10 Tips for Flying with Toddlers During a Pandemic

Wiping their slobbery hands on everything, picking their noses, ripping their masks off, eating dropped food off the ground, and people coughing all over them—THESE were my fears about flying with my twin toddlers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, I am absolutely delighted to share what our reality actually looked like: well-behaved twins that wore their masks the entire time from start to finish (except during snacks), held our hands, listened to every instruction, washed their hands, stayed clean, and acted like complete and utter angels. If I had to give my kids a grade for flying during this pandemic, I’d give them an A+. In short, they totally rocked it—and I’m about to share our tips with you!

We’ve flown with our kids 3 times before—when they were 8 months old, almost 2 years old, and now at almost 3 years old. This was the THIRD time this year we tried to fly to Charleston, SC for a family vacation (in April, June, and now in August—with the first 2 attempts being canceled due to COVID-19 concerns). That said, we were thrilled to finally get out of town this time around. It also gave us AMPLE time to prep the twins for our travel plans for the beach.

Three things that surprised me about flying with toddlers during the current 2020 circumstances were: 1) I felt much more comfortable than I thought I would,  2) the kids did MUCH better than I ever could have imagined, and 3) I actually expected there to be more health screening checks to take place than what there actually were. That’s kind of the only concern I had as we were going through it all. The only time any sort of health screening was done was when we were printing out our boarding passes at the kiosk and a short questionnaire was to be filled out. It seems airports and airlines are essentially relying on self-disclosure instead of incorporating more rigorous steps like temperature checks. Despite that, our overall experience was positive.

Based on our recent experience, here are my 10 recommendations for flying with toddlers during the pandemic:

1)    Get your children comfortable with wearing masks BEFORE your flight. And bring extras!

Note: The CDC recommends kids that are 2 years old and older should wear a mask. Kids <2 years old should not wear a mask due to risk of choking, strangulation, or suffocation.

There are a few things we did to get our twins to wear their masks like champs:

• For the weeks leading up to our vacation, I let the kids randomly try on their masks at home for a few minutes at a time at least once a week to acclimate them. My husband and I would also wear our masks at the same time so they could see it wasn’t scary and didn’t bother us.

• I made sure we had kid-friendly masks (that actually fit them) with Mickey Mouse on it. The Mickey design got them very excited about wearing it---and I DO think it contributed greatly to their compliance. Click below to see some great toddler-sized mask options. (By the way, the kind we use is the last one in this list and it’s the same kind my children’s hospital uses. However, they’re a bit expensive. So the ones before that are more affordable options!)

If all you have is a plain mask, though, then you could always just draw their favorite characters on it to make it more fun! As a side note, definitely be sure to bring extra masks. You don’t want to have to put a dirty mask back on your kid if he/she throws it on the ground.

• I explained to them more than once why we all needed to wear them on the plane and at the airport. I said something like “Right now there’s some yucky germs going around that are making people sick. Our cool new Mickey Mouse masks will help us stay healthy so we can get on the airplane and then go play at the beach!”

• Whenever I put them in masks to practice at home, I made sure to let them see themselves in the mirror while wearing it.

• We also let our dolls wear them too!

• When they had the masks on, I made sure to praise them by telling them how cool they looked and how they were such big kids.

• My kids were wearing masks maybe once a week for the month prior—just to practice, to go run an errand, to go to a doctor’s appointment, etc. Once we were in the airport, the only time they tried to pull their mask off was when they were taking a bite/sip of something. I was shocked at how well they did with masks for being not even 3 years old.

2)    Bring instant hand sanitizer and Wet Wipes for little hands.

Whenever I saw my kids touch anything at all, I wiped their hands down immediately. No thanks, sticky fingers!

3)    Bring several Clorox wipes in a large zip-lock bag.

We did this so that we could wipe down all of the airport terminal seats, any tables, plane armrests, seatbelts, tray tables, etc. I also brought a pair of gloves so my hands didn’t smell like Clorox the whole plane ride! And then after cleaning everything on the plane, the empty zip-loc bag doubled as our trashcan (for dirty wipes, napkins, empty snack bags, etc.)

4)    Take them to the bathroom right before you board the plane to avoid using the potentially dirty bathrooms on board.

Whether they’re potty trained or not, get them to use the bathroom and/or change their pull-up/diaper before you get on the plane. Nobody wants to be in a microscopic airplane bathroom with a toddler (or two) that will undoubtedly touch everything in there.

5)    Limit snacks and drinks on the plane so they aren’t removing their masks in a confined space.

Instead, try and feed them a snack right before you get on the plane. We also started limiting fluids in general for the hour before the flight until we landed to avoid having to take them to the bathroom on board. HOWEVER, I would bring some of your kids’ favorite snacks (like candy) in case there is an unexpected meltdown and you’re trying to calm them quickly. This happened once to us on the way home and we had to pull out some Starburst to get everyone chilled out again.

6)    Bring an iPad/tablet or two for your kids to watch cartoons (so they sit still and don’t start curiously touching everything around them).

Even if the airplane has a TV screen (ours did not), you’ll still want to keep them preoccupied while you’re waiting for your flight. We downloaded a few cartoons on 2 different iPads so both of our twins could watch what made them happy. And nope – I felt zero guilt about letting them watch TV during our travels. No thanks to tantrums on a plane!!

7)    Get them some cool toddler headphones to make the flight a more exciting experience.

This got our kids pretty excited. They were thrilled by the idea of having headphones just like Mommy and Daddy. I liked the headphones we got the twins because they fit perfectly, can be used with or without a cord, and come in pink and blue colors! Here is a link to the pink and blue ones we have from Amazon.

8)    Keep blankets, pillows, and dolls in your bags during the airport travel and flight, if possible.

Avoid contamination where you can! These are items that might get dirty and somehow make their way onto the ground or into your kids’ mouths. So, we kept our twins’ snuggly items (blankets, pillows, dolls) in the suitcase. They were so distracted by the cartoons that they didn’t even notice they were missing their dolls/blankets.

9)    Try and fly with airlines like Southwest and Delta.

Of the major airlines, it seems Southwest and Delta are the only 2 airlines that aren’t filling their planes on purpose and apparently it will continue this way until at least September 30th. They’re only filling ~66% of capacity during the pandemic in order to promote social distancing. Essentially, the middle seats are not being filled unless you’re a family traveling together. Sadly, other major airlines like American Airlines are still filling their planes fully like normal. Pre-pandemic we were usually American Airlines flyers, but we consciously flew with Southwest Airlines this time for the extra space—and I’m glad we did!

10) Consider flying during less busy times to practice better social distancing.

Typically, peak travel days for vacationers are Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. If you fly to/from your destinations on Mondays-Thursdays during midday, then you’ll likely avoid busier fly times with other vacation traveler crowds. We flew with my father-in-law (so 3 adults + 2 toddlers) and got our own row. There were no strangers nearby!

So, am I glad we flew during all of this? Although I had moments of feeling uneasy leading up to the flight, YES--I am glad we went. After months and months of being stuck inside with 2 little kids, we knew we desperately needed to get away. We took all the necessary precautions and it all turned out well for us. But of course, you must do what you feel comfortable with! And I couldn’t finish this blog post without saying this: Keep a pulse on your family’s health before you fly. You don’t want to be on a plane if there’s any chance one of you might be under the weather with COVID-19. 

Hopefully these tips give you a head start to prepare for your next trip with toddlers. And, as always, let me know if you have any further questions about our experience! Good luck!!