Flying tips with infant and toddler twins

We just got back from our family vacation for the summer: 10 days visiting family in Casper, Wyoming. It was a great time, but there were plenty logistics involved in the flight to Denver and 4 hour drive to Casper. And lots of time in the car to write down some of the lessons from 16 air flights with twins:

• Our policy over the last 18 months was to "lap baby" our girls for flights under 2-1/2 hours. Otherwise we always bought a 3rd seat. When lap babying bring a copy of their birth certificate to the airport so you can prove their age. Some airlines seem to require it others, some don't, so you can't go wrong having it.
  
• When flying with two lap babies there's the whole issue of the parents not being able to sit in the same bank of seats because there are not sufficient oxygen masks for more than one lap baby. Once we entered the realm of squirmy babies we found that rather than sitting across the aisle from each other, it worked out well to sit one in front of another. This way the most squirmy daughter would be held by the parent in back and she was just kicking into another parent rather than a random passenger, which can be stressful.
  
• Also because of the oxygen mask situation, if you're still breastfeeding while traveling with lap babies just be comfortable with the fact that you'll be breastfeeding in close quarters with a stranger. Even if the aisle or window is on one side, another passenger will probably be on the other side.
• Both of those scenarios hold true for a full flight, which a lot of planes are these days. But always make sure to ask at the gate how many empty seats they might expect so you can try to grab an extra one (at least on Southwest... other airlines may be helpful in trying to get you a "soft block" on the seat adjacent to yours).
• Pre-boarding isn't necessarily your friend. We've learned that on flights with reserved seating it's sometimes just as well to be one of the last to board. That way the babies can crawl/run around as much as possible before getting on. And it's not like we have a rolling suitcase we're toting around that needs precious overhead bin space.
  

• Don't have any expectations of the flight attendants. While on some trips our flight attendants have been amazing saviors -- walked the girls up and down the aisle, holding them while I used the bathroom -- other flights have been nightmares. I've a seen a team roll their eyes at each other and even make some nasty comments about kids on their last flight as they saw us boarding. I've also had a flight attendant who paused and wrinkled his nose every time before collecting our trash saying "is that a dirty diaper?" Um, no it's clearly a peanut wrapper. If you're on the sensitive side like me feeling unwelcome makes a stressful situation worse. I've discovered it works best to board the plane with the lowest expectations for support and then usually be very pleasantly surprised. To be fair to flight attendants I'm sure they have their share of miserable stories dealing with kids. And on the dirty diaper note, I've found the best way to stay on the flight crew's good side is to have plenty bags at hand in order to double bag dirty diapers and bring them to the flight attendants so they can put them in the designated place for human waste (on some airlines that's the bathroom and in other cases it goes in the galley trash).
• DONT' FORGET: from 0-6 months make SURE to bring lots of diapers and changes of clothes. My friends and I have never put our finger on the cause (pressurization? all the extra nursing the kids do by moms desperate to keep them calm?) but messy poop explosions multiply on airplane flights. One of my 2-1/2 month olds went through 3 changes of clothes on a 4-1/2 hour flight. from 6-12 months a toy they have never seen before. At the beginning when baby gifts are rolling in put aside a few toys for travel occassions. Novelty works. from 1-2 years a DoodlePro travel-sized pad... it's one of those magnetic drawing boards that you can wipe clean and oh my goodness it is the perfect thing for first drawing FOR your kids and then once they get older (say 18 months) letting them go at it on their own.