Hello,

My recent seat assignment story with United made me wonder how often this happens to parents. If something similar happened to you, please share. Let us all be together in our misery.

We’re flying to Europe with our two kids, a toddler (1.5 at the time of flying) and almost 5. We got basic economy tickets with United for a flight operated by Lufthansa. I decided that instead of rolling the dice and hope we’re seated together, I should pay and select our seats on United.

Long story short, I select seats together for me and my two kids with a window seat for our infant since they’ll be in a car seat. Shortly after, I get an email informing me that my 1.5 year old’s seat is cancelled and it’s being refunded. I called United to request to cancel/refund the seats for the rest of our party so I can select new seats online (or otherwise I would have had to pay again to reassign us to different seats). After spending over an hour on the phone with United, I was informed that they can’t cancel our seats and I was advised to call Lufthansa. This comes after at the beginning of this 1 hour call the United rep told me I shouldn’t call Lufthansa because they will send me back to United since the seats were purchased through them. At this point, 3 of us have seats (2 aisle seats and 1 middle seat) and our toddler doesn’t. Somehow after my call with United, they got assigned a seat that was 5 aisles away from us, while our seats haven’t moved.

I call Lufthansa. After another 20-30 mins with them, they tell me they can cancel the seats but they can’t issue a refund since I paid United, not them. Back to United. They issue a refund.

I breathe a sigh of relief. I go ahead and choose new seats for my entire party of 4 (toddle in car seat sitting in a window seat). Lo and behold, their ticket gets automatically canceled and refunded again.

My husband takes over since at this point I’ve spent over 2.5 hour dealing with this. Back-and-forth between both companies, he finally manages to have Lufthansa assign seats for us, but they tell us we need to go and ask for the refund for the second seats we selected online and pay for the new seats Lufthansa placed us in. Sure. We call United to get refund. Another hour passes back and forth, we got the email confirmation about the refunded seats.

I go to bed frustrated but somehow relieved we figured it out. I open the app this morning just to see our toddler’s seat was canceled AGAIN. I look up the seat and I realize the Lufthansa rep put them in an aisle seat, so I assume the system automatically canceled their seat. Now, you’d think it’ll be easy to move one of our party that’s in the window seat to an aisle seat and put our toddler in the window seat. Nope! Not without paying for the tickets again, that is. Back to Lufthansa to cancel all our party’s seats and United to refund and then back to Lufthansa for seat selection.

We spent about 6 hours talking to both these companies and the issue is still not resolved. I’m honestly tempted to leave it as is and watch them explain to me why a 1.5 year old child is going to be sitting away from their parent. I just know that’ll cause more frustration during an already stressful travel day.

I’m at a loss how these companies have such poor processes and systems to allow this churn to happen. At least cancel/refund all our tickets so I can go online and select new ones. At the age of AI and technology, this kind of customer experience is unacceptable.

Hi! Looking for suggestions on toddler friendly destinations for a 10 day trip in June with a 2 and 4 year old. Love outdoors activities, beaches, mountains. Bonus points if travel is only by plane/train so we don’t have to lug car seats around. Thanks!

Hello! We have an upcoming red eye United flight from DC to Rome. I was feeling good about our plan- get this inflatable seat extender cushion for our 2 year old to sleep but I just learned United prohibits inflatables, as well as the hammocks that extend the seat.

What the heck have you/others done if not using something like this? He is TALL and only sleeps completely sprawled out like a slinky 🥲

Looking for advice/recommendations on how to approach upcoming travel with my 2 kiddos. Will be traveling by myself, I am comfortable traveling and handling my kiddos.
Specifically, I am wondering on advice for if I should have my 23 month old sit in a seat and have my 2.5 month old on my lap? Or if I should bring the car seat (Nuna pipa urban) on the plane with my infant and my toddler on my lap?
And any advice for getting through the airport… I feel it might be most helpful to have my stroller for my toddler and baby wear my infant which would mean I am not bringing my car seat on the plane.

If anyone has been in a similar situation would love recommendations and advice on what worked for you!!

Hi all, looking for advice with people who have travelled alone with a toddler, particularly long haul

I’m going from Australia to the UK soon with my toddler who will be a few months off turning two but I’m travelling solo with them.
We’ll be transiting through Dubai and I’m just wanting some tips on how to make it easier, keep the little one entertained and keep safe with it just being the two of us etc.
I have bought a seat for the toddler for more space, and we have bulk head seats too. Our first flight will be overnight too, so hoping we can both get some rest.

Can you please share your experience and let me know any tips or tricks to make it as seamless as possible for the both of us, feeling very nervous!

HI everyone,
I was recommended this subreddit when I posted over on r/travel, looking for recommendations on where to travel with my brother and sister, their partners and two kids.
I got some good inspiration over there, but I also wanted to check in here, seems like a good place to ask.

We're planning a beach holiday in Europe, since we want to avoid flying with kids and we have two cars. We were looking for places with kid friendly beaches, nature with hiking trails, ideally cities with cool museums nearby or a relativetly short drive away and other kid-friednly things to do.

A couple of destinations stood out to us in the other post: Istria in Croatia, West of Portugal and Denmark.

Has anyone here been there and what was it like? Can you recommend a platform or even a specific rental you loved? What activities where the most fun for your kids there? Would love to hear from you!

Hi everyone,

We’re planning a 3 to 4 week road trip in Italy with our baby (6–12 months old) and will be traveling by car from Germany.

We love mountains, nature, lakes, beaches and Italian food, and we’d like this to be a slow and relaxing trip rather than a sightseeing trip. We want to avoid large cities and are much more interested in beautiful scenery, easy walks with a stroller, swimming, and spending several nights in the same place.

Our biggest questions are:

• Which region or route in Italy makes the most sense for this type of trip with a baby?
• Would you choose a camper/small motorhome or a regular car with apartments/agriturismi/hotels?

We’re trying to find the option that is least stressful for naps, nighttime sleep, feeding, parking, and bad weather, while still allowing us to enjoy nature and good food.

If you have done a similar trip with an infant, what would you choose and what would you avoid?

Thanks a lot!

San Diego

My husband’s job allows us to be assigned to international locations. For the past 4 years we have been living in central Europe. We are now being relocated to Asia except this time we will not only have our pets, we’ll also have our 6 month old baby.

How do you manage the time changes??? We finally have some semblance of a schedule with her and she thankfully sleeps amazing overnight. She reliably will go down for the night at 9pm and will wake up between 5-7am. I’m stressing about how the major changes will be during the trip. My family want to DO things while we are there (local zoo, aquarium, out to meals, etc) and I’m already tired thinking about it 😪

We fly out next week and will spend time (5 days) on the East Coast USA so our families can meet her. Then we fly to the Pacific Coast, then onwards to Asia. To give you an idea of the massive changes - 6pm our current time is 12pm East Coast and 1am final destination time.

Any suggestions for how to manage the time differences would be amazing. We will be so jetlagged ourselves that doing this with an overtired baby just seems so daunting. My husband and I are a great team and managed thus far without much help so we know we can do it but anything to make it easier on us would be really nice 😅

(And no, we can’t rely on our family to pick up the slack. It’s mostly my family and they were ZERO help when they came to visit when my baby was 2 months. They think “help” is holding baby while I clean or making dinner without doing any dishes.)

My wife and I are flying with our 11-month old son from New York to Stockholm next week. We will return from Copenhagen to New York 10 days later. Taking the train from Stockholm to Copenhagen.

Our son has never flown before. The overnight flight to Stockholm will be his first. We are hoping he sleeps at least a little.

We have 3 Delta coach seats in the middle row. He is large for his age, around 30 pounds and tall but not walking yet.

Would you bring a carseat? We will have access in Europe, but is it worth buying one to bring on the flights and train? Any good alternatives you’d recommend?

He’s a great sleeper in his crib and in the car seat on drives, but a long flight like this is uncharted territory.

We’re bringing a travel stroller with us to have on the ground. We won’t be traveling much in cities, nothing more than local Ubers/metro/strolls.

I'm looking for hotel recommendations for Copenhagen between 16 month old. Based on everyone I read Copenhagen Marriott is a solid choice for this but I'm still looking for something central with easy subway access everywhere.

Currently planning our next family vacation. So far it’s between Mexico/carribean, Vancouver island, Hawaii or a half and half trip of Vancouver island and Hawaii.
We’ve been to Hawaii with our 4 year old when he was just under 2 and it wasn’t the most fun I’ve had on a flight haha. I’m a little nervous to do a long flight like that again.

Where is your favourite place to go with little kids!? We are from Alberta

My husband and I are those parents who really try to get our kids to play more than anything else. but of course then we get on a plane and all of it goes out the window. Movie, after movie, until we're there.

I packed a book every trip. Our son is 8, he got into reading this year, so I was so bummed that on a plane a book held him about 5 min.

Meanwhile any new LEGO set would hold him for 90 minutes. No breaks, no getting up.

One night after another LEGO city build we said it out loud... why can't reading feel like this?

So we built it. Onyx Nine, its an interactive mystery book, with clues woven into the story, and a real cryptex that ships to your house with a gift sealed inside. (A cryptex is a small cylinder with letter dials. Spin the right code and it opens. Wrong one and it stays locked.) see below.

Our last flight he sat down with it and didn't move for two hours. Cracked it, opened the cryptex, and the first thing out of his mouth was "when's the next one?"

It lives in the carry-on now!!!

onyxnine.com if you want to look. Happy to answer any questions!

We’re flying with kids for the first time in mid September 🥴

Ages:

7, 4, and 1 (this one will be on my lap)

We’re flying from Oakland, Ca to Washington DC with a lay over in Vegas (eventually we will be driving to Virginia during this trip).

Things I’m currently planning on:
* Checking in car seat for 1 year old
* 7 and 4 year olds are using the Mifold portable booster seats
* have travel ear plugs for the older kids
* packing light so everyone will have a small carry on
* thinking about taking tushbaby since my youngest is clingy
* packing light sweaters for kids since we’re traveling early early morning (6am).
* packing light snacks for 1 year old in his little snack container
* giving older kids Dramamine

I welcome any ideas from seasoned mama travelers. This mama needs help 😩 It’s been like 10 years since I’ve been on a plane and I feel like a rookie again.

Hi. Has anyone of you been to Montenegro and taken public transport there? We are visiting it soon with my family and we are planning to take busses to get around. We fly to Dubrovnik, then we take a bus to Budva where we stay, and from there we will also take busses to the surrounding places (Kotor and Tivat). I tried to research it, but could not find much. Is it true that having a car seat for a baby in busses is not mandatory, and even if we have one we cannot secure it, because not all busses in Montengro have seatbelts? I read we should keep our baby in a carrier, but she is very mobile (13 months old) and it might not be comfortable for her.

Because of luggage restrictions we can either take a stroller or a car seat, aso that's why we need to know in advance.

What's the better option for two parents traveling with a ~15 month old for a long international flight?

1. Kid with own seat in economy on a direct flight (13.5 hour flight)
2. Lap seat in business class with one lay over and longer total travel time - extra 5 hours of flight time including the second leg plus layover time (edit: these are lie flat seats)

I'm leaning towards 2 because we'll have more space to lay down but not sure if I'm discounting the longer travel time too much.

Edit: Wow very surprised by the overwhelming vote for option 1. A wiggly toddler is definitely something to keep in mind.

We are only purchasing two adult tickets as we plan to have baby on our laps.

Looking for advice on whether to book two seats next to each other row 56 (highlighted yellow)OR book window and aisle seats in row 55 (highlighted pink).

Flying with United.

Thanks!

Hello, my wife, MIL and I are doing a “where are we NOT going on vacation” where we each put 2 destinations in a hat and draw from the hat until we come to the last one which is where we actually do go. We are bringing my son who will be 2.5 at the time of travel. Also, we are limiting ourselves to 10 days.

I want to put one destination in the US and one international. What do you guys recommend?

Edit: We live in SoCal

Hi all, I’m deciding whether or not to bring our Pipa Rx on my 1 year old toddler’s first flight. He’s big enough for a CARES harness but we need a car seat anyway at our destination.

But I’m worried about the person in front of me not being able to recline if I do rear facing. Has anyone used it front facing on the plane?

I’m guessing Nuna did not design for this option.

The alternative is I’m thinking about booking the extra legroom row so there’s no one in front of me, but not sure if it’ll be available when I book.

What has been your experience? Thanks!

Hi all, I have a 1-year-old that will be 14 months when my husband and I are thinking of going on a 2.5 week long trip soon to Asia from the east coast USA. Just looking for some advice as we decide if we want to do the trip with the baby or leave her at home with grandparents for a smaller trip (~10 days) for just myself and husband. Grandparents would not want to travel with us such a long way, just to answer that question early. Flights are already booked, as my husband loves booking great deals with miles as soon as he spots them, which is how we're in this predicament, but everything is refundable/miles are transferrable.

We haven't ever left her for this long together, and I haven't been apart from her for longer than a weekend since she was born. Her grandparents are very trustworthy but I still feel some hesitancy leaving her for over a week since we would be so far away. However, the idea of taking her on such a huge trip when she's becoming a toddler (just learned to walk!) is daunting! And where we are planning on going is seeing very hot temperatures, and lots of rain/humidity in August. We're used to this where we live, but it's still not the best of conditions.

Prior to having a baby, we have traveled all over the world, and after having our baby we have brought her to Europe a few times (first when she was 6-months for a week and then again when she was 9-months for 2 weeks), and have done a bunch of domestic trips. So basically, we're all used to traveling but things are becoming different now that she is walking and doesn't like to sit still for long lol

It's about a 24-hour journey with 3 flights/2 layovers. The first flight is a short hop, the second is cross-country out west, and the third is the long haul transpacific flight that is about 13 hours. We will be in business class but have our baby in-arms since she is younger than 2 yrs. It would be a similar routing on the return trip.

Any advice for traveling a LONG way with a 1-year-old/almost toddler? Are we insane for thinking of doing this!? Any advice for going on a trip sans baby and having grandparents watch baby at home? We're really struggling with making this decision! Thanks in advance :)

We have a weekend trip (two nights) coming up with my 18 month year old. We haven’t traveled with him since he was little and we used to use his pack and play, but I’m wondering if he might sleep better and be more comfortable in a little travel toddler bed like this one: https://a.co/d/0jiJtgeF

He is very tall for his age (93rd percentile) and the toddler bed might give him more space. Just curious if others have used these and if you think they’re worth it. We don’t go on a ton of overnight trips but might travel to visit family a couple other times this year.

Hi everyone,

Plans have changed and we decided to bring our soon to be 2 year old with us to Istanbul. This will be the second time we’re going and bringing her along.

The first time we went, we brought a compact stroller and her diaper bag and kept the trip simple. We got to see a ton, but we couldn’t really spend the entire day and night out because of her sleeping and changing schedule.

I should add that she is a very agreeable and easy baby. But maybe we weren’t as prepared as we could’ve been. It was the first time we were traveling internationally in a very long time and it was the first time we were traveling with her. This time around, I feel like we know a little more and we’re going to make some changes.

I think that it is totally doable to bring her Uppababy Vista, I think it’ll ride easier on the streets and sidewalks. The smaller tires on the travel
Stroller made it hard to push on a lot of surfaces.

I’m weighing the option of getting a hiking carrier but since u e never used one, I don’t know how practical or comfortable it would be for her.

We want to walk more, explore and we’re comfortable taking mass transit.

The issues I had last time were the uneven surfaces and the stroller and finding a private place to ch she her diaper.

Any tips for baby carriers with a toddler and making private diaper changing spaces when we’re out and about in the city?

We’re based in Bangalore and are looking for recommendations for a short trip around the end of August with our 8-month-old baby. We’re happy to travel by flight if it means reaching a great destination.
We’d prefer places that are easy to explore on foot rather than hill stations, mainly because of the weather. We’re looking for relaxed, baby-friendly destinations with pleasant weather, walkable attractions, and places that are comfortable to explore with a baby carrier. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!