Fiesta Tots A professional's view

The professionals

As parents, we are knowledgeable on so many aspects of our children’s care. But, with new experiences, come new questions. While I have endeavoured to write about some of my experiences and top tips for travelling, they are not the complete picture.
Below are some pointers, does and don’ts about travel, written by those that you will come into contact with when travelling. Some points might seem obvious, others are just staff annoyances, but most will just make your life easier in the long run and travelling more fun.

Cabin Crew
Check-in Agent
Ferry Company Staff
Nanny/Maternity Nurse
Teacher
Train Operator
Travel Agent

This section is a work in progress, we will add more thoughts and views over the coming months. If there are additional professionals that you would like to see in this section, then please let us know and we will try and sort that out.

Cabin Crew

When you first board the aircraft, let the children just sit straight in their seats with their own bags. This enables you to quickly put all the bags away. Entertainment and other toys can be got out of their bags once you are all sat down. It is a good idea to have easy access to children’s bags during the flight and so place them under the seat in front. Boarding this way speeds the process up and stops you feeling as if you are delaying those behind you.
Try and take toilet-trained children to the toilet prior to boarding, as it is might be a long wait. Often the chance won’t arise until after take-off and the seatbelt sign is switched off. But, we will always try to help if possible.
We want children to enjoy flying (many of us do the job, because of a childhood love of flying), but please don’t let your children wander around the cabins or worse run up and down the aisles. The cabin-service trolleys are very heavy and could seriously hurt a child if they ran into a trolley.
Please don’t start moving seats until after take-off or if requested by the cabin crew. Often the weight and balance of an aircraft is precisely calculated on where the passengers are seated. This is especially true of near-empty flights. Having said that the best bet is just to ask the crew if you can move, as nine times out of ten it will be fine.

Check-in Agent

Smile – we may spend our days looking at a computer screen and asking serious security questions, but we are human and checking in a happy family is always better than a stressed one and makes our job more enjoyable.
Have all your documents (ie passports and booking number) ready before you come to the check-in desk or gate. Keep them safe, but easily accessible. This speeds your process up and reduces your stress levels (if you can’t find something, for example).
Double check the number and weight of luggage allowed. Airlines do vary greatly, especially with hand-luggage so be careful. We will check and we honestly hate having to ask people to re-pack their bags.
While passport holders are useful for keeping documents safe, please pass your passport to an agent with the cover removed. It makes it easier for us to check all the details of a group, especially if it is large and the age of children needs to be checked.
Sorry, I hate to be the barer of bad news, but please do not ask for an upgrade. These are never given at check-in anymore, unless you pay for it.
When you are called forward for boarding, have your buggy already folded and bags ready. Otherwise the queue you are in could grind to a holt while you sort yourselves out and passengers behind you get disgruntled.
If you have the chance to choose your seats before getting to the airport DO NOT leave a spare seat between members of the group. You might think it is a good idea to do this, thinking that if the flight isn’t full, then you might have an extra seat for a baby in the party. In reality, this can cause problems for the cabin crew and check-in agents if the flight is full. Worst case, agents will be looking at the flight before check-in opens and have to move people’s seats, in order to accommodate large groups. This could result in you being moved completely away from the cabin area you had chosen. Even if you are not moved, there are some passengers that refuse to move from the seat they are allocated, no matter what, so you could end up with them between you.

Ferry Company Staff

Nanny/Maternity Nurse

Teacher

Train Operator

Travel Agent

Try and book as early as you are able. Not only does this give you a much better choice, but much better value too. For example booking early could mean you reserve the perfect 2-bed villa for the same price as a not so early booking involving just a 1 bedroom villa or apartment.
On the subject of accommodation, try to be realistic about the size you need. We often find that those with at least 2 children really would be better off with a 2-bedroom villa or apartment. The idea being that the children can still go to bed earlier than the adults, and the parents can still relax/socialise before sleeping in their separate room with a proper bed.
Think prior to going into a travel agent about what you want from the resort. For example, if kids clubs will be useful, say, as it can make a real difference to the types of holidays we show you.