To those who keep questioning why this woman is taking a two year old on such a long flight - keep it to yourself. What business is it of yours WHY she is doing it? The fact is she IS doing it and needs help. Sheesh.

Although I'm not a parent, I have been a nanny, and when I traveled with the 3 and 5 year old boys, I used almost every trick mentioned above. And they do work!<BR><BR>When we got on a plane, people would literally GLARE at me (I even got the occasional "Oh, no!"). EVERY TIME, when we deplaned, people would stop and compliment the boys on their good behavior.<BR><BR>The only other suggestion I have is to practice using "inside voices". Kids' voices travel very well (no pun intended), and parents tend to be so distracted by addressing the issue at hand and distracting the child that they often don't seem to notice, or think that the loud voice is less of an issue than the wiggling. <BR><BR>And - how can I say this nicely, I do MEAN it nicely - the same goes for you, too! Frequently the children on a plane are at a low whine, but the parents are even louder in disciplining them! :)<BR><BR>(As a timely side note: I laughed out loud when I read the recent Fodors Weekly Poll asking what people had used the airline sickness bags for. Once as a nanny when I was flying with the mother and her two boys, she had packed a large bag of popcorn. She realized it would be hard to share, so asked me to gather up a couple of those air sickness bags. I was reaching across the kids, grabbing a couple, and noticed that the people around me were giving me terrified looks - I realized they thought I must be preparing for some immediate, drastic onslaught of child illness!)

I fly back and forth to Europe 4 or more times a year with my 2 year old. And I fly from LAX which is even further than you! I have learned to take an afternoon flight (4 pm onward) so after having dinner on the flight and reading some books, she is ready to go to sleep at 8 pm as she does every night at home. She sleeps 12 hours a night anyway and wakes about 7:30 am, in time for breakfast. We play toys and read for the duration of the flight (either into Milano or Berlin). I have had to take morning flights too and learned a clever trick: I buy little trinkets (small book, cards, spinning top, jacks, etc) that I wrap up each one (11 or 12 pkgs) and she opens one up each hour. It keeps her occupied and busy and she is thrilled with a "surprise." It is really quite easy to manage if you coordinate your efforts ahead of time. We are going back to Italia for Christmas and I am looking forward to it!

Dear Jm,<BR><BR>That scotch tape tip and some others are in a story on this site at http://www.fodors.com/features/nfdis...00911_f_flying

As to responses that the non-parents are complaining (my earlier post regarding not taking young children on long trips)--I am a mother and would never want to drag my young child thru Europe--children get tired and cranky after a long day. <BR>Also on our previous trip to London the poor child seated in front of us was sick, coughing and threw up all over the seat--the area smelled during the entire trip. Why did these parents take a sick child on the plane! Anyway, J.M. I hope you are fortunate to have a much more pleasant experience, it's smart to keep them very occupied--so they will get tired and sleep.

A flight attendant told me about a parent that had a young child on a long flight, and they took a laptop computer with a DVD player, and many young videos. Apparently it helped a great deal.

I took a laptop on our last flight just to use the DVD player. The problem was that the seats had no powerports and the battery only lasted about 55 minutes with the DVD (boy, that thing sucks power like you wouldn't believe!). The other problem was that we lost a chunk of our battery reserve by having to power it up for the security checkpoint. Considering these things, and how much it weighs, I don't think I'd take it again just for this unless my seat had a plug-in or I had two extra batteries. I did use it to download all of my digital photos at my destination though so lugging it around was worth it in the end. If I could have afforded it, I would have taken a small portable DVD player instead.

I did Paris-Sydney via Singapore with my three year old and survived! It wasn't so bad. In flight entertainment is a must, if you can get it. Lots of sticker/rub-on transfer books. Playmobiles. Trading toys with other small children on the plane. Reading brand new stories. Lots of snacks (ie granola bars). Benadryl worked welk for me but try it first at home--some cough medicines can speed kids up! Have a great trip!

I would check about the DVD player. On my recent trip to Europe, you couldn't have anything like CD players, laptops, anything. You could only have a tape player. Made for a lot of cranky adults. =) I would have a back up plan for that in case.

back to the original question: check him through as luggage!