No seatback screen for kids? No problem.
My best advice for keeping children occupied on a flight without screens is to keep them busy eating and drinking. Small snacks made a big difference on our two-hour flight on a very old aircraft.
Keeping Young Children Occupied On A Flight Without Seatback Screens
Our summer trip began with a flight from Hollywood-Burbank Airport (BUR), a convenient airport in Southern California, to Denver (DEN) on United Airlines. We were seated in economy class on this leg–operated by an A319 that was pushing 25 years old. While United is in the process (and has made good progress) on retrofitting its domestic fleet with seatback screens, this aircraft had not been updated yet. At least there were power outlets available.
That presents a dilemma: how to keep the kids occupied. I have two kids, aged 4 and 7 (at the time). One reason they love flying is because they get screen time, something that is deliberately restricted at home. If an aircraft has screens, I let them watch cartoons or other age-appropriate programming…it’s a great way to keep them quiet and pass the time. It’s a treat.
We checked in for the flight, dropped off our bags, and encountered the hot mess that Burbank Airport has become. Sure, you can still show up an hour before your flight and be okay, but during the busy morning and early afternoon rush, do not expect to be able to find a seat…let alone four.
Thankfully, we did not have to wait long to board. Burbank still has no jetbridges and we boarded via a ramp and soon were onboard and settled into our seats toward the front of the economy class cabin.
Of course the kids were disappointed there were no screens and immediately asked me, “What can we do?” Now bear in mind each had backpacks with books, coloring, games, and school work, but let’s face it…kids (I know my kids are not unique) tend to think that being on a plane is a special time to watch TV and eat.
My wife took the afternoon off–she sat across the aisle from us and took a nap–and I settled down with the kids in our section of three seats.
We took off and were on the way to Denver, with an actual flight time of under two hours.
Thankfully, the beverage cart arrived shortly and the kids ordered apple juice, another treat they do not get at home. They like those dark chocolate + sea salt quinoa crisps from Undercover and I also ordered a Takeoff snack box (and some iced coffee for me). Then a large bag of gummy bears too because…why not?
Letting them pick out individual snacks from inside the snack box and then slowly eating the gummy bears worked. They were quiet. There was no screen time…by the time they were all done (including with a refill of apple juice) we had begun our descent.
And my son Augustine certainly was quite the saint by pulling his sister through the busy concourse of Denver Airport on her little bag.
Next stop: more food in the lounge.
CONCLUSION
While I wish I could say that we kept ourselves occupied by discussing the geopolitical ramifications of the Louisiana Purchase, magnetic white dwarfs, and the soteriology of early gnostic gospels, kids will be kids.
I guess the point of this post is that my kids seem to think airplanes are only about screens and eating…for better or for worse, when the screens aren’t available, keeping their stomachs full is the best way to keep them quiet!
When I was a kid, I was kept occupied by drawing while on the plane.
Hopefully not on the walls and seat!
https://liveandletsfly.com/draw-all-over-an-airplane/
We do have a TV at home that we let our daughter (4) watch from time to time. Let’s face it, sometimes mummy and daddy need to do things, like tend to her brother (7 mo) or other chores and it distracts her long enough that we can get things done. On airplanes, we have her “iPad” (which isn’t an iPad, but one of those kids Amazon ones) that she can play games and watch Peppa on during flights. This most definitely keeps her entertained for a long time. We were coming home from England on our short haul IAH-OKC and another guy made the comment “I didn’t even realize your daughter was there too” Everyone was oogling over our son and didn’t even notice our daughter sitting next to mummy. It’s nice to get comments like that sometimes.
Indeed, those are the comments we crave as parents!
They can thank the Louisiana purchase for the fact that they were present in Eastern Colorado and didn’t have to pass any immigration checkpoints en route.
Benadryl.
Back in olden times an airline deck of cards and learning to play solitaire was fun. Also tic- tack- toe was good for two.
When my daughter was preschool/kinder age we would play a game with the magazine where she’d find a page, describe it to me, and I’d have to find it in my copy of the magazine or duty-free catalog. Your photo reminded me of this fond memory. So sad they no longer exist.
We flew with 8 kids, oldest being 12, intercontinental.
Yes, we did plan for about 3 months how we will do it.
No, we didn’t let them watch the screens.
We brought snacks, books, tablets, a Gameboy, crayons, markers, a mini white board, lots of patience.
We got some nice compliments so i guess it was a success although we coulda used a vacation afterwards…
But yes, kids on planes w/o screens can work if your willing to put in the effort.
Not meaning to be judgy but don’t know how to ask without sounding that way but you don’t let your kids have juice at home?
This was surprising to me too. We do half apple juice and half water but no juice at all…
@Christian: We have orange trees in our backyard and squeeze juice, but I never buy juice at the store.
“While I wish I could say that we kept ourselves occupied by discussing the geopolitical ramifications of the Louisiana Purchase, magnetic white dwarfs, and the soteriology of early gnostic gospels, kids will be kids.” I would certainly be interested at that, being a 14-year old.
I love the photo of them “Searching for a screen that did not exist!”. Did they actually think the screen was hidden? Or was that just a cute caption?
Yeah. It was a somewhat wistful photo
Not much entertainment on a Constellation Super G which is what I flew when I was 7. We had to get by on books and hope to not need the barf bag.
My son absolutely adored the SkyMall catalog and spent many flights studying every page. I miss those young years.
I love the comments idolizing the old days, the ones without running water, electricity and vaccines. Like that was good.
I just book flights that have screens and stay away from the low quality ones that don’t.