Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

Hi all,

We are planning our holiday to Oz (to take a look and get visa's stamped). We have 3 small kids, has anyone got any experience of best time of day to set off from London so kids get sleep etc?

We are hoping to fly with Singapore Airlines. There are 11am, 18:15 and 22:00
options.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Mands

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

We flew with a 4 year old for last year and found the schedule we picked was great for kids but a killer for adults.

Left UK mid afternoon arrived singapore early morning, made sure little one had a good sleep!

Spent the day in singapore then flew to sydney that evening 10:30 ish arrived early morning sydney.

This worked really well for our little one but half killed me, as I can't sleep on planes, but soon got over it, just don't have a sleep in the afternoons!!. You can also get a room in the hotel in changi airport to dump your hand luggage and have a shower. they've even got a pool, but there's loads to do in singapore so you probably won't have time.

Our little girl was just fine, no jetlag at all.

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

Thanks Lam, that sounds good. Did you stay in the airport or did you pop into Singapore? The swimming pool sounds like a good option to do something completely different for an hour or so (and get freshened up!).

Mands

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

When we went few years back, my daughter was just under 2. We went on the evening flight. Worked really well for us, as we would start travelling from about midday, get to the airport, check-in, etc. By the time we actually get in the plane, she was already very tired. So getting to sleep wasn't a problem at all.

Journey back here was a nightmare as it was midday flight. She never got to sleep the whole time, and I was heavily pregnant at the time, so it was a killer! Constantly wants to play, which was understandable, as she would be on a normal day. But I dont think you can get an evening flight back with Singapore.. real bummer!

Hope that helped.. :unsure:

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

I have a six hour wait at the airport in singapore and thinking of getting a room so i can have a shower,didnt know you could use the pool though:confused:.Would you recommend the hotel and facilities for those six hours,i cant sleep on planes either so be nice to chill out:thumbup:

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

Hi Mands

We dropped our stuff off in our hotel room the went to sentosa island, its great for kids. On our way back we popped into raffles for a Singapore sling.

Your allowed to go through customs once, the airport puts on free transfers, we did a duck tour aswell.

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

The hotel room is well worth it, i think you can pay hourly or half day.

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

Cheers for that,would go into the city but spending my honeymoon there on the way back so just fancy a few hours chilling out.Can you use the pool facilities/bars etc if only booked in for a short stop??.Sorry lot of questions i know:o

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

Me neither. I can doze off, but not sleep deep, for no more than an hour at a time, then wake up.

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

We've done UK to Perth twice now and chose flights so that we would be travelling through the night. The first time, our son was 3 and small enough to curl up and be comfortable in his own seat. The second time he was four and could only get comfy by sprawling over mum and dad. So we didn't sleep well at all the second time.

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

Another night flyer by preference here - I usually catch the 22.00 flight, that way I am so knackered that I am asleep before the wheels are up and I usually wake up in time for breakfast before Singapore.

There used to be a similar flight out of Sydney but the schedule seems to have changed and most flights head off about 4pm which isnt late enough for me.

I've flown (on my own :eek:) many times with kids right from 12 weeks upwards and I find the departure time doesnt matter much. I just had a rule that if one goes to sleep we all go to sleep! They are independent men travelling on their own these days and so I get to do what I want to do when I fly!!!!

I also belong to the "straight through" school of thought. I dont like to prolong the agony and I have been to Singapore and Bangkok anyway.

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

Check this out.

http://www.changiairport.com/changi/...ml?__locale=en

Changi airport is fantastic, by far the best I've been to.

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

The kids will get over the jetlag... you won't. Try to arrive in Oz late afternoon etc, so that you can get to sleep straight away. Kids will appear much worse if you're suffering from jetlag.

Singapore air will help with the kids, and the entertainment on the planes is great ( if you can watch bob the builder 400 times )

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

Thanks for all the replies guys. We have decided on the 16:15 from heathrow witha 9 hour stop in Singapore and then arrive in Sydney midday ish. God help us!

One bloomin annoying thing today. we wanted to book a child seat for our 20 month old but as he is under 2 it wouldn't let us do it on the website. Anyway after speaking to someone on the phone they told us how to get round it and when we logged on again to book the flight the price had gone up £200- in 10 minutes!! Arghhhhhhh!

Re: Best time of day to fly from London to Sydney with kids?
 

Are you sure thats not the extra cost of having the seat for your little one? I couldn't understand why our flight price had gone up when we booked a seat for ours, took me a few minutes to realise :o