A couple who's flown 167,000 miles with their toddler share their top tips for long-haul flights with young kids

Take your child on long-haul journeys as an infant — it will make flights easier as they get older.

One of Boyd's top tips for flying with kids is to start them young.

"You just have to jump out there and get your baby used to doing these flights," Boyd said. He added that flying with an infant is challenging because they can't express their needs — not to mention frequent diaper changes.

"With a toddler, it's a little easier because she's able to go to the bathroom, notice the TV, and play with toys," Boyd said.

Since she flew so much as a baby, Boyd said that as a toddler, Kynsley doesn't seem anxious when the plane takes off. Instead, she finds it fun to go faster and faster until they're soaring through the sky.

Granger said that while she and Boyd may get nervous during storms and turbulence in the air, Kynsley seems unbothered.

"She's really the cool, calm, collected person," Boyd added. "Her being calm actually helps me because I think, 'I can't be scared if my baby's not scared.'"

Travel with family and friends to lighten the load.

Granger and Boyd advise traveling with a group who can help with parenting duties.

"I always recommend traveling with family or a friend who's willing to watch the baby and let the adult be an adult," Granger said. "We had a bunch of family and friends with us on the same flight to South Africa."

Granger added that having so many loved ones around on their 15-and-a-half-hour flight to South Africa seemed to make 3-year-old Kynsley feel more comfortable on the plane, too.

Do your research to ensure you don't overpack large items like strollers or car seats.

"One of the big lessons we learned as a group is how to condense and pack appropriately for the trip," Boyd said, adding that they'd made the mistake of packing the wrong stroller and unnecessary car seats.

Granger advised that before checking your car seat, find out if there will be one at your destination, especially if you're renting a car. When deciding on strollers to pack, do your research to ensure they'll suit the destination.

For example, she said bringing a bulky industrial stroller on their trip to Greece was a bad idea because they had to take about 10 ferries.

"Look at the landscape. Is there cobblestone everywhere? Then you can't bring your cheap umbrella stroller because your wheels will break like ours have," Granger added.

Shift your baby's sleep schedule the night before so they're more likely to rest on the plane.

When the family took a red-eye flight to Greece in 2023, Boyd remembers everyone around him sleeping — except for 2-year-old Kynsley.

"She stayed up the entire night until it was time to land, and I had my opportunity to get one hour of sleep," Boyd said. "She was super excited, so she wanted to play the entire time."

Granger said this often happens when she doesn't adjust Kynsley's sleep schedule the night before a flight.

"Let's say she went to bed at 7 p.m. and our flight is at 5 a.m. — she had her 8-hour rest already, so she's wide awake and ready for the day," Granger told BI. "But if she went to bed a bit later, waking her up around 5 a.m. would throw off her sleep, so she might go right back to sleep and give me a peaceful flight."

Allot extra time for TSA screenings to avoid missing flights — especially if you're bringing milk.

"I used to pump a lot and then bring a lot of milk through TSA, which parents should know you are allowed to do," Granger said. "It's just a rigorous process where they scan every bottle."

When traveling with milk through TSA, Granger recommends arriving at least two hours before departure for domestic flights and three hours before international flights.

If you're traveling with a toddler and no milk, she suggests arriving one and a half to two hours before domestic flights and two and a half to three hours before international flights.

"If your child is mobile or prone to meltdowns, give yourself extra buffer time for security and bathroom stops," she added.

Don't stress over missed flights.

When I asked Granger and Boyd if they'd ever missed a flight with Kynsley, they chuckled.

From long TSA stops to ill-timed diaper changes, they said they've missed multiple flights — some by two minutes and others by a full hour.

"At this point, we just laugh it off and get something to eat," Granger said. "We travel a lot, so we know there will be mishaps. We just figure it out day by day."

Maintaining a light mood after a missed flight has led to some special memories for the family of three.

"I'll never forget when we missed a flight to New York before we went to Greece," Boyd said.

As they waited for the next flight, 2-year-old Kynsley was bored, so Boyd gave her his GoPro for the first time.

"I wanted to see what she would do, and she started taking pictures and filming our experience in the airport," Boyd said. "And now she really loves cameras because of that moment. So it was actually a really good day."

Respect the people seated around you on the flight.

In Granger's experience, other passengers are typically courteous and understanding of a sightly bothersome young child — but there's a limit.

"It is a tough time traveling with your kid, but you have to be a good neighbor still — you can't let your kid stick their arm through the middle of the seat, throw stuff, kick the seat," Boyd said. "You have to be a responsible parent and make other people comfortable as well."

Granger and Boyd's strategy is to find something else she'd be interested in doing, like walking the aisles or getting a snack box as a reward for stopping.

When babies cry and toddlers have tantrums, keep calm.

Boyd said that when Kynsley cries or throws a fit on an airplane, he goes through the list of things she may want or need, from food and cuddles to walking the aisles and playing with toys.

"If your child is throwing a tantrum, just be calm because no matter what, it just is what it is," Granger said. "So just relax, engage with them, and see what they need or want or how you can play with them so that maybe you could stop the tantrum."

Let kids be kids, and ease restrictions you may have at home.

As a toddler, Granger and Boyd give Kynsley more freedom on flights, from what she wears to how she passes the time.

Throughout long-haul flights, they ask Kynsley what she wants to do — whether it be watching a movie, playing with toys, having a snack, walking the aisles, or even using the iPad, a device they don't allow at home.

"It's really about making her comfortable, especially because, at the end of the day, she didn't ask to travel," Granger said. "She's still a toddler, but she's autonomous, and we want her to feel excited about flying rather than 'Do what I say' for 10 to 15 hours."

Granger said she also allows Kynsley to pack her own bag "full of nonsense" for flights now that she's a toddler.

"Kynsley brought her Halloween costume to South Africa in November," she said. "She actually wore it and felt like the trip was fulfilling to her — even just the journey."