cybie

Has anybody flew to Oz with a one year old. We are looking to fly early next year and are not looking forward to the long flight with a toddler. If you have flown with a toddler did you stopover? If so where, and did they require any extra needles? Plus do you have any tips for keeping them occupied and quiet.

Australia_bound?

Good luck plenty of books and small toys and prozac for the parents and you'll be fine

Buzzy--Bee

We flew with a pair of one year olds, round trip to New Zealand stopping in Oz both ways. If you can get your toddler to sleep a lot of the way that is obviously beneficial, so take night-time stuff with you like pyjamas, book, milk etc.

Oh, and don't fly Qantas - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=405635

Buzzy

Stu Ward

We went over with a 4 year old (just)

And to be honest he handled the flight better than we did !

The amount of room he had compared to us, it was like a first class, lie flat bed.

1 year old might be slightly different, but our lad slept and watched movies all the way

Jet Lag when you get there is another story altogether

Stu

LoobyLoo!

We flew with our 1 year old in Dec and our 3 year old. It is hard work....i wont lie but they were no where near as bad as i anticipated.
The hardest bit was having her asleep on my knee for hours and hours......pins and needles, dead leg etc and she would'nt go to her daddy as she was in unfamiliar surroundings so just wanted her mummy!
The tv control was a godsend...she loved pressing all the buttons lol.
We packed them both little toys wrapped up and this did amuse them well, whilst they were awake it was fine, ask for extra leg room (or a bassinet although they don't fit in, you get the extra room then) and let them play on the floor.
Emirates didn't provide her with a meal so we just shared our meals and our 3 year olds meals out. Emirates do provide toys and bags of bits and bats to keep them amused.
On the way to Sydney we stopped at Bangkok (to visit a relative) but found this much harder then the flight home. The kids started to recover from the first leg of the flight and had to do another one and recover all over again....just turned into 4 days of jetlag where as getting it all done in one go (well short stop in Dubai for refuel) didn't drag it out as much.

My daughter didn't have to have any injections although my son did, just check with the docs.
Anything else don't hesitate to ask.......don't worry, the actual flight is not as bad as the thought of it and Yes i would do it again so it can't be that bad.

cnpizzo

Hi, we will be flying with a 2 year old and a five year old in December to perth for a 3 week rekkie. Trying not to think about flight yet will worry nearer the time. Five year old not so worried about, can amuse himself quite well, will watch films and play games console, two year old has short attention span and can't keep still at home let alone on a plane for 20 hours. Lots of snacks will probably be a good idea, and a few new books!

Anyone flown with Malaysian airlines with kids, was told they are good?

Thanks Clair (Herts)

welovebonds

We flew with a 8 month old, and we were surprised how well it went. He did spend hours sleeping on us, 8 hour stints between myself and OH and as he wasn't walking he couldn't go any where. We flew with Q and they were excellent, they kept meals back for us so that we could take it in turns to hold the little one. They warmed milk up and were always asking us if there was anything that we needed, even offered us nappies! I have to say I had flow Q before without children and I wasn't overly impressed.
Do take lots of toys, food and changes of clothing....I found changing nappies in the tiny toilets was a bit difficult, but found that the paper cup holder seemed to keep his attention while I changed him.
Good luck, I think the thing is expect the worse and if it's any better then you'll have had a good flight.

chriswilly

I agree with the other threads, it was better than we anticiapated. we flew this time last year with our lo who was 11 months at the time (with emirates)to Perth on our rekkie. We had a basinet so plenty of leg room & he could go on the floor although he did sleep the majority of the time.I'll probably me more worried when we go for real - hopefully sometime later this yr if house sells as he is much busier now!!

grays

We flew last year with our son 8 and daughter 5 months. She slept througout on most of the flights so it was a breeze. We're going back in August, she's 18 months now and I know it is going to be nowhere near as easy ! We stopped over in Singapore last time and are doing so again. Really glad we did this as Singapore is fantastic and I think it made the whole journey easier for us all by splitting it up. If you're flying with kids Singapore Airlines are great.

bu1lder

flew to perthlast year with 3 girls under 6, emirates kept our kids entertained all the way, not to mention the tvs in the head rests. Also they tend to put all the young familys together at the front of the cabin, we did have a couple of problems with other passengers when an elderly english couple said " i hope your kids are going to be quiet, we've paid for our tickets" ??WTF?? my wife told them to piss off, so they did! also an australian man boozing in front of us decided to slap my 2 year olds hand for pulling his chair back when she got up. it took a lot of restaint to not let him have a gob full of broken teeth, however the cabin crew were great and asked if we wanted the police when landed. apart from that the kids loved it, most people understand, kids get bored!

daddyofthree

Best of luck Cybie. Let us know how you get on. We will have 3 kids: 4, 3 and 1 when we fly next year. I'm totally unrealistic and optimistic but my wife aint looking forward to the flight at all

BAY

We flew with our 9 month old daughter 8 weeks ago to Perth.

It was a breeze. Some recommendations.:

1. Book up a seat for her. Ok it costs money but the thought of a 9 month old trying to get comfy and wriggling on your lap for 20 hours doesn't bare thinking about.

Take a car seat with you that can be secured on the plane seat just like in a car. She'll then be comfy and secure. Get confirmation from airline that this is ok. We flew with Singapore Air

2. If your son/daughter is small enough request a bulkhead seat with a basinet cot. This wasn't easy. We booked our seats via the internet and weren't able to select a bulkhead seat. They were already taken. Had to wait until checkin to request a bulkhead seat. Again they didn't want to alloocate us one as we had a seat for our daughter. However, insistence paid off.

3. Take pyjamas and grobag thingy that babies sleep in.

kitten_

I have flown with Malaysian airlines and cant say enough good things about them. I had a 1 and 3 year old at the time and although we only paid for 3 seats they gave us 4 both ways. The meals were served to the children first and my kids slept all the way there and back - in fact going out was so easy and there was no jet lag at all - coming back was a different story but they recovered within a day - so were fairly lucky.

The best advice I can give is night time flights. You can get colouring in packs from WHSMiths and Toys R US and ELC for a couple of pounds and they are brilliant for passing time. I would also suggest having a small amount of snacks that are guaranteed to be eaten and or drank. Give them to the children when the plane is descending for landing and the swallowing prevents painful ears.

Check with the airline if you can take car seats as this will provide somewhere easier to allow the child to sleep as the normal seating is a little uncomfie in my opinion.

cybie

Many thanks for all your suggestions. I hope to fly next March whether we have sold the house or not. I am fed up of waiting now. I am planning to fly with emirates via a stop over in Dubai, basically because they are the only ones who fly from Birmingham. Meanwhile I have to obtain a visa for my little one.

Uuuh Patsy

Just count your lucky stars your not me. I'm heading out to Perth on 10th of July month with a 3 year old and 9 month old twins. We are on the A380 from Heathrow at 11.50 am. So bad luck and sorry in advance if you are on the same flights.