Here are some of the items that I purchased for our first flight and my brief reviews.

The main criteria is I only buy items that are necessary, and will be used in almost every time when we travel, whether car or air.

OXO Tot On-The-Go Drying Rack with Bottle Brush
Pros: Compact. It’s perfect if you want to still wash and dry your bottles or breast pump gears when you stay at a hotel.

Cons: Most bottles don’t sit in between when you put them up side down.
I usually put them facing down, and lay them flat in a few hours to achieve completely dryness. I noticed when I left it in the hotel bathroom. If the light is on and the fan is on, things get dried faster because of the fan.

Philip Avent Microwave Sterilizing Bags
Pros: I believe you don’t have to have a Philip Avent bottle to use it. Read the reviews at Amazon.

Cons: I didn’t get to use it because there is no microwave oven in the hotel room I stayed. (Update) I still didn’t get to use it in our 2nd trip because no microwave oven in our hotel room.

Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Portable Travel Baby Bottle Warmer – Multi Function –  BPA Free
We took this out every time regardless if it’s air travel or just a short visit to somewhere locally. Most of the time, we just use the hot water, mix it with a bottle water to make formula. Occasionally, we do use it to warm up the breast milk if it’s already in the bottle.
Pros: You can use it as a bottle warmer or just a hot water canister.

Cons: A little bit large. But it has to be. We have a large diaper bag, so we’re ok with it.

Bable Baby Carrier Hip Seat
Me and my dad reviewed literally 20+ Baby carriers with hip seat design, and decided to go with this one. Most US made carriers don’t have hip seat, except for Moby. We think it’s because most family travel by cars rather than by foot, taking public transportation. But Moby is twice as much than this. So we looked into Amazon, and found out a lot of Asian made baby carriers and half of the price.
Pros: We picked this one because it has a cut off design for baby’s arms. It has cover for the head and cotton bibs. The hip seat works great if you take her/him to the plane with you. The velcro is large and wide enough to stick and provide enough back support.

Cons: There is no instruction on how to use the breastfeeding cover. The phone pocket is a bit too small, so is the bottle pocket.

Additional gears for the mom

MYCARBON Fanny Packs
I just purchased this last week, and haven’t had a chance to try it. This will be replacing SCOTTeVest in terms of holding personal belongings.
Pros: Compact and DID what’s supposed to. The elastic band stretched out well for different waist size along with adjustment strap. I started to carry it with me every time I need to take my baby for car trips. I have my keys and cell phone along w/ a card holder.

Cons: There is a divider and I often had to make sure I put my phone in the front not in the back because it did get hard to shove it to the back. My phone is big and has the bulky card holder.

SCOTTeVest The Chloe Hoodie
(Update) During my 2nd flight, I ended up forgetting to bring it with me. It didn’t impact my travel much. So I would say this is NOT NEEDED!

I did purchase this travel jacket, thinking to pack everything in it, so I didn’t have to carry a backpack.
Pros: It’s comfortable enough for the plane cabin, and yes, I was able to put everything I need for air travel into the various pockets it has. e.g. ID, wallet, phone, keys, camera, tissues, boarding pass, glasses, and etc.

Cons: I loaded too many items in it, so the jacket became kinda heavy. Even though the hoodie is comfortable, but when I was in San Diego harbor, when wind blew, I could feel the wind sneaking into my back through the armpit area. This is not a windbreaker, but c’mon, I’ve never had a jacket gave me this chilling feeling in the armpit area.