Summer holiday time is fast approaching and, if you are travelling with young children or babies, it can be advantageous to pre-book your airline seats online. With Monarch, for example, which flies from Faro and Lisbon to several UK airports, this service costs eight euros per seat. The service is also offered by various other airlines.
1. If you are breastfeeding a young baby, you may like to book a window seat to ensure you have as much privacy as possible.
2. If you are travelling alone with a young child, pre-book an aisle and middle seat, because the chances are the airline won’t allocate the remaining window seat in a row of three, particularly if the plane is not full. This leaves your child more room to spread out toys and colouring books and you won’t feel so under pressure for them to stay quiet and eat tidily!
3. Take plenty of activities to keep children occupied. Colouring books and card games such as Snap and Top Trumps always prove popular and don’t forget to pack their favourite doll or teddy. Old favourites such as I Spy can also make the time fly!
4. Young children are often fascinated with the in-flight headphones so don’t refuse these when the airhostess hands them out at the beginning of your flight. Toddlers love copying what grow-ups do and usually adore music.
5. If you are breastfeeding your baby, feed your baby on take-off and landing because the sucking action can help to stop their ears from popping or becoming painful. If you are bottle feeding, try to time your feeds so that you can give your baby a bottle on take-off and landing. For older children, take lollypops, boiled sweets or chews to provide the same relief.
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