Five Ways to Save While Flying with Kids
With the amount of time it takes to make the trip to the airport, wait in line at the ticket counter, wait again at the security checkpoint, then sit through the length of your flight, and finally, to wait for those bags you've checked because you're hardly allowed to bring toiletries with you in your carry-on anymore, even adults can get cranky. For kids, it's that much harder. And for parents of kids, it can be a disaster. With so much time to kill, kids will want food and entertainment. Airfare is expensive enough without having to hand over tons of cash just to stay hydrated and pass the time. Here's five ways to save:
1. Rather than paying for water in the airport, bring empty water bottles through security and fill them at a water fountain near your gate.
2. Some airlines are now charging $3 for soft drinks and juices; U.S. Airways charges up to $5 for each non-alcoholic drink. You can’t bring bottles of juice or pop with you from home because of the 3-ounce limit on liquids, but you can bring pouches of powdered drink mixes in your carry-on luggage, which you can add to your water bottles for far less than $3 per drink. You can still get hot water for tea on most airlines at no charge, so consider hot cider or cocoa pouches for cold days.
3. Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Northwest, and US Airways all charge for headsets, with fees ranging from $1 to $10. If you fly on an airline that doesn’t charge, start collecting the headsets, or use those you have at home to avoid these fees every time you fly with the kids.
4. You cannot expect snacks, let alone meals, on most domestic flights these days. Bring your own snacks and sandwiches with you rather than paying up to $7 per snack box supplied by the airlines. Not only are these commercial snack packs relatively unhealthy, sugary, and not filling (in my opinion), they always seem to include at least one or two items that kids don’t want, promoting unnecessary waste.
5. If you fly on JetBlue, remember that pillows and blankets are now $7 per passenger, though the airline seems to think that because you can take them with you this a great deal—like parents don't have enough to lug around! Unfortunately, unless passengers refuse to pay this unreasonable charge, other airlines will follow suit. Buy inflatable or compact travel pillows—a one-time cost—and keep them in your kids' suitcases. Use jackets or light shawls for blankets and bring them on board in your carry-on bags.
| Email this post | | | Permalink |
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
I'm glad it helped. Feel free to let me know other kinds of info you want me to research and post.
Posted by: Christine Loomis | January 12, 2009 at 05:08 PM
very helpful! thanks.
Posted by: Linda | January 12, 2009 at 04:45 PM