Traveling to Europe with 18-month-old twins - worried about flight, jetlag, etc...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am appalled by the people who requested wheelchairs. You are trying to carry too much stuff with you.

I'm kind of surprised that parents have requested wheelchairs. I would have never thought to do that - and I don't mean to sound snarky - because I see them as being for the elderly and disabled...those who actually need assistance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am appalled by the people who requested wheelchairs. You are trying to carry too much stuff with you.

I'm kind of surprised that parents have requested wheelchairs. I would have never thought to do that - and I don't mean to sound snarky - because I see them as being for the elderly and disabled...those who actually need assistance.

Well they won't let us use our own strollers and you cannot carry 2 kids and everyone's stuff through the miles of airport. There was literally no other alternative that we - or the flight attendants- could come up with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Can anyone tell me what happens to car seats when you gate check them? We are considering bringing one or both car seats on our trip, and I wonder if in the lucky event that the plane won't be full and they will seat us next to an empty seat, we will actually be able to use the car seat we brought, or if by that time it will be gone somewhere in the baggage compartment.

Depends on the airport- some places will have you collect them at baggage claim, some will give them to you at the gate. But I certainly wouldn't count on being able to bring it on board in the hope that there's a free seat. I doubt they will let you do that.

ALSO - don't bet on the free seat. There certainly won't be one in the bulkhead, and carriers are increasingly overbooking flights to make sure they get every $$ possible.

I am not counting on an empty seat, but I am allowed to hope for one. The reason I asked about what they do with the car seats is that I read a comment (can't remember if on my thread or in another forum discussion elsewhere) that someone who hadn't booked a seat for their toddler was able to use the car seat when an empty seat was available. I wonder how that works, imagining that you are not taking the car seat onto the plane unless you have booked an extra seat. Is it stored somewhere where you can go collect it if they find an unused seat for you? We are flying out of Dulles with Air France, on an A380.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am appalled by the people who requested wheelchairs. You are trying to carry too much stuff with you.

I'm kind of surprised that parents have requested wheelchairs. I would have never thought to do that - and I don't mean to sound snarky - because I see them as being for the elderly and disabled...those who actually need assistance.

Are you worried that a disabled person is not going to be able to get a wheelchair because it was taken by a parent? I would think that they have enough wheelchairs so this doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

I would not fly with 18 month old twins. We have done a ton of traveling, but I think the 12-24 month old age is the worst.
Can you leave them home? Seems like it would be best for them and at least you would get a vacation out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not fly with 18 month old twins. We have done a ton of traveling, but I think the 12-24 month old age is the worst.
Can you leave them home? Seems like it would be best for them and at least you would get a vacation out of it.

This has been brought up several times, but no, we can't leave them home. We have no local family, no nanny, etc. My brother's wedding is when it is and we have booked the flights. Now we have to make the best of it... Trust me, I would not be traveling with them at this age if it weren't for this major family event. I already scrapped the Christmas trip last year because I just couldn't imagine getting on a plane with them. We haven't gone on any trips with them so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Can anyone tell me what happens to car seats when you gate check them? We are considering bringing one or both car seats on our trip, and I wonder if in the lucky event that the plane won't be full and they will seat us next to an empty seat, we will actually be able to use the car seat we brought, or if by that time it will be gone somewhere in the baggage compartment.

Depends on the airport- some places will have you collect them at baggage claim, some will give them to you at the gate. But I certainly wouldn't count on being able to bring it on board in the hope that there's a free seat. I doubt they will let you do that.

ALSO - don't bet on the free seat. There certainly won't be one in the bulkhead, and carriers are increasingly overbooking flights to make sure they get every $$ possible.

I am not counting on an empty seat, but I am allowed to hope for one. The reason I asked about what they do with the car seats is that I read a comment (can't remember if on my thread or in another forum discussion elsewhere) that someone who hadn't booked a seat for their toddler was able to use the car seat when an empty seat was available. I wonder how that works, imagining that you are not taking the car seat onto the plane unless you have booked an extra seat. Is it stored somewhere where you can go collect it if they find an unused seat for you? We are flying out of Dulles with Air France, on an A380.

Hm. They have stored my seat up in front, but only when we had paid for the kids' seats. Maybe the thing to do is to plead ignorance. Board the flight with the seat in hand, then ask the attendants to stow it, as if you didn't know you and the baby and the seat couldn't all fit together on one airline seat!

[Anonymous]

Are you worried that a disabled person is not going to be able to get a wheelchair because it was taken by a parent? I would think that they have enough wheelchairs so this doesn't happen.

My dad had to wait at least a half hour once for a wheelchair that had been requested ahead of time. I think another old person took it. A lot of people request them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Are you worried that a disabled person is not going to be able to get a wheelchair because it was taken by a parent? I would think that they have enough wheelchairs so this doesn't happen.

My dad had to wait at least a half hour once for a wheelchair that had been requested ahead of time. I think another old person took it. A lot of people request them.

He waited 30 mins? The horror!

People, since the new stroller rules went into effect (which I recall was due to union lobbying) no airport has managed to come up with a way to help travelers who have more than one small/non-walking child to transport. It's a real problem and the airlines know this, but can't do anything about it. At the end of the day, the airport needs to solve this issue. Until they do, a wheel chair may be the best option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are you worried that a disabled person is not going to be able to get a wheelchair because it was taken by a parent? I would think that they have enough wheelchairs so this doesn't happen.

My dad had to wait at least a half hour once for a wheelchair that had been requested ahead of time. I think another old person took it. A lot of people request them.

He waited 30 mins? The horror!

People, since the new stroller rules went into effect (which I recall was due to union lobbying) no airport has managed to come up with a way to help travelers who have more than one small/non-walking child to transport. It's a real problem and the airlines know this, but can't do anything about it. At the end of the day, the airport needs to solve this issue. Until they do, a wheel chair may be the best option.

What are the new stroller rules?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am appalled by the people who requested wheelchairs. You are trying to carry too much stuff with you.

Excuse me, but I have two toddlers who would take about 3 hours to get from the curb-side check-in to security and then out to the gate if we allowed them to walk. My wife is visually impaired and a transplant patient so has one carry-on that has medical supplies from medications, to visual aids, etc. She has a purse. We have one carryon that is exclusively things to keep our children entertained and quiet on the trip and we have one carryon that has diapers, snacks and now spare clothes for the one that is potty-trained but still has accidents. Four bags and two children. What do you suggest that we give up?

We only do this domestically and frankly, I have yet to approach the wheelchair stations in any of about 8 airports that I've been in and have less than a dozen chairs sitting there. You need to spend more time focusing on yourself than on others. Additionally, airport staff has said that it isn't a problem to request a wheelchair to meet us at the gate for the children.

OP here - thank you, that's very helpful. So you used the wheelchair instead of the stroller to transport the kids around the airport?

Sorry that I didn't respond a couple of months ago, but somehow I missed the rest of this thread.

Yes, we do. I can put the twins in the wheelchair and wheel them out. It's easier to get a wheelchair through security than a stroller. The stroller has to be folded up and put through the scanner and we caused a backup the one time we brought our BJ City Select double as it was too big to fit in the machine, so I had to take it apart so that it could be scanned and then put it back together on the other side and it held up one of the security lines. The wheelchair, they just get out, walk through the line and they push the wheelchair around. I leave the wheelchair at the gate with other wheelchairs.