Be sure to rest before leaving -- you and the kiddo(s). Be ready for things to go a bit sideways at some point and be patient.
Finger puppets were a great thing. Hide them in your hands for the kid to find. Wave them around as if they are flying. Tell stories with them. IKEA sells some cheap ones that worked for us and were fine to lose.
A bag that different things could repeatedly come out of works really well, as do little, unseen for a while toys. Remember, if it falls you get to dig it out from under crammed airplane seats -- not always easy or possible! So, we packed small disposable things and a few medium-sized things. Nothing that makes noise!
I had trouble believing that someone would not bring enough diapers. Someone on a flight we were on, however, sent the stewardess to ask us "if they could borrow an extra diaper." I packed enough for two days, which gave us extra and less stress when a layover became longer. A cloth diaper cover over a disposable diaper saved us from at least one mess during take-off when we had to wait to change.
The bassinet never worked for us but we tried. Other kiddos seem fine there. Instead, the car seat and the Ergo led to some sleep.
Finally, we have planned some trips to stay with friends or family with small kids before continuing on to larger family gatherings. This was great because their kids were so fun to see that we had less kid-jet-lag trouble ourselves then.
Have a great trip. From friends kids, we now believe that starting a kid on travel early means having a better traveler later. I hope you find this too!
a) Call airline ahead and ask about seat with bassinet. At 11 months may be approaching max size limit. However, if you land one, you get some extra space to stretch and store stuff while toddler is sleeping. When toddler is awake, you can dump everything else into bassinet. More room = less stress. One downside - often bassinet seats have fixed arm-rests b/c tray table is stored inside.
b) Keep a few items for 'instant-access' (small toys, wipes, towel, pacifier, 1 feeding bottle) in a SMALL cloth bag that you can tuck away between your leg and seat arm rest. At critical times, incl take-off and landing and when toddler is on your lap, does you no good to have hundreds of items in inaccessible overhead luggage, out of arms reach. Normally, the flight attendents will not allow you to keep carry-on bags with you, but smaller bags that fit on your lap are not a problem.
As the cabin can be too hot and stuffy or way too cold and draughty, and one never knows beforehand, I have used this system for my own scarf.
Thanks all
Another tip: burn off as much energy as possible in the airport, shortly before boarding. If the airport has a play area in your terminal, go there. If not, find a cleanish spot on the floor, or a row of seats at an empty gate, and get him crawling back and forth on those. If needed one of you can stay with the kid doing that until the last possible minute while the other hangs out at the departure gate to listen for important announcements. It's tempting to just find your gate, go there, hunker down and wait for the boarding call - because that is how we are used to flying as adults. But with small children it's important to make the most of those extra minutes of (relative) freedom before you ask them to sit still and buckle up.
(Same applies for restaurants, bookstores, other people's houses, really any occasion where I am hoping to see behavior that is quieter and more sedentary than their default setting. If I can get them to wear themselves out immediately beforehand, I've got a much better chance.)
We had our first 11 hour day flight this summer with our 10 month old daughter at the time. It was hard but having friendly staff and passengers nearby helped!
My major recommendations which sound very similar to others on the thread are
1. Book the front seats as soon as sealing allocation is available. Even if your child is too old for a bassinet to be fitted having get playing on the floor in front of you is a huge help as they are then a crawling machine
2. Her favourite food meals was prepared and kept in the airplane fridges to use when needed
3. Fruit pouches and snacks also were a huge help
4. Favourite toys and Ipad just kept her interested and happy
5. Little games that can easily eat up 20 minutes of time or unique items like keys and straws from the air stewards to play with help a lot
6. Both parents were there, so we covered shifts for entertaining and as soon as daughter was asleep we went instantly to sleep to ensure we were ready for round 2
7. Adult meals are a nightmare and again require shifts while ensuring the child doesn't try to grab and knock the hot coffee our food tray while the other parent is eating
8. Be ready with nappy bag with all times!
9. If your child can sleep through the night, try to get the night flight
Hope this helps
Vin
Vin is right about your meals, it is a nightmare, I travelled alone once on Emirates, the flight was packed, I had an 11 month old on my lap, and no place for a tray.
I was too shy to ask my neighbours to help so, I just didn't eat anything.
So don't forget to pack snacks for yourself as well!