Summer travel tips on how to fly better, from a real mom

Flying with kids can be a great experience, but how do you find the flights that keep the kids entertained — and keep you sane?

Routehappy’s director of PR and communications (and mom of two boys!) Kellie Pelletier shares some of her top tips and explains how Routehappy helps her family fly better.

Air New Zealand’s friendly flight crews delight smaller travelers, but how can you keep them happy closer to home?

Traveling with the family, especially young children, is one of the hardest things parents do, or at least it is for me! Over the years I’ve developed a core toolkit of tips:

Hungry kids are grumpy kids, and hungry adults are grumpy too! Pack granola bars, and assemble a few zip-lock bags of trail mix, plus a couple of treats, for the road and the plane. My kids love the tubes of apple sauce, and the sucking required to eat the snack pops can unblock ears.
Spend time with the airport maps. Figure out the general layout (how to get from the parking lot to the terminal to security) before you leave home. Print the map at home, and trace your route with a highlighter pen. Works great as a treasure map for kids too! Once you’ve checked in online, figure out which gate you’re heading for.
Save time at the TSA: kids under 12 do not have to take off their shoes. And keep that iPad in your purse, because unlike your laptop, your iPad does not have to be removed and scanned separately. Plus, the TSA makes accommodations for medicine, special diets (like Almond Milk for casein-free diets), and breast milk, but take these items out and let the agents know what you’re packing and why. It never hurts to have a doctor’s note for special diets and medicine.
Plan out where you’ll wait for your flight. The gate is not always the best option! Sometimes a family restaurant or kids’ play area is en route. The airport-themed play area at Philadelphia airport is one of my kids’ favorite places on earth.
Don’t forget that if you bought a ticket for the kids, they get their own luggage allowances too. Board first (consider paying a little extra if necessary) so that you can stow all the family’s stuff at or near your row.
No one wants to sit in the last row, but I actually prefer the last row when traveling with the kiddos. We’re close to the bathroom, so we are likely to avoid accidents. Plus, the constant line of people coming and going to the potty will keep the kids entertained. A good game of peek-a-boo with a stranger can ward off a tantrum! Finally, if one of more of the kids does burst into hysterics, you’re only bothering a few rows in front of you, instead of in front of you and behind you.

The question I am most often asked is, “What’s the best airline for kids?” It’s not really about the best airline, as it is the comfiest plane with lots of perks to keep the kids occupied and content.

And happily the folks at Routehappy built a website that reveals the services and amenities that make flying with the family a little easier. Routehappy displays everything I need to know on the results page such as whether or not the flight has Wi-Fi, entertainment or extra legroom.

We call them Happiness Factors. It’s so easy to choose the happiest flight that even the kids can be part of the decision. Especially important for family travelers:

Seat back entertainment (unlimited Disney Jr? And I get my iPad back? Yes please!)
Wi-Fi (your teen is stuck on a plane for five hours—perfect time to write that book report)
Extra legroom so your 12 month old, who just learned to walk and refuses to sit, can stand and roam without walking the aisle
Extra legroom so your 2-year-old can’t kick the seat in front of you
Wider seat so your toddler can share your seat and cuddle during nap time
a 3-across seat layout so your child can lay across you and your significant other during nap time… or a 4-across seat layout so your family of 4 can sit together
Plugs and USB sockets so everyone can recharge their own devices on long-haul trips

And Routehappy’s quick toggle between Happiest and Cheapest means that parents can really weigh up price versus value for the very first time.

I can find those few bigger planes on popular routes, or the better planes when flying to Grandma’s house (which means I can avoid wrangling a toddler onto a tiny regional jet).

Find that happier flight for you and your family right now!

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Posted in Genius tips, Philadelphia, Routehappy favorites

Kuwait Airways… from New York to London?

Kuwait Airways’ seats — joint prizeholder with American Airlines for the roomiest seats across the Atlantic with a spacious 32″ + Wide rating — are a real hidden gem when flying New York to London. Know someone who’d want to learn about them?

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Posted in Airline, Genius tips, Kuwait Airways, London, New York

Board faster, be happier on American Airlines: carry less on board

Flyers tell us that the boarding process is one of the most stressful parts of their trip. All that waiting while that one guy tries to maneuver his enormous case into the bin, or has to push his way back to the front of the cabin after stowing it in row 22.

So American Airlines is making it easier for people who don’t have bulky bags: those folks now get their own special priority place in line.

The new “Customers Without Overhead Luggage” boarding group slots in after frequent flyers, business/first class passengers, uniformed military and anyone who’s bought priority boarding.

You’ll need to fit your bag under the seat in front of you in order to board, so the real benefit to flying lighter is getting to skip waiting in that enormous line that snakes down the aisle and onto the jetway.

Is it worth it to you? We’re interested whether this makes you happier, or whether you’ll still be wheeling your rollaboard down the aisles. Let us know here on the Routehappy blog, join the conversation on Twitter, or discuss it on our Facebook page.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Airplane food can make you happy: Singapore Airlines and Gotham Bar & Grill

We’re always on the lookout for things that make you happier inflight. And one of the ways to happiness, we know, is through your stomach!

That’s why inflight food is one of the Happiness Factors we’re thinking about adding to Routehappy. We already track aircraft type, seat type, seat layout, entertainment, power, Wi-Fi, duration and connections, plus a flyer rating from real travelers just like you.

As part of our research, the folks at Singapore Airlines suggested that we come watch new dishes for their onboard menus being developed by the team at Gotham Bar & Grill, a New York institution.

Chefs at Gotham Bar & Grill work with Singapore Airlines to create innovative inflight food.

Three of the Gotham chefs were cooking and plating up potential options for the three chefs on the Singapore Airlines side.

The trick for food in the air is to aim for umami. That’s the rich, savory taste that you’d find in soy sauce, parmesan cheese, soup stock, and so on.

That’s because taste buds don’t work the same at 8,000 feet of altitude (that’s the equivalent to what you’d find inside most planes these days) as they do at sea level.

Singapore Airlines' chefs take great pride in figuring out how to translate food from kitchen to plane.

But, as British chef Heston Blumenthal explains in his work helping British Airways with their food, adding umami makes food taste much better in the air.

The food we tasted with Singapore Airlines was very umami-rich — a stuffed veal with marsala wine reduction and roasted (nearly caramelized) vegetables, for example.

Singapore Airlines' veal with marsala wine looks delicious.

Or a skin-on chicken breast with onions and a crispy polenta cake. Yum.

The key to keeping chicken tasty in flight: the skin.

And let’s not even talk about the desserts. If the pineapple cremeux with Thai green curry ice cream (yes, really — it was insanely great!) doesn’t make it on board then there’s no justice in the world.

Yes, Thai green curry ice cream. Sounds insane, tastes insanely good.

Yep, this is very much food for the front of the plane. But the principles of adding umami are the same for those of us who travel down the back too.

And as we tasted and chatted with the Singapore Airlines chefs, one of the most interesting things we observed was how much thought they were already giving to assembling each dish on board.

Singapore Airlines' chefs are careful to ensure that the dishes can be replicated on a plane.

A professional chef is just fine with eight to ten steps from pan to plate. But when your chef is a flight attendant, with just convection ovens, steam ovens and a microwave to make your restaurant-quality dinner — and serving dozens of other people in the cabin too — it’s clear why the team at Singapore Airlines are so keen to make the food elegant, delicious and simple.

The phone camera: tool of choice for today's modern airline chef.

Our favorite part of the process? Chef Chan taking pictures with her Galaxy Note tablet-phone. No, she’s not Instagramming this — it’s so that she can teach her crew how to replicate each step of the process.

We’ll be bringing you more on inflight food and other Happiness Factors we’re developing for Routehappy. Keep in touch with us here on the Routehappy blog, join the conversation on Twitter, or follow our Facebook page. We’d love to hear what makes food on a plane great (or gross!) for you.

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Posted in Food, New York, Routehappy favorites, Singapore, Singapore Airlines

Just look at those new Boeing 737 MAX 7 winglets on Southwest Airlines!

We love keeping track of which airline has ordered what plane, what they’re putting on board, and what new amenities you’ll find once the planes start flying for you. We’re geeks like that!

But sometimes, it’s the plane itself that’s just awesome. Southwest Airlines is the launch customer for the smallest aircraft in the next generation of Boeing narrowbody (one aisle) planes, the 737 MAX 7.

The big thing? Those double winglets. They reduce fuel burn, so your flights have less environmental impact, and we’re just plain plane crazy about the way they look. Awesome, right? We can’t wait for 2019.

In the meantime (just six short years to go), we’re keeping track of everything on board the planes you’ll see today. Find a happier flight on Routehappy right now and see what’s available on your flight!

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Posted in Boeing 737, Southwest, Type of plane

Another reason to pick the Airbus A380 or Boeing 787.

New planes like the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 are important! That’s why we factor them into our Happiness Scores, so that you can fly better.

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Posted in Airbus A380, Boeing 787, Genius tips, Type of plane

Travel Trivia Tuesday: Which state doesn’t have commercial flights, but will this summer?

Good news, America: all fifty states will have commercial air service again this summer!

Can you guess which state didn’t have any scheduled airline flights? If you said “Delaware”, you’re right.

But don’t worry, First State residents, you can soar above the clouds without driving to another state first in just a couple of months.

Frontier is starting flights to Delaware’s New Castle Airport in Wilmington (airport code ILG), which has been without scheduled flights for a good part of its history. The most recent gap dates back to 2008, when Skybus folded — remember them?

The airline is pretty clear about who it expects to buy the flights to “Wilmington/Philadelphia”, though. (Hint: Delaware, that’s not you.)

The new flights start on July 1st, and run to Chicago Midway, Orlando, Tampa, Houston and Denver. Not every airport is served every day, so you’ll need to plan carefully.

Routehappy’s Flightpad system scores the first Wilmington-Orlando flight on July 2nd as a Very Good 7.8 Happiness Score, thanks to the wider seats (31″+W), live TV & movies available for purchase, and Frontier has an Excellent flyer rating from Routehappy’s community of reviewers.

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Posted in Uncategorized

International Wi-Fi on American? Yep.

International Wi-Fi is the next big thing. Routehappy is the only flight search site that tracks it outside the US, so that you know where you’ll be able to get to the cloud, in the clouds. Find a happier flight right now.

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Posted in American, Boeing 777, Genius tips, Wi-Fi

Now you can book direct with US Airways on Routehappy!

We know that flyers like buying their tickets direct from airlines, so we’re thrilled to welcome US Airways as our latest airline booking partner. Hey there, Phoenix!

Now once you’ve found the happiest flight for the lowest price, we’ll hand you over to our buddies at US Airways to buy your ticket.

As well as US Airways, you can book direct on American Airlines, Delta and United, plus Air France, Alitalia and KLM — and we’re adding new partners frequently. For other airlines, our friends at Priceline (no longer just a bid-for-flights site!) will take good care of you.

Want more updates from Routehappy? Join us on Facebook and Twitter for all the very latest.

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Posted in Airline, Phoenix, Routehappy, US Airways

Alitalia? (Yes, Alitalia.)

That direct aisle access is super-important: you don’t get much chance for sleep on a flight from NYC to Rome, and being woken up by a neighbor is a pain. Full flat pods are the best in business class, because you don’t have any neighbors. That’s why we rate them so highly in our Happiness Scores.

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Posted in Alitalia, Seats