I recently had the pleasure of enduring a 30-hour journey to the UK with my husband and two young children. It probably goes without saying, but we flew economy and it sucked. If I had a hack for magically upgrading to business, I’m afraid I would never share it with anyone. I definitely don’t, but what I do have is a few cheap tricks that made travelling long haul with kids slightly more bearable.
1. Inflatable seat extender
A quick internet search of flight accessories for kids will show up some pretty darn expensive options for turning your little one’s tiny economy seat into a “lie flat” bed (depending on how tall they are). I was pretty intrigued by these options for my seven- and four-year-old, but no way was I paying well over $100 per kid.
I also snuck my own feet onto my daughter’s and found myself able to actually extend my legs somewhat to sleep
I bought mine from Kmart, but there are lots of cheap versions online.
Instead, I bought a simple no-brand blow up seat extender for $20 for each kid. We had no issues using them on any of our four flights, though it’s worth noting different airlines have different policies on this. We flew with Cathay Pacific and I searched “Cathay Pacific children sleeping devices” to find their policy on them, which indicated they could be used as long as they didn’t block the aisle seat.
I recommend you do the same for your airline, but my internet searching indicated that most airlines do allow them.
They took some serious lung capacity to blow up, but once inflated they fit perfectly in the gap between the seats and not only did my kids use them to sleep peacefully, I also snuck my own feet onto my daughter’s and found myself able to actually extend my legs somewhat to sleep.
My tall four-year old could lie reclined with her feet fully extended using it, and my seven-year-old managed to get pretty close to horizontal by laying his head on my husband’s lap and his feet on the seat extender. It would work as a flat bed for kids under three.
When I came across this instagram trend, I knew it may very well be all hot air, but considering the pet beds in question cost $6, I was willing to give them a try.
The perfect little padded circle to protect butts and backs.
The idea is you place the small pet bed on top of your child’s seat to cushion all the hard areas (like the arm rests, the seat edges and, quite frankly, the seat itself). My daughter enjoyed hers, but my son wasn’t too bothered about his, so I ended up using it myself and I found it stopped my butt from going numb like it usually does after a few hours in the rock hard seat. In the interests of space, we rolled the beds up and used string to tie them to the top of our carry-on backpacks which worked pretty well.
They weren’t as life-changing as the seat extenders, and their bulkiness made them a bit annoying to lug around but they definitely added comfort.
As an avid eye mask user at home, there was no way I was going on an overseas trip (or indeed anywhere at all) without an eye mask for myself. But I also had the brainwave to bring a couple for the kids too (I know they sometimes give these out on flights but I actually haven’t been given one for years – plus it helps to have a mask with an adjustable back when fitting tiny heads). They’re dirt cheap at Kmart or op shops but I didn’t even have to buy any because I have so many spares laying around the house.
My daughter used hers to snooze away the entire four-hour stopover in Hong Kong, which happened to be in the middle of the day
The kids were stoked with the novelty of them, but they actually proved extremely useful, too. They allowed both kids to keep sleeping when they needed more hours but the plane had switched to “day mode” with overhead lights on and window shades up.
My daughter also used hers to snooze away the entire four-hour stopover in Hong Kong, which happened to be in the middle of the day (time had lost all meaning for us at that point). Cheap, light and they take up no space, they’re a no-brainer.
These are so lightweight and slim you can slip them into any bag.
These little LED drawing pads are super light and slim, and they kind of look like an iPad to my screen-deprived kids. They provided so many hours of entertainment for both my kids, but particularly my four-year-old daughter who struggles to pass even 30 seconds without some form of activity to keep her busy.
While my kids mainly just dissociated in front of Bluey and Marvel movies for all of the flights, the pads were a lifesaver for the in-between moments – waiting at the gate, standing in line at check-in and then at our destination for car trips and train rides. You can play Mr Squiggle, naughts and crosses, practicing letters – the list goes on. For about $10 each they really earned their place on our holiday.
Grace Smith is a senior content editor, she creates and edits content and feature articles for CHOICE magazine and website.
Grace writes on a diverse range of topics, from money-saving and consumer rights, to product safety and household products. Previously, she worked as a verifier, reviewing lab data and written content to ensure information was accurate. She has also worked as a content producer for the Household team.
As our resident CHOICE Cheapskate, Grace is the writer and producer of the CHOICE Cheapskate newsletter, providing regular money saving ideas and tricks.
Grace has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney. LinkedIn
Grace Smith is a senior content editor, she creates and edits content and feature articles for CHOICE magazine and website.
Grace writes on a diverse range of topics, from money-saving and consumer rights, to product safety and household products. Previously, she worked as a verifier, reviewing lab data and written content to ensure information was accurate. She has also worked as a content producer for the Household team.
As our resident CHOICE Cheapskate, Grace is the writer and producer of the CHOICE Cheapskate newsletter, providing regular money saving ideas and tricks.
Grace has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney. LinkedIn
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