Flying with young children
 

Will be flying to Brisbane in Oct/Nov and have 3 kids aged 21 months,4 yrs & 7yrs old,just wondering whether to have a long or short stopover and the pros/cons for either and has anyone travelled with similar aged children and how did you get on with the flight/flights.Your comments/views would be appreciated.
This is the only thing o/h and myself are not looking forward to.:unsure::unsure:
Regards
Si

Re: Flying with young children
 

I'm a no stop over person. Get it all over and done with in 24 hours is my motto. Having travelled with my own kids and watching some on the flight home the other day they were well entertained - the older ones certainly will have plenty to occupy them when they arent sleeping - seat back entertainment is much better than the big old bulkhead movies of olden days! The crew is usually very helpful.

My preference is always to travel very very light, take as little as you possibly need and give the kids a backpack each with some tiny wrapped presents in reserve for key times. Mine always took a special friend (tiny stuffed favourite) when they were little - we have the world's best travelled tigger I think - and they take responsibility for their friend. Dont forget the travel sick pills - if you have any inkling that they may get motion sickness (and even if they dont!) give them a dramamine because you really do not want to spend 24 hours covered in sick!

Relax - it will be fine, kids usually rise to the occasion very well!

Re: Flying with young children
 

Normally (i say normally as there will be someone who says otherwise) most people stress about this part and its not as bad as you think it will be. Do a search on there there are so many threads about travelling with kids.

We had toddlers to travel with and preferred the straight to destination trip. How active is your 21 month old. Definitely buy a seat for him/her and think about using a car seat in it. You aren't suppose to use that car seat here (Aus standards) but it gives them a place to crash out and strap them in if you need five minutes break. We used a Britax Freeway. You can pick one up from Halfords sometimes on sale or ebay has them for very little money.

We also used this thing from www.toteatot.com It was a bit fiddly when we had to go through xray machines but was useful with 2 little ones.

Remember to ask for help getting down to your seats. We flew Emirates and the captain even helped walk our 2.5 year old down the steps and off the plane. Wish I had a spare hand to take a photo!!!

Re: Flying with young children
 

Hi,
We are going 2nd week in September with a 4 and 14 year old, really not looking forward to it. Just trying to book flights! Have you got an airline in mind?? We are going to do the whole thing, just want to get there, thought about stopping over somewhere for a few days but was working out too expensive.
What part of Brisbane are you going to??? We are trying to source schools at the moment. Looking at Albany Creek.
Good Luck!!:thumbsup:
Lisa

Re: Flying with young children
 

Hi Lisa
Probably book with Singapore Airlines as a few friends have recommended them.We are going to Caloundra on Sunshine Coast and have already got a job in Maroochydore.Good Luck to you too.:thumbsup:

Re: Flying with young children
 

Like others, just get on and get it done. Stopovers prolong the agony.

If you're using Singapore Airlines with their 40kg allowance per passenger; that's a lot of stuff to deal with plus three kids.

Re: Flying with young children
 

Agreed stopovers are only worthwhile if you can organise them properly and have enough people to help.

Re: Flying with young children
 

Hi

We travelled to Melbourne in January with our two children aged 3 and 1. As others have said, it was nowhere near as bad as we had anticipated. Any child under 2 gets a bassinet with Singapore airlines and whilst it was a little small for her, she did get some sleep in it. We also had a bag for each of them with colouring, stickers, aqua draw (magic painting) and some of their favourite books. We just brought a different activity out every hour or so. We also took a whole load of their favourite (healthy!) snacks to break it up. They also both spent a fair bit of time watching Dora! The staff were also very good at letting them have little walks up and down the aircraft.

As far as the stopover goes, we did stop in Singapore and it was great - the kids adapted to the time change really quickly. The only down side was we then had to get a night flight to Melbourne, which wasn't so good. I would definitely get a daytime flight for the second leg next time.

Hope this helps.

Helen:)

Re: Flying with young children
 

Great advice, Helen.
We are travelling to Melbourne in September with an 18 month old girl and are not really looking forward to it. She is such an active little one and doesn't sleep much or like to be in the one place for long:unsure:.
We are also flying with singapore airlines and have a confirmed bassinet although I am not sure if she will fit in it:D.
Do they have Dora on their tv channels or did you bring a portable DVD player????
We are thinking about buying one and getting loads of teletubbies DVD's as thats the only thing that keeps her quiet and still;)

Re: Flying with young children
 

I think a DVD player is a great idea as she obviously won't have her own tv and so will be watching yours! They did have Dora on the "on demand" tv hence why it could be watched over and over again but there wasn't much else for the age group! As far as the bassinet went, we found that when our youngest had actually fallen into a deep sleep, she did stay asleep in the bassinet for a good chunk of time. The only down side is that as soon as you hit turbulence you have to take them out! She pretty much slept through that aswell, though! The other bonus about having a bassinet is that you get bulk head seats and so have a bit more space.

The only other things that springs to mind is that breakfast was a bit of an issue for us as the kids get sausage etc (the one year old wasn't supposed to but there was no way she was going to eat a jar of baby food!) So, next time I would take a couple of mini boxes of cereal and just ask the staff for some milk.

Hope this helps and good luck. I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think! Out three year old actually thought the whole thing was a huge adventure and can't wait to go again!

Helen

Re: Flying with young children
 

Hello :0)

Ours were almost exactly the same ages when we emigrated.....although we knew what was to come as we'd done a rekkie the previous year.

I recommend Singapore Airlines as they are very kids friendly....although if your kids are fussy eaters take a packed lunch for the first leg as the meals might not appeal to the kids (more to do with the 'steamy' storage than the food it's self) There's a Maccas at Singapore Airport too :o...for the final leg we survived on the choccy, bread and breakfast cereals!!

It isn't as bad as you might imagine.....honest! The key to success is locating the nearest Grandkid starved 'oldies' and adopt them for games of peek -a -boo etc.... :D Also wrap small presents for when things start to fall apart...sticker books are good as are 'Polly Pockets' etc... we also took favourite bedtime toys....but you'll probably find that the novelty of the whole thing will keep them amused for a long while.

Try not to worry too much...and best wishes too :0)

Jan

Re: Flying with young children
 

Oh...and no to a stop over....we did the 5 hour stop over each time.....swimming pool (we didn't but heard it's good!), interesting shops, beautiful orchids/goldfish, playareas and food meant that time went pretty fast :thumbup:

Re: Flying with young children
 

Hi All,Thanks for all your replies and suggestions.Singapore Airlines seems to be the favorite by the majority and i think this is who we will fly with and we wont do a stopover just a few hours change of planes.Once again thanks for the help.:thumbsup:

Re: Flying with young children
 

We are flying with our two ( a two and a half year old and a six month old) to Sydney at the end of August. We decided to get the job over and done with in one hit, and so opted for the flight with just a touchdown in Singapore for re-fuelling. We have got our eldest all sorts of things to put in her own hand luggage case, little toys, books, magic painting/colouring books from crayola etc. I have been buying the cbeebies magazines and taking the little free toy off the front - makes two presents then! We will also take a few little snacks and some cereal so that if she doesn't like the food she can have that. We are also going to take pyjamas for them both to get them ready for bed, and a grobag for our youngest, so that she has something from home to sleep in. Neither myself or my husband have flown long-haul before but my in-laws have done loads of long-haul flying and say that the cabin crew are usually fantastic with kiddies.