0  | 

I found this helpful Thank You! Your vote will be tallied soon!

After nothing but car travel for months, I've been at the airport twice in the past two weeks -- once to attend a Chicago blogging conference (my impressions are here) and again this weekend to fly to Charlotte, North Carolina to research an upcoming NASCAR/travel article for Automotive Traveler.

Air travel these days is like a sport -- you get rusty and do dumb stuff if you don't practice.  I haven't flown since the 3 ounce maximum for carry-on liquids rule came into effect, so I was really paranoid about having the right ziplock bag and travel-sized toiletries.  I wasn't traveling with children, either, so all I had to worry about was me and I was still pretty nervous about  it.  A review of tips was helpful.

Here are my thoughts and impressions after getting through both the Austin, Texas and Chicago O'Hare airports:

1)  Don't wear lace-up shoes, such as running shoes.  Find some that slip on and off for you and for the kids.  I saw too many people struggling with elaborate lace arrangements (one very arty-looking woman in purple high-top tennies held up the whole security line.  What was she thinking?)  Same goes for fancy belts and metal gear that just set off the alarms.

2)  Have your boarding pass and photo ID in your hand when you approach security.  In fact, please just put an ID in your pocket right when you get to the airport, so it's handy and you aren't bumbling through your purse or wallet.

3)  Don't bring a water bottle or buy one until you get through security, but do make sure you get one to bring one onto the plane.  You shouldn't have to fork over money to get water on a plane, but you do, so bring your own.

4)  Take a look at your flight schedule.  Not many airlines are serving food these days, and the food for purchase is mostly unhealthy junk, so if you and the kids are in the air during a mealtime, be prepared.  In my flight to North Carolina from Texas, I could see that I would barely have time to change planes at DFW and certainly wouldn't have time to find a sandwich in an unfamiliar airport, so I bought one in the early morning at the Austin airport.  Sure enough, I was flying towards Charlotte during lunch and the only options offered were $3 snickerdoodle cookies or $3 potato chips bought from the airline.  I enjoyed my smoked turkey sandwich.  Yes, your own food is one more blasted thing that you'll have to lug aboard.

5)  Label your luggage, and the children's luggage, on the outside AND the inside.  Just take some of those return address labels that you use for mail and stick a few around the inside of your suitcase.  If it blows open somehow in handling, someone can look in and see who it belongs to if the outside ID tag goes missing.

6)  Make the kids carry stuff.  Most older toddlers and above can at least handle a light backpack for their toys, drawing pad & pencils, water bottle, etc.

7)  If you aren't checking luggage, check in online and print your boarding passes out ahead of time.  This is a no-brainer and means that you can usually go straight to the security line and skip standing in the check-in-at-the-airline-counter line.  What's not to like?

8)  Never pass a bathroom with a kid without making them use it!

As always, but really important as the busy summer travel season approaches, check with the airline before departure to confirm flight times, and check the TSA site for the latest info, including tips on travel with children.

Technorati tags:  travel, family travel, TSA, air travel