Saturday, September 8, 2007

Flying With a Toddler, Part 3: Pick Your Seat

I couldn't have planned my last flight to Vancouver any better. We went out in late July since it was the only time we could get off before Audrey turned two years old and we'd have to pay for her fare. Here's my next tip in my series of Flying With a Toddler.

Tip 3: Pick Your Seat

There's a whole strategy with picking your seat. If you plan well and are a bit lucky, you'll end up with a spare seat for your under-two-year-old to use without having had to pay for it. Having that spare seat is really handy. Audrey could lie down and have a snooze for a few hours, leaving us free to get up and stretch or eat a little over-priced Mr. Noodles unencumbered.

Strategy #1: Always pre-book, even if you have to pay a little extra.

Strategy #2: Look for planes that have three seats in the middle between the two aisles, or at least three seats in a row. I've purposely crossed flights off of my list if they didn't have a larger plane with this configuration. If you are travelling with another adult, book the two outer seats, leaving the one in the middle free. The chances of a single person booking the middle seat between you and your travel companion are slim if there are other options available. And if in the rare chance it does happen, you could request that the person switch seats so that you and your travelling companion are sitting beside each other. After all, who wants to sit between two parents and their toddler?

Strategy #3: Choose seats towards the back of the plane. The seats toward the front of the plane seem to get booked first, so you'll have better odds at getting an empty seat if you're at the back of the plane.

Strategy #4: If it's not possible to get an empty seat based upon the pre-booking seating plan, request the bulkhead. This way, you'll get more leg room and your little toddler will have a chance to stretch his or her legs without crowding the aisle.

Strategy #5: Ask the flight attendant if you or anyone else can be moved to allow for a free seat. After all, the unlucky passenger who might be sitting beside you would likely prefer to be sitting beside a quiet (or even chatty) adult, rather than a potentially screaming, drooly baby that might potentially spit up on him. This is my least favourite strategy, but one that I've employed so that two young girls could sit somewhere else to allow for my husband to sit beside me and freeing up an empty seat between us. I actually think those girls appreciated it.

Two trips ago, I had the flight from hell, squeezed against the window beside a woman who would not stop talking to me. No leg room, no view. Just me and my overly tired daughter who had been up since 5:30 that morning. I was regretting having switched planes, which had a luxurious amount of open seats and ended up being only 30 minutes later than the flight I ended up with.

Then again, you could always splurge and just buy that extra seat.

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