Holiday air travel with children

LITTLE ROCK, AR - For the tens of millions returning home this Thanksgiving weekend, flight delays, cancellations, bad weather and lost luggage can really create some headaches.

Luckily, no major disruptions in and out of Little Rock National Airport, but when you add kids to the mix of air travel it's a whole new level of worry. Holidays are peak times for children traveling solo on the airlines. For many children, the trip means a cross-country trek. Some kids are frequency flyers, but many are flying all by themselves for the very first time this holiday season.

Jan Dove picked up her daughter, Jordan, at Little Rock National Sunday afternoon. "It's her first time to do this, and she was a little petrified, but once I saw her walk down the ramp to the plane I knew she was ok. There was another little girl about the same age going with her on the same type of trip."

9-year-old Jordan made it to and from Dallas just fine. She says she's looking forward to doing it again. "I was nervous at first, but it turned out to be really fun."

Not as much fun for the Nelson family who are traveling with a baby for the first time.
Everything went smoothly until they landed, and discovered the car seat didn't make it.
"This could be expensive. We might have to go buy another car seat."

Shahonen Walcott has made the trip from St. Louis to Little Rock before, but she says she was nervous the first time. "If the plane didn't land in the right place, or what would happen if the plane ran out of gas." She says the flight attendant put her at ease, and now it's her aunt who won't stop worrying.

Sharon Jones says she just hopes and prays Shahonen makes it back to her mom safe and sound. "I'm going to make sure she gets on the plane." Jones' nerves subside for now until Christmas travel starts.

The Nelson family did end up finding their car seat.

The Thanksgiving holiday is not only one of the busiest times to travel, but it's also the most expensive, and this year it looks like prices will only get worse. Average airfares over Thanksgiving weekend are about 6 percent higher this year, according to travel site Hotwire. In December, airfares are projected to be about 10 percent higher than last year.

42.5 million Americans are traveling 50 miles or more away from home this weekend. 3.4 million people are traveling by air. According to AAA, that's a four percent increase over last year. Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Independence Day travel figures remained relatively stagnant in 2011.