Last week we waved goodbye to a significant chapter of our lives – free flights!
You see it in the face of my fellow travellers (and prospective flight neighbours) – they are all internally pleading with the powers that be to NOT be afforded the seat next to me and my rambunctious child. Some will still be pleasant en route, some rare gems even resort to being helpful; but mostly, like the last candidate, visibly shudder as they slide apprehensively into the cramped airline chair adjacent to ours. He squeezed his eyes tight and forced a grim smile – and that was it, for the entire trip (which was delayed, en route, no doubt much to his immense displeasure). Sure it probably didn’t impress him when I accidentally doused us all with contents of Harrison’s juice, which must have aerated mid flight. Flipping the lid, it proceeded to spray as if a freshly corked bottle of champagne, right across Harrison & I, the portable DVD player, plus the seat in front. Apologising profusely as I mopped up the contents, he offered but a mere grimace in acknowledgement, and inched further away from our soaking selves.
Really we have been lucky. In the countless flights we have taken there are only three that stand out on the excruciating list. There was a solo flight from Brisbane that I had to make when my boy was 11 months old and I was suffering from a tummy bug and head cold from hell; the flight when Harrison was 15 months old and unable to comprehend my demands that he NOT kick the passenger seat in front, or scream, or wriggle endlessly on my lap in an attempt to escape the confines of our seat; and finally, there was a rather restless five hour journey back from Fiji where it eventually took Panadol to placate my agitated boy.

Well I’d rather be sat next to a toddler any day than
1. A drunken person
2. A dullard who won’t stop talking to you
3. Someone who falls asleep on your should who you don’t know.
4. A person with questionable hygiene
5. A lecherous bloke
6. Someone who really should have bought two seats.
That list is pretty much 70% of airline passengers (or am I being intolerant?)
I’m with you! Give a toddler some naughty snacks and a fave DVD and they are the pefect plane passenger – unlike the vast majority of travellers listed above..!
It certainly makes flying so much more expensive when you actually have to pay for your child’s seat. When my daughter was a free passenger, we were really lucky in that on most of the flights we took there were spare seats – a couple of times we had whole rows for each of us.
She’s a well-travelled little girl. I put together some tips to minimise the stress.
http://21stcenturymummy.com/2010/06/04/top-tips-for-stress-free-flying-with-babies-and-young-children/