Lugging car seats through airport...

We are taking a trip next month with our twin girls, who will be 21 months at the time. I'm trying to figure out how we'll get through the airport with everything we have to lug. We are bringing both car seats, but only bought one extra seat. We're hoping that there will be an extra seat when we board or we'll just gate check it. We are also bringing our Combi stroller and some carry-ons. Can you get one of those luggage carts to bring to the gate or not? Not sure how we'll lug the car seats. They are pretty big and heavy. I'd rather not buy another set, if I can help it. I'd rather buy another seat on the plane. Any advice with flying with twins. On the way down, I'll have my husband and on the way back my parents are also flying with us. Not sure if we'll need the extra seat on the way home or not. I just figured it might be easier to put them both in car seats and put on a movie for them. I'm starting to get nervous about them fussing the whole flight. Thanks!!!!

 

I haven't flown with my boys yet, but I've heard great things about the gogo Kidz Travelmate. You basically strap the car seat onto this pushcart thingie and roll your kids around the airport with them strapped in.

Good luck with the plans, there's a lot to think about when traveling with twins!

 

+ for the travelmate - you can probably find used ones on craigslist. We flew when the boys were smaller and brought the stroller and car seats. We gate checked the car seats and stroller as we didnt buy an extra seat. Our boys did great on the flight down and horrible on the flight back, but that was mostly our fault for booking the flight at a bad time. I have heard this (toddler) age is the hardest time to fly since they want to get up and move around and sometimes they just can and they dont understand why not. IMO you do the best you can with what you have and we have all been on flights with fussy babies/kids is just life and you only have so much control. New toys, snacks, portable DVD player, things that will entertain them and lots of patience Also one lesson learned for us - I only packed one kid bag and we couldnt sit in the same row and on one leg we were several rows apart so you may want to pack a small duplicate bag or bring one with you that you could throw stuff into if need be.

 

How did you carry everything through the airport? I'm trying to picture it in my mind. 2 car seats, double stroller, carry-ons, etc. Maybe I could strap each car seat to a carry on suitcase that has wheels on it? Just trying to think of how it will all work out.

 

We have the GoGo Kidz and love it. No need to bring a stroller at all, and my kids loved (still do in fact) being wheeled around in it. (If you have to bring the stroller anyway, I'd get a bag for it and check it.) Plus, if you wind up not having enough seats for the kids, you can gate-check the seats with the wheels still attached.

And ditto the other suggestions. Don't expect to do anything during the flight except entertain the kids. But I had a pretty smooth flight (solo with just one of my kids) at that age. The biggest hits for her were a small photo album with pictures of family (we looked at that together for at least half an hour), a few new books, and a dog collar. :laughing: We got another half hour out of snapping & unsnapping it. I also got a bunch of gel bracelets (I wouldn't give them to a toddler unsupervised, but I was right there) and she enjoyed putting them on, taking them off... The general idea is to get things they can fiddle with, not just look at.

We also had one kid bag per grownup, and that was great -- even if you're in the same row, it's a pain to keep asking the other person to hand you things.

The DVD player left her pretty cold at that age, but if yours are used to watching shows already, it will probably be a big help.

 

When we flew the boys could still fit in baby bjorns so that helped. I limited our carry on to stuff we needed for the boys and used a back pack so my arms would be free. If you dont need your stroller for the flight I would suggest checking it sooner rather than at the gate. The travelmate has a long handle and wheels so as pp suggested I would strap the kids in the car seat and wheel them that way. I very much felt like a pack mule and it was exhausting but worth it in the end.

 

I'm a big fan of the GoGo Kidz! It will also wheel down the aisle of most planes - so we just wheeled them down the aisle and strapped the car seats in with the wheels on. We rented ours from travelingwithkids.com.

As far as carry-ons - I only brought what we needed to entertain the kids (DVD player, snacks, toys). Everything else was checked at the curb.

 

We checked our car seats with the fragile luggage and they just went underneath the plane. They arrived in perfect condition. We had our girls sit on our laps during the flight though so I imagine if you bought them a seat you would need the car seats in which case that travelmate thing looks great!