Vancouver seaplane tours with kids

Ages each airline accepts

Harbour Air takes the youngest passengers. On its own site the classic panorama has a child fare for ages 2 to 11, and infants up to their second birthday fly free, on a parent's lap. The booking sites handle infants in their own way, so check how the listing treats a baby before you pay, and list the baby on the booking even though infants fly free.

Seair Seaplanes draws a firmer line. Its flights are not suitable for children under 2, so a family with a baby flies with Harbour Air or waits a year. Harbour Air does not carry unaccompanied minors on its Victoria flight either, which matters if a teenager plans to travel alone. Adults aged 18 or over need government photo ID at check-in.

What a family pays

Take two adults and two children aged 6 and 9 on Harbour Air's Classic Panorama. On Harbour Air's own site the adult fare is C$149 and the child fare C$120, so the four seats come to C$538. Those fares already include the sustainability fee and dock fees as well as GST. On the booking sites the adult fare starts at ~$135, and the child fare for ages 2 to 11 shows once you enter ages, so the family pays less than four times ~$135. Exchange rates move the US dollar figure a little from week to week.

Seair's City Skyline flight, from ~$139, costs about the same per adult, so check the listing for a child price before you compare. A longer flight multiplies quickly; four seats on the 45-minute Extended Panorama, from ~$221, cost well over half as much again as the classic. What a Vancouver seaplane tour costs has every fare in one table.

Climbing aboard

Harbour Air asks that every passenger can board and leave the plane with little or no help, and its classic listing calls the tour unsuitable for people with reduced mobility. Boarding means a walk along the floating dock and a step up from the float into a small cabin. If a small child would need carrying, or a grandparent finds steps hard, ask the airline before you book rather than at the dock.

The take-off and landing tend to surprise nervous children in a good way. A floatplane accelerates across the water with a rush of spray and lifts off gently, and it lands the same way, with a long skim before it settles. Your first seaplane flight explains each step from check-in onward, which helps if you want to tell an anxious child what will happen.

Noise and small ears

An engine a few feet from your seat is loud, and reviewers mention that Harbour Air hands out earplugs. Foam plugs rarely fit small ears well, so bring a pair of children's ear defenders from home. Harbour Air's free narration app needs headphones of your own, and for older kids a set of over-ear headphones can do both jobs at once.

Ear pressure changes little on these flights because they stay low and short; Seair's skyline flight cruises at about 1,000 ft (300 m). A drink or a snack to chew during the climb can still help a toddler who is sensitive to it.

Window seats and short attention spans

Half an hour suits a child who loses interest quickly, and there is plenty to point at. On the classic route children can spot the Lions Gate Bridge and the green block of Stanley Park. On the way back the plane passes over BC Place and the dome of Science World. One Harbour Air guest spotted two whales from the air, but wildlife is never part of the deal.

Where you sit shapes the view. In Seair's Beaver every passenger has a window seat, and the co-pilot seat can be requested when you check in. Harbour Air seats people first come, first served at boarding, so the quickest walkers pick first, and the co-pilot seat is the pilot's call. A family that wants to sit together should be near the front of the line when boarding starts.

Queasy stomachs

A small plane feels bumps more than an airliner, though a low half-hour flight over the harbor is rarely rough. Give children a light meal an hour or so before, not a big breakfast on the way to the dock, and keep their eyes on the horizon outside instead of a phone screen. Morning flights often meet calmer air; the best time for a seaplane flight covers the hour and the season. A sick bag in the day bag costs nothing and settles nerves.

Longer outings with children

Harbour Air's Whistler Fly 'n' Drive, ~$295 through Viator, sends you up the Sea-to-Sky Highway by coach, leaves you a day in Whistler and flies you back in 45 minutes. The catch for a family is the coach, a road trip of about two hours inside a day of about 12, far too long for small children, and it only runs from May to September. Our Whistler guide covers the one-way flight both ways.

Older kids who loved a first flight may ask for mountains next. Seair's Coastal Mountain flight, from ~$236, keeps you aloft for about 30 minutes above The Lions and the valleys of the Coast Mountains, short enough for a restless child. The catch is the price, far above the classic for about the same time aloft, and its few reviewers scored value 3.0 out of 5; like every Seair flight, it takes no one under 2. Glacier flights and lake landings covers the longer mountain trips. The airline comparison sets Harbour Air against Seair in full.