Flying with an 8 Month Old - New Albany,OH

I have two little boys and have taken many trips with them on planes since my oldest was 4 months old (he is now 4 years old). You can bring a stroller and they will check it at the gate to the plane. You can also bring a car seat (either check it or bring it on the plane) or hold him in your lap. If you are not planning on purchasing a seat for him, I am not sure if you will be able to bring the car seat on the plane with you. I have never brought a car seat unless I have purchased a seat. I would suggest calling the airline the day before the flight and see if it is full booked or if it looks like there will be empty seats. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, I doubt there will be many empty seats. Also bring a birth certificate or shot records from your doctor's office to verify his age. Even though he clearly looks under two, some airlines have become strict about verifying age through documents (I have found that skycabs do not care much about documentation). When you check in you will have to fill out a form that you are carrying an infant but that is it. When I travel, I bring books, snacks, and drinks and small toys that will keep my boys occupied. When you go through security, make sure to take any drinks out of your bag and put them in a plastic bin to be screened. They will allow you to bring drinks for kids but they want them out of the bag.

I've flown a few times when my kids were about that age. We had them on our laps (and were never lucky enough to get an empty seat next to us). We have brought different strollers, umbrella to doubles, each time we fly and have never had a problem gate-checking them. (I think if you check them as baggage when you get your boarding pass, you have to pay a fee for them, but it's free if you gate-check it.) You just need to go to the desk at the gate and ask for a tag to attach to it. As far as I know, you can do this with carseats as well. But I would be surprised if they would let you on the plane with the carseat if you hadn't bought an extra seat.

We've been on several different airlines and have had to call in advance to "register" our baby for flight on our laps. Some of the airlines have it connected to your boarding pass and check for the baby when you board.

Bring a lot of different small toys. At least my kids weren't very interested in the same thing for long, so we kept rotating toys. We also kept them busy with lots of snacks! I brought a travel pack of Clorox wipes and wiped down every surface around our seats and trays before I settled in. That way, you don't have to worry much about what your baby tries to chew on!
Have fun!

If you want to take your car seat on the plane, you will have to pay for a seat. Otherwise you will have to check it in along w/ your luggage. You can take the umbrella stroller on the plane. They will take it for you when you get on. You will need your son's birth certificate to prove his age since you will not be buying a ticket for him. I would call the airline and ask these questions incase things have recently changed. Here's a link to the TSA website, it's their tips for traveling with kids.

http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/children/index.sht...

A friend of mine has a pilot husband and she gave me one piece of advice for flying with infants/toddlers that I try to share with everyone. I never even thought of it, but when booking your flight ask for the bulkhead seat. It is the first one. This way you have a little more room in front of you and no seats in front of you for your little one to kick or annoy because they can't put their seat back the full way, etc.
She also said that ear plugs help with the pressure regulation and noise.

If you are still nursing, that will come in handy! Another thing that might work, bring along lots of little things the child has not yet seen. One big hit when my daughter was a bit older was a deck of playing cards. I didn't care if she trashed them, and the simple thing of her putting them into the seat pocket in front of her was something she really enjoyed. Good luck!

Carseats, strollers, etc. are free if you check them. Because of the luggage changes, you may want to call the airline and make sure that that hasn't changed. It beats lugging them through security and the airport. You may want to invest in bags for them to keep them clean where ever you check them. Use an Ergo or something similar (no metal) going through security. You don't have to take them off.

When you check in, either online or at the airport, you specify the infant. I wouldn't count on an empty seat. If it is just a couple hours, I would keep the baby in your lap. If you have an Ergo, you can just keep them in that position and take off the straps, and mine passed out with the roar of the airplane. If it is a longer flight, you may want to call the airline and see how full the flight it is and whether it is possible to "mark" an extra seat for you.

Buy additional earplugs for those around you - just in case. Let him rip up the free magazine if that keeps him entertained. Try to keep him awake before the fly so that he will sleep on the plane. If you don't have to, don't change him on the plane. If you do have to, don't use the airplane bathroom. They are nasty and tiny, and just make it harder. If you can do it on your, or your husband's lap, that is really the easiest. Whatever "norms" you have may be suspended while flying. Our schedule was out the door and I let my son fall asleep while eating. You gotta do what you gotta do.

We have done quite a bit of flying with our kids and have found that, for the most part, the airlines all have the same rules, but can enforce them to various degrees.

A carseat cannot be carried on, unless you have paid for a seat for your baby. They will check it for you (at no fee) and it is usually placed on the "Oversized" items carosel (sp?)

You do have to call the airlines to have them add your baby's name to the reservation. All passengers must have a boarding pass, and without calling the airlines you will not get one for your baby. (Some airlines, like Southwest, only require you to add the baby to the reservation at the ticket counter on the day of travel.) Make sure you have your baby's birth certificate, as, even though he may clearly be under 2 years old, some ticket agents can REALLY be sticklers. They almost didn't let my 9 month old on back in March when we traveled. I had thought that such a young baby would NEVER be confused with a 2 year old, but the ticket agent was power tripping that day.

Your umbrella stroller can be checked at the gate. When you get to the gate tell the agent that you need to check your stroller and they will give you a tag that you place on it. You will bring the stroller down the corridor and place it outside of the door of the plane (there will be other strollers there, to be sure.) When you get to your destination it will be waiting for you as you exit the plane (if not, just wait around for a few min and they'll bring it to you.)

Planes are much more full these days than they have been in the past, so the chances of having an empty seat are not that great. When you check in at the ticketing counter ask them if the flight is full, or if you will be allowed to bring your carseat on board.

**TOTALLY agree with the suggestion to ask for a bulkhead seat. Some planes don't have them, but if yours does, get it and it will be a much better trip.

We do have our kids drink during the ascent and decent and have never had any problems with ear pressure.**

Hi - you can check one and bring one on board, either combination is fine. The flight attendants will probably put the stroller or carseat, whichever you bring on board, in the storage compartment at the front of the plane because they're too awkward for the overheads. They will let you put the carseat in if there are empty seats, but I don't know how likely that will be with holiday travel. You should have no problem with checking the carseat with the base if that's what you want to do - I would suggest you put it in a big bag (plastic lawn bag would work) to protect it from getting wet or dirty. We checked my son's umbrella stroller in it's carrying bag and stuffed the bag with extra diapers and other things, and it was no problem.

My son was over two so we had to buy a seat, but I think you have to notify the airline of the infant. When we purchased our tickets on Orbitz, there was a place to fill in information for a baby even though there would be no charge. It probably is more a TSA requirement than for the airline.

I was able to find the info I needed on the airline's website (Continental) although it took some searching to find the right page.