Travel Products

The Fly-Tot Turns Any Airplane Seat into a Bed for Kids

Last updated 4th December 2018

Getting a good night’s sleep on a plane is a challenge. And when you’re traveling with young kids and babies who can’t sleep, that can mean cranky temper tantrums.

But thanks to a handy-dandy new inflatable cushion, sleepless flights for my son are a thing of the past. Meet the Fly-Tot.

We just started traveling with it and after six flights, we’ve realized that it’s a total game-changer. The Fly-Tot is an inflatable cushion ($79) that allows small children to lay down flat on any regular economy seat. You just blow it up using the foot pump and plastic hose provided, which takes about four minutes to inflate and about 15 seconds to deflate. Then, you place it at the foot of their seat after takeoff.

The Fly-Tot can be used one of two ways. If you have one child, the child sleeps lying flat, but their legs may be slightly bent. If you have two kids, you can put two Fly-Tots side by side and they can each sleep with their legs stretched out.

It can take some getting used to blowing it up since there’s two valves to use and each one has two components to it. The larger one is especially sensitive so you need to make sure it’s firmly closed otherwise if you accidentally kick it, it will open and let all the air out (I’m speaking from experience!). I inflate the Fly-Tot using the smaller valve and only use the larger one to deflate it.

To make it really cozy and to keep it clean for your child, bring a couple small blankets. One to lay down on the seat and the Fly-Tot and the other to cover your child. One other tip for maximum coziness: Make sure the flight attendant doesn’t wake your child or make you wake them when the seatbelt sign illuminates put their seatbelt on and strap it around their outer most blanket or garment so it’s visible.

Thanks to this travel gadget and running our son wild in the airport prior to boarding, he slept the whole Toronto to Los Angeles flight, which is 5 hours! It’s safe to say we won’t be boarding any planes without the Fly-Tot from now on.

By Johnny Jet, founder of JohnnyJet.com.