How to Keep Your Children Occupied at Airports

Anyone who has traveled--with or without children--already knows the painful truths about flying with kids.

“It’s not a question of what you do with them on the airplane,” one parent said. “The real problem is what to do with them at the airport.”

The answer, at least at most airports, is nothing. Unfortunately, only a handful of United States and foreign airports offer anything resembling child care.

Chances are you won’t find children’s facilities at large U.S. airports. But you will find some child care and play areas at some unexpected airports.

The first children’s play area of its kind opened at the Pittsburgh International Airport in 1983. It’s called “Kidsport,” a small child-care facility conveniently located in the passenger terminal.

Popular Place

The facility has been open since 1983 and has grown into quite a popular place. Suzanne Morsek, who designed the child-play area, is a mother herself.

“We got to select all of the toys for the play area,” said Morsek, airport planner for the department of aviation in Allegheny County. “We absolutely regressed to our childhood.”

Youngsters visiting Kidsport with their parents pass the time between planes with a Little Tyke playhouse, teeter-totter, play kitchen, play store, books, building blocks and a built-in sliding board. The facility even features Star Wars wallpaper.

Kidsport has a bathroom specifically for the use of the kids and nursing mothers. There is, however, no adult supervision provided for the children.

Other airports have begun copying the Kidsport concept. You can find one at New York’s La Guardia Airport.

“Kidsport isn’t a large room,” said Bob Schwartz, patron services coordinator for La Guardia, “but it is a place where parents with small children can go and let the kids go wild.”

Scaled-Down Version

La Guardia’s version is a scaled-down model featuring a small slide, a play tunnel and a hobby horse.

Lufthansa has a large children’s facility at its main hub in Frankfurt. The airline staffs the lounge with children’s attendants, freeing parents to check in for their flights, claim their baggage, shop or otherwise take a breather.

The Lufthansa children’s facility has at least one staffer on duty between 5 a.m. and midnight every day. “It really works,” spokesman Joe Zucker said. “All the people who have late-night layovers in Frankfurt can take advantage of this supervision for their kids. Plus it’s a nice break for parents when they’ve been on a long flight.”

More than 2,700 children visit the Lufthansa center each month, and the number is growing. There is no charge for the use of the facility, and there is no specified time limit to the amount of use.

At the busy Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates, there’s a popular nursery with a full-time supervisor. It is well-marked and accessible. There’s also a small (eight-room) hotel in the terminal building for families in transit.

But that’s not the case in Singapore.

At Changi Airport, signs point to “nursery.” But the rooms, each with a crib and a sink, are the size of a small closet, and are hardly used. The airport also has a lounge for children, with some staff available for supervision. But don’t look for signs announcing its existence. If you want to use the lounge, you must ask for it.

In Copenhagen, Scandinavian Airlines System operates an indoor children’s playground area at Kastrup Airport. The facility is well-stocked with Lego building blocks (a product of Denmark), a jungle gym, slides and video games. It is easily accessible from the transit hall, but if you need help, SAS staff will escort you to the area.

“It is also one of the most popular spectator areas at the airport,” said SAS spokeswoman Eileen Drutman. The area was designed to be surrounded by huge, thick windows. “People love to watch children have fun, and this is the place to do it,” Drutman added.

In Amsterdam, KLM runs a “Junior Jet Lounge” at Schipol Airport. The supervised area is fully furnished with games, books, films and video games. And, through September, children waiting in the lounge can watch a special video produced by the World Wildlife Fund. And every visitor to the lounge will receive stick-on “panda wuppies.” (Are these pandas that drive BMWs?)

In Australia there’s a kids’ room at the Brisbane International Airport. In the room, children have access to television, color pencils, small play things, soft drinks and ice cream.

But there is a confusing aspect to child care at airports. More often than not, airports have turned the responsibility of child care over to individual airlines. As a result, child care at most airports either doesn’t exist or isn’t properly advertised.

Bet you didn’t know that Trans World Airlines has child-care centers for children flying alone at its major hub airports, like John F. Kennedy in New York and Lambert International in St. Louis. These rooms feature television, books, video games and small toys.

For the child who chooses to take parents along on a trip, lounges are made available to parents with small children upon request. “We realize how difficult it is for traveling parents,” said Dick Green, TWA’s manager of passenger services. “All a parent has to do is ask.”

The problem, of course, is that few know they have this option.

United features child service centers at a number of its hub airports, including Chicago and Denver. The child service center is where a travel-weary minor can find a soda, something to eat, read a book or play a game.

And the airline needs those centers. United Airlines handles more than 200 unaccompanied minors per day at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. “Most unaccompanied minors are very well-seasoned travelers,” said United spokesman Joe Hopkins. “They are usually on their way to visit either their grandparents or a divorced parent, so flying alone is absolutely nothing new to them.

“If for any reason there is a delay, and the unaccompanied minor is going to be on the ground for more than an hour, we make sure that the people waiting for the child at the destination are called and informed of the status of the flight.”

Unaccompanied minors are given a red-and-white badge that every airport employee is trained to recognize. Once the child is met at the arrival gate, United promises constant supervision in the airport until the child is met by relatives or makes his or her plane connection.

United charges $20 per stop that the minor makes on connecting flights, to cover the cost of sending somebody to the gate to meet the child.

What about canceled flights and kids being stuck in an airport overnight? At least in Chicago, United has an agreement with the O’Hare Hilton to provide grounded children with rooms for the night at the airline’s expense. A United service agent would then stay the entire night with the child.

One of the more comprehensive child-care operations is run by British Caledonian Airways at its Gatwick Airport facility in London.

“When it comes to child care,” said Stephanie Gilpin, special facilities executive for British Caledonian, “we feel you can’t separate the airport from the airline experience. We stay with the kids before, during and even after their flights with us.”

British Caledonian has a large, dedicated staff at Gatwick to assist mothers traveling alone with children who need or require assistance. Last year, more than 22,000 unaccompanied children flew with the airline.

At Gatwick, British Caledonian has an upstairs lounge for unaccompanied children, with trained supervisors on duty. The lounge features TV, video games, soft drinks, milk and cookies. If the layover lasts more than an hour, the airline treats the kids to a full meal.

There is a separate nursing mothers room. And, for mothers boarding planes with babies, the airline provides a “baby pack”--a box with essential baby wipes, towels and bibs.

Children’s escorts, known affectionately by airline officials as “aunties,” are part-time employees brought in as needed during peak children’s travel times.

There is no extra charge for this service. And, if there are flights carrying more than 10 unaccompanied children (this happens more frequently than one might think), British Caledonian will send an escort on the flight to travel with the kids. If an unaccompanied child is under 6, an escort is required. The airline will provide that escort for a charge of 50% of the one-way fare, which is quite a bargain.

“Our mandate is to stay with the children until we hand them over at their destination to their relatives, no matter what,” said Gilpin.