Traveling with children is an adventure that also brings it’s own safety challenges and hazards. Here are a few tips for keeping your little ones safe on travel day:

  • Your child will be out of his or her element, let them know what to expect and how important it will be to stay close. Same rules as an amusement park or the mall.
  • Order or make a child ID safety card. Although, your not required to have ID for anyone under eighteen years of age for domestic travel I would recommend having your child’s information on their person in case of accidental separation.
  • Explain ahead of time that they will be required to wear their seat belts on the airplane just as they do in the car. I highly recommend the CARES harness for children between 22 and 44lbs.
  • Consider buying a seat for your child under two and use a rear facing car seat until they reach 22lbs and can use CARES.
  • Depending on their age show them the safety information card once on the plane. If they’re too young to understand the pictures, point out the exits closest to you and…
  • Teach them to follow along with the safety demonstration
  • If the oxygen masks do deploy, put yours on first! Remember your “time of useful consciousness” can be seconds. If you don’t put yours on first you’ll both lose consciousness.
  • Remember to always have any medications your children may need in your carry on and an index card stating any medical issues they might have.
  • Does your child have food allergies? Don’t count on the airline or the airport to have what you need. Be sure to pack plenty of snacks adding extra for unforeseen delays.
  • Don’t let small children go to the airplane lavs unsupervised. You never know when unexpected turbulence will hit.
  • Always wear shoes while walking around the airplane. Remember, the liquid on the lav floor probably is not water! Also, sometimes glassware breaks in the galleys.
  • Don’t seat your child in the aisle seat if you can help it, their body parts tend to hang over the side when they fall asleep and they run the risk of being hit by a cart.
  • Travel with some band aids and antibacterial ointment for minor cuts, but remember flight attendants are trained for medical emergencies and have equipment on board the airplane. And, major airports have medics available on site.

Have a great trip and fly safe!

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7 comments

  1. CARES harness is great but please remember that it’s a a really bad idea to check a car seat as luggage. Many parents do this, not realizing how many car seats get lost and broken by the airlines. Air travel statistically is safe but the real safety threat to children is on the road. You can’t use a CARES harness in the car and what will you do if your car seat is sent to the wrong city? Driving without a car seat in the car is both dangerous and illegal in most places.

    The best way to get your child AND his or her car seat safely to their destination is in the cabin, where it’s in your control and you know it will not be dropped on the tarmac or crushed under other seats.

    A CARES harness is good is you don’t need a car seat at your destination or there is a reliable (not one from a car rental company) car seat where you’re headed.

    Please get the word out to parents, take your car seats on board whenever possible!

  2. You know I have to disagree with Sharon. My family and I travel by plane a lot and always have. I still have two in carseats. I never travel with the carseats anymore, but when I did I never had a problem. Travel to me has become …what is the easiest way…what is the most stress free! That’s what is important to me. I don’t know anyone that ever lost their carseats on the plane or had a car seat broken…they are supposed to “save” your child in a car crash…so they better be able to withstand a rough tumble in the baggage hold, I would think. Anyway since the Cares harness…and the car rental places that provide carseats…the carseats stay in the car. I had covers made for the rental carseats so that takes care of soiled ones…not a worry. What a relief!

  3. It can never be stressed enough – just because the FAA allows parents to kill their children via the lap child policy – don’t do it. Plane crashes in SC, CO, & IA have demonstrated that children are killed because of the lap child policy. Buy a ticket for them and strap them in!

  4. Traveling w/ kids is really hard for me. I don’t know, maybe because I’m just a new mom and doesn’t know how to make a flight hassle free and comfy. These tips that you have shared, I’ll try it. I hope this coming vacation, it will turn out as hassle-free flight ever.

  5. […] Flight Attendant Blog » Preparing kids for Air Travel (The Safety Aspect) : The Flying Pinto. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. Tags: airlines, travel […]

  6. I found these tips to be very helpful. As for the one about not letting little kids go to the bathroom alone because of turbulence, I’ve recently decided not to use airplane bathrooms unless I’m on a longer flight. I read online that it is very easy to break into an airplane bathroom from the outside, and I decided it is probably just a better idea to use the bathroom before and after a flight rather than deal with whatever perverts may be on the plane.

  7. […] general traveling with kids tips, I highly recommend visiting The Flying Pinto for her fabulous list of ways to prepare kids for airline travel. […]