My kids have been curious about flying for a long time now but with budgets and time, we have never had the opportunity. Not to mention the thought of getting six kids ages ranging from 2 to 15 on a flight seemed very daunting to us at the time. As we were planning our Fall family trip, Alaska Airlines contacted us to see if we would be interested in collaborating with them for our kid’s first flight. We had heard a lot of great things about Alaska Air so it felt like the perfect fit for our kid’s first time flying. We decided to surprise the kids with the announcement and their reaction was priceless (see video below).
We decided that Oregon would be the perfect spot for our Fall trip and quickly made arrangements to stay at a cute little beach house in the fishing town of Waldport. Our flight was really early in the morning, and we knew that would pose a problem as we were a couple of hours from the airport, so we stayed at a hotel close to the airport the night before. We thought we were doing good getting there early enough, but as we were going through security we realized that when we checked in online we didn’t double-check to make sure that our boarding passes had been emailed to us, Nikki had done the checking in, and I assumed that she had the boarding passes, she assumed I did. Needless to say, I left Nikki and the six kids at the front of the security line and booked it back to print out boarding passes. Once we had our boarding passes and started through the line we hadn’t realized that Wil and Rockwell’s sippy cups which were stored nicely in their carry-on, were full of water, oops. We had to wait as the agents took those sippy cups out and tested the water for us to make sure we could get them on the plane, all the while knowing that they were in final boarding and getting ready to close the doors on our flight. We made it to the gate as they were closing the doors. I’m sure we were a site with six kids, all carrying or rolling luggage and their backpacks, a double stroller packed not only with two Littles but overflowing with extra baggage, sippy cups, the boy’s favorite blankets, etc.
The flight attendants were so helpful and patient as we tried to situate everyone in the correct seats with the correct bags and our kid’s excitement and energy were through the roof! That was the best part of the flight, was seeing their excitement and wonder throughout the whole thing. And of course, I those epic moments, I like Ali yelling “woo hoo” as we took off, and Rockwell proclaiming as we landed “I did it!”
Alaska Airlines was amazing, from holding our flight to being super patient with our kids, and everyone was so friendly.
Somethings we did learn from our kid’s first flight.
- They tell you to be two hours early for a flight for a reason.
- When traveling with lots of kids, Rolling suitcases are a must.
- If you have an excuse to need a stroller, take it, they are great luggage carriers.
- Always double-check your carry-ons. You might have remembered to empty your water bottle, but the baby sippies are full of water.
- Pack lots of snacks, their favorite movies, toys, coloring books, etc. Even if it’s a short flight, it’s hard to keep the little ones entertained.
