded, and by that time Dane had already installed our car seat and got all our bags situated; so I literally just plopped her in, buckled her up, and within a few mins the doors were closing. 10/10 recommend this so that your kiddo is not sitting on the plane for 45 mins while everyone boards.

A stroller that fits on the plane.

While it is true that you can gate check a stroller (and car seat) for free, I felt strongly that I wanted a stroller we could take on the plane for a few reasons. Number one was that I wanted to always have the stroller with us when we needed it. I have heard of families having to wait a long time to get their stroller at the gate and that can be really frustrating after you’ve already been on a flight. I also have anxiety about them damaging our stroller and frankly, that was just not something I wanted to deal with. Lastly, I knew if the stroller fit on the plane it wouldn’t take up a lot of space in the car, which mattered when we had luggage that needed to also fit.

We ended up getting the gb Pockit Air because I found it brand new at the Just Between Friends consignment sale for $100 a few months before the trip. We got a backpack carrying case for it on Amazon, which worked super well, and a stroller organizer that was awesome and compact.

I have very mixed feelings about this stroller. On the one hand, it is one of the smallest folding strollers on the market and it was very easy to take it wherever. It even fit under the seat in front of us on the plane! Our daughter seemed comfortable in it and even though the wheels seem small, it worked for us even on rougher roads and a boardwalk.

However, there are some big negatives, one of which is that the “sun shade” does absolutely nothing. In a hot climate like Costa Rica, this was an issue for me as Ariadne refuses to wear hats lately. It also doesn’t recline, so stroller naps never happened. Lastly, I will admit that this is user error, but it can happen easily– I thought the stroller was locked in the open position when it wasn’t, so when I put Ariadne in it, it collapsed and she ended up hitting her head. I thank God it was a slow fall and that the stroller sort of broke it, but it was scary. After that, we would triple check the stroller every time we opened it and made sure one of us was standing behind it when we put her in.

Carrier

I debated if I should bring my Tula carrier, and in the end I do wish I had, but not for the airport or plane (she was in the stroller for walking through the airport, security, etc.). I definitely could have used it in Costa Rica for some light hiking we did though. If you have a trip that is going to involve anything like what we did, pack a carrier in your luggage for sure.

For the airport and just for general sightseeing, I was really glad I brought my TushBaby (15% off with code: CAMILE15) as there were many times I needed to carry her and it just made it so much easier. The storage in it was great too as we were boarding because I could just stick our passports and boarding passes in there along with any toys Ariadne happened to have in her hand.

Lots of snacks.

I mean, this probably goes without saying, but pack lots of snacks for your kiddo. Even with a short flight, there’s so much time before and after and you don’t want to have to run around looking for something they will eat. We actually forgot her cooler filled with snacks at home, so all I had with me was pretzels, crackers, and gummies. We ended up buying her a big thing of berries at the airport, and that kept her happy along with the other snacks. Set like three reminders in your phone so you are not like us and have plenty of snacks on hand. We swear by this PackIt freezable lunchbox and use it all the time.

In the end, it’s all going to be okay.

I am a nervous traveler, even though I love it so much. I reminded myself a lot leading up to and on the trip that it was going to be okay. We were all together, we could get through anything, and we would have fun no matter what. In the end, kids have as much right to be in public spaces as adults, so even if your toddler has a meltdown or things don’t go smoothly, try to remind yourself that it’s not your fault and you will never see any of these people again. Passengers who are sensitive to noise should have noise canceling headphones by now anyway, so just do your best and stay calm!

Bon Voyage!