The FlyAway Kids Bed is a terrific product for a little one to sleep comfortably on a long plane ride.  It is really easy to use – it extends the seat for our toddler so he can lay flat to sleep, which is very convenient for long flights.  It also has the added advantage of raising his height a few inches so he can more easily look out the window during the flight and it totally removes the opportunity to kick the seat in front of us (an unexpected blessing).    

Bébé Voyage Rating: 9.5/10

What bébé loved: 

Our toddler’s favorite part was actually the enhanced ability to look out the window and touch the fan/light buttons, which are obviously not the intended purposes but made the flight more entertaining for him.  He is at the age where any incremental activity is helpful to the “make it through the flight peacefully” cause, so we appreciated this benefit.

What mommy loved: 

First, the lay flat to sleep part was incredible.  Typically, despite our best efforts, our kiddo falls asleep across or on us during the flight.  This is tough for us – we can’t move, it’s uncomfortable, our legs/arms fall asleep, and we fly in fear of waking him up.  This product is a dream for solving this problem – our son grabbed his pacifier, laid down, closed his eyes, and slept easily on the cushion when the time came.  

Second, our kiddo is, unfortunately, a particular fan of kicking the seat in front of us despite frequent instructions not to do so (or perhaps because of frequent instructions not to do so).  This product removes that “entertainment” option entirely, which is an unexpectedly helpful side benefit.  It reduced a lot of our in-flight negotiations and so increased our family’s peace even when he was not sleeping.   

Is the product easy to use/convenient? 

The product is super easy to use – it’s quick set-up and take-down, it’s quiet, and it’s made of easy-to-clean plastic.  It also comes in a small, easy-to-carry bag.  We had the bag in the stroller until we gate-checked the stroller and then we just grabbed the Flyaway bag to take on the plane.  I would recommend inflating it once at home before departure just to make the process painless when you’re on the plane.  It takes maybe a minute or two to inflate using a pump and set-up – it is very fast.  I was a little worried about the inflation noise but fortunately, the plane noise is so loud that it’s not very noticeable.  We inflated it after take-off, so he was seated and buckled in as normal until we were in the air.  Deflation takes around the same amount of time and is totally quiet.  We found it easy to fold and stuff the deflated bed back in the travel bag.  

Does the product resolve a current pain point and if so how well? 

This product resolves a huge pain point for us on long flights – we are so grateful that we discovered the Flyaway Kids Bed.  On long flights where our little one will definitely be sleeping, we will never travel without this product again – it’s amazing.  For shorter flights where our toddler is not sleeping, it is nice but not crucial.  

How safe is the product? 

The FlyAway Kids Bed appears to be very safe – the product marketing in the packaging states that it is approved by over 50 airlines and it is easy to buckle your little one in while sleeping (or sitting).  Our American Airlines flight attendant actually stopped by to ask about the product because she was so impressed.  From Google searches, it appears that sometimes flight attendants will request the product be deflated during landing for safety reasons but this was not our experience.  We left it inflated so that our son could look out the window during landing.  

Do you like the way the product is designed?

The design is very practical.  The one small drawback to the product design is that the plastic is pretty traditional plastic – easy to clean, but not that soft to lay down on.  Our son slept using my jacket as a little pillow and it was fine, but I might recommend bringing a small soft blanket or the like to make it more comfortable.  This is why I knocked half a point off the total score.  One other plus about the product design is that it has little raised bumpers on either side, which keeps our son and his toys on the cushion.  

Value for money (you may need to check online to find out how much it costs). 

The FlyAway Kids Bed costs $139 online and makes long flights dramatically more comfortable for the parents, so it is a great value for that use case.  It is really the difference between parental peace and fear on long flights.  For shorter flights where sleeping is more debatable, we probably would not bring it along because it is another thing to carry when there is already so much stuff to carry with little kids.  It is really the long flights where this product shines and where I would highly recommend it.  For our family, this product is now a must-have for flights where our little one will be sleeping.    

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