Flying with kids on Delta — a plain guide from a family-travel helpline

A caller last month was flying MSP to LAX with a 14-month-old on her lap and a 5-year-old buckled into the seat next to her. She wanted to know if she really needed a car seat, whether the toddler could sleep against the tray table, and whether Delta would board her before the mob at Zone 3. Fair questions. We get variations on all of them every week at our helpline.

What follows is the version we talk callers through: lap infants, unaccompanied minors, the 2023 family seating rule, and the small stuff that makes a red-eye survivable.

Lap infants under 2

If your child is under 2, you can hold them on your lap for free on any domestic Delta flight. On international flights you'll still owe taxes and fees, which can run from about $50 to a few hundred dollars depending on the destination. That's the setup as of writing; Delta can adjust it without much notice.

Two things people forget:

• The lap infant has to be listed on the reservation. Not just added at the gate. Call Delta, or use the Fly Delta app, and you'll get a boarding pass for the baby even though they don't have their own seat.
• One infant per adult. Traveling solo with twins is a problem that requires either a second adult on the reservation or a purchased seat.

We hear this from callers a lot. "But my baby is only 10 months, do I really need a car seat?" No, you don't. If the flight is longer than about 3 hours, though, buy a seat for the baby and bring your FAA-approved car seat, rear-facing for infants and toddlers. It has a red "certified for use in aircraft" sticker on the side. On a bumpy 767-400 descent into DTW, you'll be glad the baby is strapped in.

Unaccompanied minors: the UMNR program

Delta accepts children ages 5 through 14 as unaccompanied minors, and the UMNR service is required in that range. For 15- to 17-year-olds it's optional; parents can add it if they want the extra hand-off. The fee is currently around $150 each way per child, and one adult can book up to four kids under the service.

The rules that catch people:

• Nonstop, or one connection at most. No two-connection itineraries under UMNR.
• Delta or Delta Connection only. If any leg is operated by a partner airline like Air France or Aeromexico, the UMNR service doesn't cover it.
• You'll fill out the UMNR form at the airport with drop-off and pick-up details. The pick-up person needs a government photo ID that matches what you wrote down.

If your 15-year-old is mature and you trust them on a plane alone, skipping the service saves $300 round-trip. But UMNR buys you a gate escort, an assigned Delta employee handoff, and, in a weather mess, someone tracking your kid through a rebooking. On a day where JFK goes into a ground stop and every flight cascades, it's cheap insurance.

Family seating: the 2023 rule Delta really does follow

A 2023 Department of Transportation rule requires US airlines to seat children 13 and under next to at least one accompanying adult, at no extra fee, when adjacent seats are available. Delta was one of the airlines that implemented it. You should not have to pay for a seat assignment just to sit next to your 8-year-old.

The wrinkle is that it works best when you book early and use the seat map at booking. If you're staring at a Basic Economy fare 3 days out and the map shows nothing together, don't panic-buy Comfort+ upgrades. Call Delta first. Or call us.

At the airport, if you're still not sitting together, ask a gate agent. They have reseating tools the Fly Delta app hides. We've almost never had a caller end up separated from a small child after talking to a gate agent 30 minutes before boarding. Doesn't mean it can't happen.

Car seats and strollers at the gate

Both are free. You can gate-check a stroller at the jet bridge and it'll be waiting for you when you deplane at ATL, SEA, or wherever you land. Grab a tag from the gate podium when you check in.

Car seats: if you bought a seat for your child, install it there. It must be FAA-approved, with that red sticker. Rear-facing for infants and toddlers, forward-facing for older kids up to the seat's weight limit. If you're using the lap-infant option, gate-check the car seat with the stroller.

One catch: not every seat on every plane fits a car seat. Bulkhead rows sometimes don't. Exit rows never do. On the A321neo the standard window seats are usually fine; on older 737-900s the geometry can be tight. When in doubt, take a window in the middle of the cabin.

Snacks, screens, and the "are we there yet" hours

Delta Studio streams free to your phone or tablet on any flight with entertainment wifi enabled. Download the Fly Delta app at home and cache a few episodes ahead of time, because kids and buffer wheels are a bad combination at 30,000 feet.

Kids' headphones are the thing parents underpack. Adult over-ears don't fit small heads, and airline earbuds hurt after 20 minutes. Wired kid-sized headphones plug into the seatback screen and into your iPad. Bring a splitter if two kids want the same show.

Bring more snacks than you think. Delta hands out Biscoff cookies and pretzels; that's not dinner for a 6-year-old at 7pm.

Boarding: the "Pre-Board" thing nobody announces

Delta's boarding process includes a pre-board call for families with children under 2, before Zone 1. Some gate agents announce it, some don't. If you have a lap infant or a small child and you want time to install a car seat without 200 people waiting behind you, walk up to the podium 5 minutes before boarding starts and ask. They'll wave you on with the first group.

Worth the trip to the podium. Strapping a car seat into 22F while a full economy cabin shuffles past you is a specific kind of misery.

Red-eye tips

Window seat, always, for a sleeping kid. The wall is something to lean on. Do not put a small child in the middle of a 3-across for an overnight flight; they'll end up sprawled across two strangers.

Skip First Class on a red-eye if your kid won't sit still. First Class passengers, fairly or not, expect quiet. If your 4-year-old is going to kick the seat and demand crackers at 2am, Comfort+ or Main Cabin is the more relaxed cabin for everyone, including you.

Pack a change of clothes for the kid in your carry-on. And one for yourself. We had a caller stuck at LAX after a spilled apple juice incident with no clean shirt for the 6-hour red-eye back to ATL.

Blackout eye masks help older kids fall asleep once the cabin dims. So does one snack you never let them have at home. Skittles at 35,000 feet is a bribe with a very high success rate.

This guide is written by Travel Support, an independent third-party helpline. We are not affiliated with Delta Air Lines. Policies and rules described are subject to change; consult delta.com and official government sources for definitive information.