Mourning My Lap Infant: Two Year Old Needs His Own Seat

My baby is two. Things are about to get a lot more expensive around here. There are many things to get emotional about when your baby turns two. For this travel mum, the most tears will not be shed over watching him run, seeing his hair grow in, hearing his sentences develop. While those are all bittersweet moments, I am excited to see him grow in all ways but one. Today marks that I need to buy my child his own full price seat on an airplane and he is no longer a lap infant.

Cheap Baby Travel Becomes Expensive Toddler Travel ⁣

Why today is hard for me is because it marks the beginning of a lifetime* of buying my son (or likely using miles) his own full price airline seat. I’m also saying goodbye to fitting our family in a row of three on a 3-3 airplane, which are most of those within Europe. ⁣

How Much Have I Saved with Lap Infant Fares

Sitting at the laptop on his birthday, I am looking through photos of the times he has sat on my lap as an “infant” and shuttering trying to calculate how much that would have cost and thinking of all the free seats we’ve had by someone moving or lucking out. ⁣I often travel alone with my sons and having P along with me as a lap infant is just a no brainer when his ticket is practically free. ⁣

Lap Infant Costs Vary

Lap infant tickets are such an amazing way to see the world with your tiny children. I fully exploited the tiny priced fares by having P on my lap on all flights from a £25 Ryanair seat last week to an 11 hour Club World to SFO (Avios) to First Class British Airways from BOS-LHR (Avios). ⁣

Today I raise a mug of coffee to having a wild, charming and adventurous 2 year old. And shed a tear for buying my last 10% fare or fixed flat rate for a while. ⁣
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There is a lot of debate over whether lap infant tickets should be banned for safety purposes. I’m okay with the risks but recognise that others may not be. ⁣
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*I say lifetime of buying his airline tickets because I will likely be bribing my sons to travel with me until I can no longer be wheeled onto an airplane.