My wife and I recently attended a party and saw a couple whose young son was about to turn a year old.
“We’ll start traveling with him once he gets older,” the mom-wife said.
“No!” my wife and I said in unison. They looked at us like we were insane.
“Travel now,” I said.
“Really?” the mom-wife said, her voice dropping an octave from dread.
My wife and I went through the same doubt, joy, frustrations, and excitement about six years ago.
So, here are some of the reasons we shared about why new parents shouldn’t wait too long to travel with their bundles of joy. (Fellow parents who’ve been through this rodeo: please share your advice — and encouragement! — in the Comments below this post.)
Babies Fly Free (Domestically and Maybe Internationally)
Children under the age of two can travel for free on US domestic flights. However, they must sit on an adult’s lap. (Preferably a lap belonging to a family member or trusted friend!) The little tyke doesn’t get their own seat.
Our daughter was three months old when she earned her wings — taking her first flight! (She even got a tour of the cockpit!)
My wife and I simply took turns holding our daughter during meals (when we flew First Class) or whenever the other wanted a break.
Traveling internationally may be a separate matter, however. Based on some comments I received after originally publishing this post, some folks indicated they were able to travel with a lap child internationally and not pay the fare. (Maybe some taxes and fees.) Check with your airline. Delta, for example, offers reduced fares for children under two who travel internationally.
Airlines basically consider your kid an adult once they turn two. That means they need their own seat (which must be paid for). And no free access to airport club lounges. Although the level of enforcement varies. Some employees are strict, while others couldn’t care less. (Start racking up credit card points!)
Tip: take advantage of the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass promotion. Then you can have up to three people traveling free: one parent (the Companion Pass primary), the other parent/partner/whatever (the free Companion), and your baby under two years old.
Family & Friends = Babysitters
Most (if not all) of our baby daughter’s first trips involved her meeting family members and some of our dear friends.
And many of those people needed to satisfy their baby fixes. Most were parents and missed the days of “baby smell” (if you know, you know), snuggles, and simply holding a baby.
“You guys go out to dinner or something. We’ll watch her for a few hours!” was something we often heard.
The free babysitter time was gold. Plus, we already knew and trusted these people. So, our anxiety wasn’t through the roof.
(Beware: your child may become an unwitting prop in someone’s scheme. “Are you going to give me grandchildren like this little one?” Or even worse: “When will we finally get married and have kids like her?” Tread carefully.)
Time Off
Use as much of your maternity or paternity leave time. That’s just our general recommendation. Max that out so you have time with your new child — and settle into your new life. Enjoy it!
And use some of that period to travel! Our daughter went on a few trips before my wife returned to work.
Before you know it, there’s going to be a big scheduling problem you’ll encounter for (at least) the next 12 to 17 years. That, my friend, is called “school.”
School
Our daughter is a kindergartener. Planning travel around her school schedule and our work schedules is an absolute nightmare. It wasn’t a big deal if she missed a few days of preschool here and there. But leaving kindergarten for a couple of days? Goodness, gracious. Traveling not essential for the child’s physical health (like, heaven forbid, taking her somewhere for an organ transplant or receiving advanced care for an awful illness) is considered an unexcused absence.
We received several letters from the school district’s truancy department after our daughter missed two days — so we could attend her great-grandmother’s 100th birthday party weekend. (Never mind that we submitted a note several days in advance and also upon returning.)
Rack up six of those unexcused absences and then something bad happens. Like, a note on the kid’s academic record or something (at least, in our whacky school district.).
So, enjoy your school-less time while you have it.
Final Approach
Don’t wait until your child is two or three before you start traveling with them (at least, if it’s feasible.) Kids under two fly free on most US domestic flights. Many of your family and friends will love babysitting and helping you for a few hours while you get some “me” time. Use your time off wisely — especially because your schedule options are drastically reduced once your child starts kindergarten.
That said, it isn’t as easy as “Hey, let’s head down to the airport and see Grandma and Grandpa!” There are some mental, physical, and equipment preparations that must be made. We’ll cover those in an upcoming post.
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No one looks at your child’s academic records until high school. A well traveled child is much more prepared for the world. We (and many of our friends) ignored all elementary and even middle school attendance rules in favor of travel, especially internationally. Obviously, if they threaten to hold your child back, that’s a different issue, but I’ve never personally heard of that happening. Most teachers will tell you any planned lessons so you can cover it with your child while you’re gone. Just my $.02.
Chris this post gave me a whole new perspective on early travel with children. Great post! Never having kids I would not have realized the reasons you point out when I see families with very young children.
I do know that @renedelambert loves to hold and entertain very young kids when he travels in order to give the parents a break!
Ha! Thanks! I’ll ask Rene to babysit more often.
Good advice. Only nitpick is your article appears to suggest that for international travel, kids under two can’t be lap children/must have a purchased seat. That hasn’t been our experience. It probably varies by carrier…
Thanks, Lars. Which carriers have you used internationally for your kids?
You can do international infant-in-arms! My wife and I flew delta to Athens last year with our 10 month old for “free”, just having to pay taxes based on the destination. I had to call customer service to add him since it was international, and then it took over an hour for that person to talk to another department to calculate the taxes due…which ended up only being about $10.
There is even an option for a “sky cot” (google image search for pics) on the widebodys if you are in a bulkhead seat but our son was already too big for them. Something we are considering with number 2 later this year 🙂
Our son’s grandparents lived in Germany so he started flying at 8 months old and every year after that until he was 18. He took more international trips than some people fly domestically. For safety we would purchase a seat and bring along the baby carrier and secure it with the seat belt. Of course once he was old enough a regular seat was good enough.
We travelled with our eldest daughter when she was young while my wife was finishing her masters degree in another state as well as to visit family. Apparently, no one wants to visit Alabama. We now live in Hawaii and it’s is much our family says it’s much faster for us to visit them for them to come to Hawaii. Lastly, teach the child to say “upgrade”. I once asked if there were any upgrades for a too cute baby when she was about 1 on Northwest … the agent agreed that she was cute and that if the baby could ask for it, we could get it.
Great article Chris! Our granddaughter took her first flight on JSX to Las Vegas at one month and has racked up about 20 other flights before age one! She is a great little traveler and a very happy, smiling baby!
The international seat requirement isn’t correct. Please edit so readers are not given incorrect advice. My 1 year old has flown 6 different airlines and been only required to pay some taxes. Bassinets are routinely available on widebody aircraft too – so in certain domestic markets too.
Different airlines have different policies. Just ask Delta, which says kids under two can travel internationally for a reduced fare.
We Travel with our under 2yo international 3 different airline and have to pay the taxes and about 10% of the fare cost when sitting on our lap. Even though our business class tickets were free with points I still had to cough up $400 each way for her ticket. I agree tho, no need to wait until the child is older to travel.