First time flyers with children - any advice

joedog

Hi

We are flying from Birmingham to Malaga this summer. I haven't flown before and neither have my two children aged 7 and 10.

We are flying out on Monarch and back on Bmibaby.

Can anyone tell me whether you can take your own food onto the plane? My husband flew with Ryanair a few years ago and said that once the flight had started, passengers could not get their bags out of the overhead lockers.

I was hoping to take some food and drink (bought in the airport). I was also going to take something to keep the children entertained (hopefully!).

I would really appreciate any advice.

Thanks

moneypooh

I bet they are very excited!

You can take food onboard, the best thing to do is put it in a smaller bag that you can stow in front of your feet for take off.

Flying to Malaga you should have some inflight entertainment. Usually some TV programmes or a short film. Best thing though is their on stuff, games and books. (or DSs/PSPs if they have them) My DS spent his first flight with his head up against the window the whole time and my DD with her head in a book. They didn't even notice the inflight stuff or how long the flight was!

have a great flight and holiday :cool:

Lorian

Take food from home, it's much cheaper. you'll need to buy drinks after you have been through security. Even water is expensive, but shop around, IIRC the news agents is usually the cheapest, but do check.

You will be allowed to get your hand luggage OK in flight, you just have to wait until the seatbelts signs are off, maybe 20 mins after takeoff. You can however put bags under the seat in front of you anyway. Best place for the food and games bag!

susancs

As said before there is no problem taking food onboard with you and I would agree that it is a good idea to buy drinks once you go through security (as liquid restrictions in hand lugguage) to take on the plane. My daughters (6 and 10) took their nintendo ds consuls on board and my eldest her mp3 player. I always buy them a kids magazine each in the airport shop too and boiled sweets to suck at take off and landing (helps stop the ear pressure and pain of it). They also take pencils, pens and drawing books to play noughts and crosses etc. They each take on their own flight bags (Disney ones on wheels), packed with their own bits and they push it under the seat during take off/landing. Cheap travel games from tesco such as draughts and 4 in a row are great I have found.

skylight

Yep - pencils, colouring books, reading books, DSlites etc. At least your kids are a bit older and will sit in their seats!