Tips for flying with 17 month old

Following! We will have an 18 month old when flying in October.

I have flown with my daughter since she was 10 months old. She is now 2.5 and does great. I just try to schedule flights at around her nap times or just try not no let her sleep until we are going to board. Lots of snacks, magnetic drawing board

I’ve taken 4 different flights (3-round, 1 one-way) with my daughter and 1 trip with my son. I would say take their favorite snacks/drink for the flight and 2-3 of his most entertaining travel sized toys and maybe a coloring book/crayons. I took toys when my daughter was younger and they all just ended up on the floor. My most recent trip, I took no toys; my daughter (then 1) fell asleep in her seat about 45 in and my son (then 5mo) watched movies and slept.

Definitely take advantage of the free movies if they have the little tvs. Otherwise download a couple of movies off of Netflix. Over age 1, even though they can fly free, I would opt for buying a seat for him and putting him in the car seat. It’s extremely uncomfortable trying to sit and hold a wiggly toddler.

Let them burn off as much energy as possible at the airport, some have soft play areas, or just let them run around.
Take lots of snacks. I downloaded Miss Rachel to my phone which was a god send.
I took various toys and books but honestly she was more entertained by the plastic cups 🤷‍♀️
Also just a positive mental attitude, it might be a tough few hours but its all ok, it’s just one day of travel, if they don’t eat or sleep properly that day it’s fine, if they make lots of noise and disturb people.. so what?