Flying the friendly skies

I am almost too exhausted to write this, but I will give it the old college try. About 2 hours ago, my family arrived back in our house after 6 weeks on the road. Yep, you read that correctly. Our itinerary looked something like this:

March 3-5 NYC (airplane, taxi)
March 24-27 Miami (Plane)
April 1-3 BF New Jersey (Road Trip- flat tire in Delaware!)
April 14 - 25 Miami (plane)
April 27 - 29 Miami (Metro, Marc Train, Plane, rental car)
May 6-8 Atlanta (plane, rental car)

That is a lot of travel for any road warrior, now keep in mind, we did all of that with a 1 & 3 year old! Why so many trips you may ask. Well, all of our family and friends decided to get married. There was not an event we could reasonably skip and no family to leave the kids with, so they came along, and along, and along. Though, my travels aren't the point, traveling with kids in general is.

Airline Travel: Getting through security can be a nightmare. Everyone has their tales of TSA incompetence and confusion. For the most part, I have found the TSA agents to be very nice and helpful when traveling with kids. They always give high-fives to the boys after they pass through the detector. They are patient as we take 10 minutes to disassemble our stroller, carseat, 2 backpacks, laptop bag, insulated lunch bag, pockets full of change, shoes, and coats. On a few memorable occasions, awesome agents have helped carry all of our stuff to another table so we could reassemble our gear. However, despite the assistance, it is very dificult to disassemble all the gear with 2 children, mainly due to the 40 Lb car seat. which leads me to my main point.

We would not bring a car seat at all if not for the incredibly stupid airline rules about baby seating. It makes NO sense to me that EVERYONE on the plane MUST keep seatbelts fastened at all times, unless you are under 2, in which case, feel free to bounce around the cabin. We always spend the money to buy a seat for our baby. First of all, it is a safety issue, secondly it is a comfort issue. How can anyone sit on a place for more than 40 minutes with 25 wriggling pounds and hands grabbing at hair, glasses, water glasses etc... So we make the effort to lug the car seat through the airport and onto the plane.

Once my older son turned two, we stopped bringing the car seat & just buckled him in. This is where I really find fault with the airlines. If my son were 5"10", 300 Lbs, the flight attendants would hasten to bring him a seatbelt extender. However he is 3'6", 35Lbs and they come over to chastise and make sure his seatbelt is fastened. The answer is yes, it is fastened, but he is so skinny, it just slips right off. Why can't they design a 5-point harness, or seatbelt reducer, or allow booster seats on the plane?

I am debating internally whether to start a campaign much like the ADA compliance act, except for children and little persons. Restrooms, with more than 3 toilets must make 1 of them low enough for a child to reach and provide a stepstool for hand washing at the sinks. Public transportation should have some available seatbelts. Airlines should have safe seating for people of ALL sizes. TIVO should be required in every household. Wait, that is from a different wish list. Seriously though, what bothers you when traveling either around town or farther a field with your little ones?