Family Travel

My partner, our child (over 2), and I will be flying from London to Perth on a direct Qantas flight and I’m hoping to get some advice about carry on luggage and boarding. From what I understand, since our child has their own seat they should have the same cabin baggage allowance...

I get both sides of this one. Three kids, homeschooling, no real breaks… yeah, a cruise with built in kids clubs and a couple hours of adult time sounds amazing. Even just one quiet dinner would feel like a vacation. But I also get the “floating city” anxiety if he’s never...

I’ll be flying long-haul with my four kids and we managed to get seats together, but since there are five of us there will likely be one aisle seat next to a stranger. My plan is to sit next to that person and let the kids rotate between the window seats during the flight....

My kids really want to try a train trip, so we’re thinking about doing DC to NYC on Amtrak. It would be two parents and three kids (ages 6–10). None of us have taken the train before, so I’m a little unsure how seating works. Coach tickets are a lot cheaper, but since seats...

We were flying MEX to Seattle and got bumped 24 hours because the runway was too hot and they had to drop weight. We had a lap infant, booked months ago, tried to check in online right at 20 hours but kept getting errors and ended up checking in at the airport 3 hours before...

Had a trip from India to Newark cancelled because of the war, and the only workable rebooking was a flight to LAX instead. Now arriving in Los Angeles with seven suitcases and small children, but no real plan yet for what to do next. The idea is to stay in a hotel or motel for a...

My elderly parents are flying from JFK this Saturday to Medina with a layover in Istanbul. It’s a big trip for them and honestly their dream journey, so the family is just hoping everything goes smoothly. A bit worried about them navigating the connection in Istanbul and then...

We have an upcoming trip with a few connections and just wanted to see if anyone has experience with this route. The itinerary is SLC to Seattle with Alaska Air in the evening, then after a 3 hour layover Seattle to Taipei with Starlux. After arriving in Taipei there’s about a 7...

Recently flew Air India and paid extra through the app for first row seats specifically for the extra legroom. When we boarded, the seats we were given didn’t have any additional legroom at all. That was the whole reason we paid for them. We were also traveling with a young...

Heading to Madrid in early April with my wife, two daughters (10 and 6), and my mother in law. We’re looking for a good mix of big sights, great food, walkable areas, and cultural stuff that won’t bore the kids to tears. We’ll probably do Prado, Royal Palace, and Retiro. Beyond...

First Europe trip and we’re doing it all by train. Family of 4 traveling late May/early June. I’ve gone down the Man in Seat 61 and Rome2Rio rabbit hole and now I’m a bit overwhelmed. Main travel legs: Munich to Chur Chur to Tirano (Bernina) to Como Como to Menton Menton to...

Booked 3 tickets together SYD to FCO and it’s $480 to pre select seats. If we skip it, are we likely to still be seated together? Traveling with a teen who counts as an adult in the system, but we really don’t want her seated separately. Has anyone rolled the dice with Qatar and...

We’re a family of four with teens (17 and 18) and we’ve always loved traveling together. Lately though, their schedules make it hard to go as often as we’d like. They’re responsible, we have family nearby, and practically speaking we’d feel fine leaving them home. But...

We used this agency a few years ago for a big trip and it was expensive but worth it. Totally hands off, everything arranged, smooth experience. Now we asked them to plan a family trip and the quote came back way higher than expected. Looks like close to 100% markup per person...

We’re Canadian citizens flying Toronto to Mumbai with a 19 hour layover in Dubai. Arriving on Air Canada and connecting to Emirates. Are we allowed to exit the airport during that layover and come back later to check in? Traveling with a toddler and an infant so just want to be...

My daughters (tween/teen) and I will land in Paris around 5:30am in late June coming from California. My husband is arriving on a different flight at 10am. Our hotel check-in isn’t until 3pm, although we asked about early check-in and haven’t heard back yet. We will at least be...

We’ve only been on one cruise before and usually eat dinner pretty early, around 5 to 5:30. My main goals on this trip are avoiding cranky kids and making sure we can actually see the shows. I’m considering choosing the later dining time instead. I’m hoping there might be some...

I recently flew Air India to Amsterdam with my wife and our 11-month-old baby. When booking the tickets we saw the bassinet seats were already taken, so customer service booked us extra legroom seats instead and we paid for them in advance. Online check-in went smoothly and we...

Just had a frustrating experience with Southwest. Booked basic fare for me and my two kids. At check-in, seats were assigned and somehow my 4-year-old ended up 12 rows in front of me while my other kid and I were in the back of the plane. Tried calling support but sat on hold...

My family is planning a Princess Alaska cruise and I’m trying to figure out if this setup is going to cause issues. My parents very generously offered to pay for the whole trip. The group will be my parents, my brother and his wife, my sister and her husband, their 9 year old...

Planning a trip from the UK to the US with a connection in Dublin and ran into something confusing while booking. My son will be about 18 months old and I’d prefer to book him his own seat, not a lap infant. But the Aer Lingus website only lets me select infant, which...

Booked a spring break flight from San Juan to Boston back in October for two adults and two kids (7 and 4) and paid extra to pick our seats together. In November the original flight got cancelled and JetBlue automatically moved us to a flight 3 hours later, but our seat...

Just got a pretty brutal schedule change from Alaska and trying to figure out what my options are. We booked a nonstop flight to Puerto Vallarta for a family trip in a couple weeks. It was supposed to be about a 5 hour direct flight. Now Alaska emailed saying the flight changed...

It’s my first time flying Spirit and I’m traveling with my two kids. There are still plenty of seats showing right now, but unlike other airlines, Spirit isn’t automatically seating us together unless I pay. I’m trying to decide if I should just wait until check in and hope...

We flew Southwest exclusively for 15 years. Love Field is 10 minutes from our house and it was just easy. When my kids were babies and toddlers, I never stressed about seating. We always got a row together. As they got older, I’d pay for EarlyBird just to be safe. No bag fees...