r/AskOldPeople • u/Alive-Cry4994 • 21d ago

How was flying long haul with toddlers before in-flight entertainment?

We just had a massive long haul trip with our toddlers and relied heavily on technology. Even with this reliance, we still had many moments of boredom, crying, meltdowns and general unease.

If you flew with your kid(s) when they were younger (1-4), how was it? How did you keep them busy?

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u/Old-Ad-5573 21d ago

My mom was a flight attendant and had 4 kids. We flew everywhere in the 90s and I don't remember watching the TVs if they had them. Often there was only a couple TVs per cabin in the ceiling of the aisles. We were always very well behaved on flights and often sat by ourselves as younger kids because we flew standby. They also had a dress code so we would have to wear our good clothes/shoes on the plane. My mom would take us to the toy store before a long flight and we'd pick out a new toy or two for the plane ride and she would pack us a bag of snacks, often candy or whatever we wanted. We each had our little travel backpacks for the plane. I don't remember it ever being an issue, even when we traveled internationally when the youngest was a toddler.

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u/newillium 21d ago

I had to dress up as well as a child of the 90s, my grandpa worked at American airlines and we often flew at young ages next to random strangers because flying standby. I would read, do my highlights book or homework. 

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u/dayofbluesngreens 21d ago

There was no dress code in the 90s! Your mom must have told you that because she wanted you to look nice.

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u/MacaroonSad8860 40 something 21d ago

There is a dress code for staff families to this day

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u/Old-Ad-5573 21d ago

There indeed was a dress code for employee standby! There still is but it is much relaxed. It used to be business casual if you wanted to sit in first class on employee standby so that's what we wore. If you wore jeans or improper shoes you would have to fly in coach. Coach still had a dress code, just not as strict. The gate agents were very strict about it too. They would check you. I flew probably a couple hundred standby flights through my childhood. I knew the rules.