Fly Tot Review: Our Experience + What’s New With the Fly Tot Plus

Let’s be honest, flying with a toddler is one of the most challenging times to fly with your children. It can be especially challenging on a long-haul flight, when they have to sit still for hours on end. Getting your toddler to sleep on a long flight can make a huge difference, both during the flight and when you arrive at your destination with a happier, well-rested child.

In our experience flying with toddlers, the Original Fly Tot inflatable airplane bed was essential toddler travel gear. We owned two Fly Tots and used them for more than 50 hours of flying with our kids. We had an exceptionally good success rate getting our kids to sleep comfortably on the plane while using the Fly Tot cushion.

In this Fly Tot review, we share our real-life experiences along with the pros and cons of this inflatable airplane cushion.

This post contains compensated links.

Original Fly Tot vs Fly Tot plus

There is one important update to make before we get into our Fly Tot review.

The Fly Tot we personally used with our kids was the Original Fly Tot. The version currently sold is the Fly Tot Plus, which has been redesigned with several significant improvements. We have not personally used the new Fly Tot Plus.

The photos and personal experiences throughout this article are from our travels with the Original Fly Tot, while all current product details have been updated based on the latest information from Fly Tot.

Minimum Age for Fly Tot Plus

There is also an important age difference parents should know about. Fly Tot currently says the Fly Tot Plus is designed for children ages 2 to 8. Our son was only 14 months old when we first used our Original Fly Tot on our flight to Japan nearly a decade ago. While that is part of our real experience and the story of why we became such big fans of the product, we would follow the current manufacturer’s guidance when buying and using the Fly Tot Plus today.

If your child is between 2 and 8 years old, will have their own airplane seat and you have a long flight coming up, the Fly Tot Plus is definitely worth considering.

What Is the Fly Tot Plus?

The Fly Tot Plus is an inflatable airplane cushion that fills the legroom between your child’s airplane seat and the seat in front of them. This extends the usable area of the airplane seat so your child has more room to stretch out, play and sleep.

For a toddler or younger child in an economy seat, that extra space can make a surprisingly big difference. Instead of having their legs hanging off the edge of the seat, they have a larger, flatter area where they can get comfortable.

That was exactly what we loved about our Original Fly Tots. Both of our kids used the extra space for sleeping, but it was useful even when they were awake. It gave them more room to sit and play without toys constantly falling onto the airplane floor.

The current Fly Tot Plus is designed primarily for children ages 2 to 8, although Fly Tot says adults can also use it as a leg rest. It is not a child restraint system and it does not replace your child’s airplane seat belt or an approved child restraint when one is required.

What’s New With the Fly Tot Plus?

The basic idea behind the Fly Tot hasn’t changed, but the current Fly Tot Plus has several improvements over the Original Fly Tot we travelled with.

A New Two-Width Design

One of the biggest changes is the shape. The Fly Tot Plus has a patented two-width design. One side is wider for larger footwells and the other is narrower for tighter spaces. Fly Tot says this allows it to fit most standard economy and premium economy seats. It can also be positioned lengthwise in some bulkhead seating areas.

This is a useful improvement given how much airplane seat dimensions can vary between aircraft. That said, I would never assume it will fit simply because Fly Tot says it is designed for most airplane seats. Your airline’s rules always come first, and individual aircraft configurations can vary.

Automatic Safety Release Valve

The Fly Tot Plus also has a new patented emergency safety release valve.
According to Fly Tot, the valve is designed to automatically deflate the cushion in the event of a sudden change in cabin pressure. This was not a feature of the Original Fly Tots we travelled with and is one of the most significant updates to the current model.

Easier One-Valve System

The current Fly Tot Plus uses a simplified single-valve system for inflation and deflation.
Our Original Fly Tots were already quite easy to inflate and deflate, but simplifying this even further is a welcome change when you are trying to set everything up in an economy seat with kids, carry-on bags and other passengers around you.

Tiny Electric Pump Included

This is another update I would have loved when our kids were little. The Fly Tot Plus now comes with a rechargeable electric Tiny Pump instead of relying on the larger manual pump we travelled with. Fly Tot says the Tiny Pump can inflate the Fly Tot in under one minute. It fits in the palm of your hand and comes with five nozzles, so it can also be used for other low-pressure inflatables.

The current Fly Tot Plus kit includes the inflatable cushion, Tiny Pump, charging cable, five pump nozzles, a strap for keeping the deflated cushion rolled up and a carrying bag. When we travelled with the Original Fly Tot, the manual pump took up a significant amount of room in my husband’s carry-on bag, so in my experience, the new Tiny Pump is a significant upgrade.

Better Access Under the Seat

The Fly Tot Plus also has a tapered design intended to avoid blocking access to things located underneath the seat in front of you, such as the life jacket or in-flight entertainment equipment.

Again, this is a thoughtful improvement over the older design and shows that the product has evolved considerably since we first started travelling with ours.

Panic! Why We Got Our First Fly Tot Airplane Travel Bed

Here’s the story of how we were introduced to our first toddler airplane travel bed and how it fundamentally changed the way we travelled with toddlers.

When we booked our 10-hour red-eye flight from Calgary, Canada to Tokyo, we decided to fly with our 14-month-old son as a lap toddler. At this stage, we’d flown enough with our kids that we thought we could handle flying with a toddler on our lap on a long flight.

But as our trip to Tokyo with a baby got closer, we both started to get nervous about having our busy toddler on our laps for such a long flight. He did not like to be held and just wanted to move all the time. We could tell that this was going to be a problem.

My husband made a concerted effort to hold him on his lap leading up to our flight, but he just wouldn’t sit still. We were really worried, but there was no turning back at this point, so we had to make this work.

This is when we started researching the best ways to get a toddler to sleep comfortably on a plane. That’s when we discovered the Original Fly Tot inflatable airplane cushion.

Important: This experience was with the Original Fly Tot nearly a decade ago. The current Fly Tot Plus is designed for children ages 2 to 8, so we would not use our experience with our 14-month-old as guidance for using the current model with a child under 2.

Enter the Fly Tot Airplane Travel Bed for Toddlers – A Game Changer!

The Fly Tot is an inflatable flight cushion for toddlers that fits in the leg room area between their seat and the seat in front of them. The idea is that the Fly Tot cushion will allow your little one room to lay down flat on a regular, economy seat, turning the seat into a travel bed for toddlers on airplanes.

I had read about some parents having really positive experiences with the Fly Tot airplane cushion in a few Facebook groups that I was a part of. We thought that if we could use the Fly Tot to get at least one of our two kids sleeping on the plane, that would be a huge win.

Our First Flight with the Original Fly Tot

So how did our flight with the Fly Tot go? It went much better than expected, despite a rough start.

Because we only had three seats for four people, we initially set up our 3-year-old daughter with the Fly Tot and an iPad. She loved her toddler airplane bed and was perfectly content to sit there and watch her movie.

Our toddler was a different story. As expected, he did not want to be held and was just getting increasingly overtired and vocal. We spent most of the early part of the international flight standing with him in the area near the toilets or at the back of the plane. We tried to get him to sleep by walking with him in our baby carrier, but it just wasn’t happening. He wanted to play.

Finally, my husband suggested we put our toddler on the seat with the Fly Tot and put our daughter between us. It worked perfectly.

With a Fly Tot in front of him, he now had his own area to stand, sit and play. We were able to relax and not struggle to keep him in our arms. Our daughter was still happy as long as her movie was on (Frozen, it’s always Frozen).

He eventually had a sleep on the Fly Tot inflatable airplane travel bed. Although we would have preferred a much longer sleep, we were very happy with what we got. As a bonus, our daughter also had a sleep on this miraculous inflatable toddler bed for planes.

Our Flight Home With the Fly Tot

Our flight home from Japan was even better. We were lucky to have a relatively empty flight, so I was able to grab two empty seats next to a window with our little guy. My husband stayed in the three middle seats with our daughter.

I made use of the Fly Tot again to give our very busy toddler an area to play and he even slept for four hours straight!

I said to my husband after, “Is that what it feels like to have kids sleep on the flight?”. For the first time in our three years since having kids, my husband watched a movie and I read a book. Amazing!!

Fly Tot Pros and Cons

We initially got the Original Fly Tot inflatable airplane bed for our 10+ hour long-haul flights between Canada and Japan. We eventually owned two Fly Tots and used them extensively on our family travels.

With well over 50 hours of in-flight experience using our Original Fly Tots, we can confidently share what we loved about them and what parents should consider before buying the current Fly Tot Plus.

Fly Tot Pros

More Sleep for Everyone

Isn’t that what every parent wants on a long flight? Getting our kids comfortable enough to sleep was easily the biggest benefit for us. We used our Fly Tots successfully over and over again on long-haul flights.

No travel product can guarantee your toddler will sleep on a plane, of course. We all know toddlers don’t work that way! But if your child struggles to get comfortable in an airplane seat, having more space to stretch out can certainly help.

Extra Room for Your Child

Both of our kids enjoyed the extra room the Original Fly Tot provided for sleeping. But there’s more to it than that. When our kids weren’t sleeping, the inflatable leg rest gave them a flat space and extra real estate to play without having to worry as much about things falling onto the floor.

The Fly Tot Plus serves the same basic purpose today.

More Freedom for Parents

No more worrying about needing to go pee after your child falls asleep on you. This was a surprisingly big benefit on overnight flights. When our kids slept on their own seats rather than on us, we could actually move around without worrying about waking out little ones.

Easy Inflation and Deflation

Our Original Fly Tots were super easy to inflate and literally took seconds to deflate. Nobody on the plane ever noticed when I was inflating one. Deflating was as simple as opening the valves and pushing the air out.

The current model should make this even easier. The Fly Tot Plus now includes the rechargeable Tiny Pump, which Fly Tot says inflates the cushion in under a minute.

Durability

We hauled our Original Fly Tots with us on five major overseas trips totalling more than 120 days on the road. They still worked as well as the first time we used them.

We can’t personally speak to the long-term durability of the Fly Tot Plus because we haven’t travelled with the current model, but our Original Fly Tots certainly held up extremely well.

Fly Tot Cons

It Takes Up Some Carry-on Space

Our Original Fly Tot was a little big to carry. I can’t complain because I didn’t carry it, but it took up the bottom third of my husband’s carry-on bag.

Given the huge benefit of getting our young kids to sleep on flights, he didn’t mind carrying it.

The current Fly Tot Plus packs to approximately 11 x 8 x 3 inches and comes with its own carrying bag, so this is one area where the newer version appears more travel-friendly.

It’s an Investment

If you only plan on using the Fly Tot for a single flight with your toddler, the cost may be more than you want to spend.

If you have several long-haul flights coming up, it becomes much easier to justify. We used our Original Fly Tots on flight after flight, and the amount of sleep they helped our family get made them well worth it for us.

Not Every Airline Allows Inflatable Airplane Beds

This is the biggest caveat today. There is no universal rule allowing Fly Tots on every airline. Airline policies differ and can change. Fly Tot recommends contacting your airline before purchasing and states that the final decision about using the product remains with the cabin crew.

Not Designed for Babies Under 2

This is an especially important consideration for Baby Can Travel readers. Fly Tot currently specifies an intended age range of 2 to 8 years old.

Where Can You Use a Fly Tot on an Airplane?

Where you position your Fly Tot is important.

Fly Tot says it should only be used at a window seat or in the middle seat of a centre section where it will not interfere with another passenger’s access to the aisle. It should not be used in a position where another passenger would have to climb over it to reach the aisle.

To help visualize how an inflatable travel cushion can be used as a travel bed for toddlers on airplanes, here is a useful infographic from Singapore Airlines.

Is the Fly Tot Allowed on Airlines?

Every airline in the world has its own policies on inflatable airplane beds. We strongly recommend checking your airline’s current policy before purchasing a Fly Tot Plus for your family trip.

If the airline does not have a clear policy online, contact them and ask specifically about an inflatable airplane bed or inflatable flight cushion for a child.

Even then, be prepared for the final decision on board to rest with the cabin crew.

Fly Tot Review – Final Verdict

So would we recommend the Fly Tot? Based on our repeated, very positive experiences with the Original Fly Tot, we would recommend the Fly Tot for families with upcoming long flights with young children.

Just look at the pictures in this post to see why it worked so well for us. Once we started travelling with our Original Fly Tots, we used them to get our kids sleeping comfortably on long-haul flight after long-haul flight. We couldn’t ask for much more than that.

Today, we think the Fly Tot Plus makes the most sense for a family travelling with a child between 2 and 8 years old who has their own airplane seat, especially if you have an overnight or long-haul flight coming up.

It is an especially good option for younger kids who still benefit from being able to curl up or stretch out across a larger sleeping area.

We would be less likely to purchase one for a short daytime flight, for a child who already sleeps easily sitting upright, or if we were flying primarily with an airline that prohibits inflatable airplane beds.

For families who fit the intended age range and travel frequently, we still think the basic idea behind the Fly Tot is excellent. A little more space for a toddler or young child can go a very long way on a 10-hour flight.

This concludes our review of the Fly Tot inflatable travel cushion. We loved it so much, it has earned a spot in our list of essential toddler travel gear.

Keep reading for more tips on using a Fly Tot Plus, our success stories using a Fly Tot on our family travels and alternatives to the Fly Tot Plus.

Tips to Successfully Use a Fly Tot Plus

Check Your Airline Before You Buy

Look for the airline’s current rules on inflatable flight cushions, convertible beds or seat extenders. Do not rely on an old list of approved airlines.

Practice at Home First

Inflate and deflate the Fly Tot a few times before your trip so you know exactly how the valve and Tiny Pump work. Charge the pump before you leave.

Choose Your Seats Carefully

A window seat is often the easiest option because the Fly Tot cannot block another passenger’s route to the aisle. A middle seat within a centre bank of seats can also work when permitted.

Wait Until You Are Cruising

Do not inflate your Fly Tot during boarding, taxi or takeoff. In practice, we typically waited until the meal service was finished and people were settling in.

Do Not Overinflate It

Fly Tot says the cushion should be firm but should still depress slightly when pushed with your hand.

Keep Your Child Buckled

Follow the Fly Tot instructions and your airline’s requirements for seat belt use. Some airlines may require your child to return to a normal seated position and the Fly Tot to be stowed whenever the seat belt sign comes on.

If the Cabin Crew Asks You to Put it Away, Put it Away

Be polite. Getting angry or creating a fuss will not make anything better. We recommend going out of your way to treat flight attendants well anyway, as they can be incredibly helpful to parents travelling with small children.

Our Fly Tot Hall of Fame

As mentioned above, we have traveled extensively with our Original Fly Tots with our young kids. As you can see from our photos of the Fly Tot in action, we have had tremendous success in getting our kids to sleep comfortably on our long haul flights.

Fly Tot Flight #1: Canada to Japan

See also: Baby Food in Japan, Tokyo with a toddler and Easy Walks in Kyoto.

Fly Tot Flight #2: Canada to Italy

See also: Rome with a baby and Cinque Terre with a baby.

Flight #3 with a Fly Tot: Canada to Norway

See also: Norway with kids.

Flight #4: Canada to London (and beyond)

See also: Family Friendly Destinations in the Czech Republic, Visiting Croatia with Kids and Iceland with Kids.

Flight #5 with Fly Tots: Canada to Thailand

See also: Tips for Thailand with Kids and Family Friendly Beaches in Thailand.

Where to buy the Fly Tot?

We hope that you’ve learned a lot about the Fly Tot from our extensive use of it on our family travels I’m sure you are wondering where you can get your hands on this inflatable travel cushion for kids. Currently, the Fly-Tot is available for purchase directly on the Fly-Tot website.

What about Fly Tot Alternatives?

The Fly Tot isn’t the only airplane bed for toddlers and kids anymore.

In fact, there are now several different approaches to creating a more comfortable sleeping area for kids on airplanes. If you aren’t sure the Fly Tot Plus is the right one for your family, we recommend comparing the different designs before buying.

Flyaway Kids Bed

One alternative that we also own and have personally used is the Flyaway Kids Bed. It is also an inflatable airplane bed, but its design is different from the Fly Tot. Rather than simply filling the entire footwell with a cushion, the Flyaway Kids Bed creates a raised sleeping platform extending from the airplane seat.

One thing we especially liked about this design is that it leaves some of the valuable floor space underneath available.

You can read our full Flyaway Kids Bed review, including our personal experience using it and comparisons with our Original Fly Tot.

Plane Pal vs. Fly Tot

While I have not personally used a Plane Pal airplane travel bed for toddlers, the design is similar to the Fly Tot. They both come with a pump and the Plane Pal comes with a carrying bag.

What About Cheaper Alternatives to the Fly Tot?

The Fly Tot is one of the best toddler travel beds for airplanes, but for a variety of reasons it might not be the right choice for your family. If the cost of a Fly Tot is too much for your budget, then you can consider other cheaper alternatives.

We are grateful to Fly Tot for providing us with the toddler airplane travel bed we used for this review.

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