jayne+doug

Hi folks

I am just looking into booking flights in January and couldn't make my mind up whether to fly at night or morning. There will be 5 of us, me, hubby and 3 boys aged 10.7 and 2. My instinct tells me it would be better to fly at night and hopefully the kids will sleep, but what if they don't? At least through the day they won't be as tired.

Some advice would be gratefully appreciated from anyone who has done the journey with the kids.

Thanks
Jayne

Pollyana

Personally I would say night flights would be better - keep the kids up all day, leave on a late night flight, then when the crew dim the lights etc they will be so tired they'll sleep. Then assuming that you are flying straight through - no stopovers, just a transit stop - you normally arrive in the morning, with the whole day ahead.
However, I've not done the trip with kids myself, I'm just saying what I would advise my sister and family to do if they were bringing their kids out.

martywild

The time you arrive could be more important than the time you leave. Even with a quick stopover, you are looking at a 20-24 hour flight so there are going to be good and bad periods when kids are involved. What you don't really need is a full day ahead of you when you arrive and you trying to keep everyone awake to avoid the jetlag.
We flew out from Manchester at 10:00 in the morning (with 2 kids). We just had a 4 hour stop in Singapore and arrived at 20:00 the following day. By the time we reached our apartment, had a beer and hit the sack it was 23:00 ish and we awoke the next morning relatively fresh. It still takes a couple of days to fully get over the jetlag but it worked well for us.

mandrew

Hi ,whatever you do dont book yourself on the last flight outta LHR. If your flight has been delayed you wont take off till the next day and stand a good chance of sleeping on a bench if you fly Cathay Pacific. Noise restrictions mean delayed last flight takes off next day.

Pollyana

Last flights - especially long haul - aren't often delayed - they prefer to delay the short-hauls if they have the choice (as my pilot friends know to their disgust) because of the complications of delaying long haul. A vast majority of Aus flights - Qantas, Malaysian, Cathay - all take off late at night because that way the pax are more likely to sleep, and because you then arrive into Aus with the whole day ahead.
It is personal preference though, and until you've tried the flights you won't know what suits you best.

OzTennis

There's many things to consider:

Day flights are often in the morning and if you have a fair journey to the airport, car park to negotiate and at least 2 hours check-in time, what time do you have to wake up?

The theory of night flights tiring the children out during the day could backfire - tired children can be 'ratty' children (at airport, in queues, in plane etc). Also if you are not stopping over and flying at night it might be nearly 48 hours from bed to bed for the children, not to mention the adults.

FWIW when I go without stopping over I go Emirates with a 2.00 pm departure - works out well with enough time to get to the airport and check in without getting up too early, arrive in Melbourne just after midnight and to bed soon after, don't have to stay up because it is daytime.

I appreciate it might be different with 3 young children to consider though.

OzTennis

OzTennis

Yep and as well as this Airlines also schedule their flights:

To minimise landing charges eg Emirates arriving after midnight;
To tie in with connecting flights at their hub airport such as Dubai or Singapore or KL or HK etc. The passengers on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Melbourne might get to Dubai from UK, Europe, Asia and Africa so scheduling has to take this into account;
To avoid noise restrictions at certain destinations;
etc, etc.

Another thing to consider as well as day or night flights, particularly with a family is flight time from UK to Oz including stops - one reason I haven't flown Qantas and Cathay again is that they can take at least 3 hours longer to get there on some flights. Sorry to mention Emirates Poll but they have been the best in MY experience.

OzTennis

sue_parker

Hi Jayne'

I went to Brisbane on my own with three kids and to be honest I don't think it really matters when you go. The kids slept when they wanted to and played video games/watched tv when they didn't want to sleep. They were no trouble at all because they were really excited by it all.

Sue

Pollyana

Yep, agree with all the stuff about scheduling - and thats another reason why short-haul gets delayed in favour of long-haul, as a delay there has far more repercussions across the wider network.
You're entitled to your opinion on Emirates I guess!
Lots of people have good flights, trouble is one bad flight can put someone off for good, and in this case it has. My migration flight with Cathay actually stopped in Cairns for an hour or so, but I'd prefer that bit extra flight time inorder to know I'd have a comfy flight and good service. But then I'm one of those weird people who enjoys long-haul flying....

OzTennis

Why don't we ever get your children sitting near us? I'm only joking but we have had the 'ratty' kids near us from time to time. It isn't easy I know (try teaching them en-masse)!

OzTennis

Tass

Jayne ,
check out "emirates" from Glasgow. They fly direct Glasgow - Dubai - Sydney. Thats who we're going with and have a great deal !
Our kids are 6 & 3 , so I'll let you know how we get on.

Tass.

Fiona&malc

hiya jayne,

we flew out at night with singapore airlines, the flights left heathrow at 10.15 so the kids were exhausted by the time we took off..and as everyone says, you arrive in oz nice and early in morning which is great, but trying to stay awake all day is a bit of a nightmare !!! but anytime we have flown long haul, whether it be day or night, the kids generally sleep or play nintendo games for hours on end, so you should be fine... just have a couple of to keep you and hubby nice and calm !!!!!

hope your sis hears soon from centrelink !!

Cuddles

Hi Jayne,

We flew out with 3 children 8,6, and 2. It was late afternoon flight to arrive in Adelaide early morning. I must admit I would not like to fly those times again through choice. I found the kids had had enough by the time we got on the plane and where past sleep through excitement etc and didnt sleep well at all. My theory was have a morning flight and by the time the kids had calmed down it would be sleeptime and they would have a long sleep, but whether this would actually work or not I dont know.

I was told after the flight you should change your watch to oz time straight away and go by there time, this should avoid as much jetlag, again havent tried it.

Linda

Springo

Hi Jayne

We flew with emirates, flight left at 2 pm, 7 hours to Dubai, My 2 year old was very happy playing with her things and watching videos, we had an hour and a half refuel and then 11 hours onto Perth. This was 10.30 pm as far as my daughter was concerned, she then slept for the whole 11 hours. I think we arrived in Perth at 6.30 pm there time. We then relaxed had a couple of beers and heads down again by midnight, my 2 year old awoke next morning very refreshed. The only thing I noticed with her with regards Jetlag was her body needed different meals at meal time, ie breakfast she would want dinner etc.

I definitely would recommend to start the journey in the day for the younger ones.

Julia

ODDBALL

I am setting off from Heathrow at midday next tuesday, both my previous triups have been late night take off's so it will be new to me. Landing in Brisbane at 20:00 will seem weird too.