Anybody going in january 2007?
 

we are flying on the 23rd of january from london to Christchurch, we wanted to go from manchester but we can't now due to lack of seats...i wish we would have booked even earlier but oh well.........
We are flying with Singapore with a departure time of 18:15, if you see a blonde haired woman screaming at her two toddlers and a bald stressed out dad, come over and say hello!!! Seriously though, Can anybody give me any advise on flying in general? We are a family who has never flown before (eeeeeeeeek! :scared: !!!!!!!!) can anybody talk us through the whole process of arriving at check it to what happens right up until we step foot in christchurch????? We don't do things by halves do we???? hehe

Thank you all so much xxxx :)

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

Hi Stacey,

It's really not too bad - just very tiring!

We flew with Air Singapore to Auckland with a stopover in Singapore for one nite with 4 kids.

We checked in on-line (from 72hrs before hand) which meant you can get a text before check in to tell you if the flight has been delayed/cancelled etc. You go to the terminal, find the Air Singapore check in desks which are numbered. Look for the one that says Internet Check-In (way shorter than normal check-in.) Hand over your tickets/booking confirmation and passports. They'll weigh you luggage that's to be loaded and give each piece a bar code tag - which corresponds with a bar code sticker that put on your papers to carry with you.

They'll then give you a boarding card for each passenger with your passports - this has your seat and flight numbers on it. We also then got our boarding cards for the follow on flight from Singapore to Auckland.

You then go through security checks to get through to the Departures lounge. Shops, restaurants, email facilities; etc ...

Teletext type screens everywhere with details of the flights. Look for your flight number on a departures board. It will tell you on that what Gate you are boarding from as well as announce it over tannoys.

Make your way to the gate. They will then pop your boarding passes through a machine and give you a little stub and then you go through a tunnel thingy to the aircraft. Turn left and you'll hit 1st Class (Raffles!!!) Much like a train to find your seat number.

You'll have a TV screen in the back of the seat in front (which will also give you a route checker to show where you are (above what country) and how many hours to go to reach your destination) Plenty of food and drinks - you can ask for a snack at anytime. Especially for the kids.

Drink lots of water. You'll be given a small pillow and blanket, eyeshield and complimentary toothbrush and toothpaste.

Lie back and enjoy!!!

Phew, am exhausted now!!

We plan to go mid-Jan but to Auckland again!

Good luck!

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

Thanks for that, wow I need a lie down now!!!
We booked today and recieved our E-Tickets about an hour ago. It says to print the e-mail off and take it with us. Confused again..LOL! What do we actually do with the print out? show it at the desk along with our passports and then all is fine??? Sorry...I'm just new to all this.
will we all be seated together as the lady over the phone couldn't tell us, also are we all allowed 1 suitcase each or more?? sorry about all the questions

stacey xxx

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

Hi Stacy we went last year 2 kids ctc . we all sat together 1 row of 4 on a Jumbo . Kids had toys on plane tried for night time flight so they would sleep.
Stop over Kuala Lumpar which is ok . except my daughter has blond hair and it caused quite a stir at the airport (they will actually stare and point at you we even had people coming out of shops to have a look). I think its a novelty.
At Auclkland airport if you have youg kids they direct you to preferential check in ie you don,t have to queue. So it was pretty uneventful. all directions at stopovers are very good and caused no problems,
Cheers Martin :beer:

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

I'm not a seasoned traveller - it's just what I remeber when we went in the Spring!!
Yes, take the print out with your passports to the check-in desk. They are what will be magically exchanged for boarding cards!! If you check-in on-line - which I STRONGLY recommend you'll have an interior of the plane come up with the seats allocated to you - if you don't want those you can change to others still available - although there weren't many left when we did that. We were all seated together and there are 6 of us. Did you stress the ages of the children when you booked? In the worse case scenario and you arrive for check-in late and they've changed your allocated seats they will make every attempt to seat you together or at least 2 together and then 2 together nearby. If this happens, explain when you check-in and explain again at the gate. Then explain when you get on the plane and the stewardesses will know who is travelling alone/unconnected or 2 adults and will ask if anyone will move for you so that you can all sit together.

We found our allocated seats had automatically been put all together. remember when they take the booking and process the seats the kids ages will come up - am sure it'll be fine!

Oh and if you're nervous try Rescue Remedy!

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

Hey dont stress over it..... youll be fine. I travelled here with a 19month old last year and if you can put one or both of your toddlers into a pushchair you'll be rushed through any queues. They tend to get rid of you quicker if you have toddlers and leave the sane people who dont have kids to wait in line.

Take a "magic bag" for each of your kids with new bits and bobs in to keep them interested.... new little toys, books, crayons and a small pad,funsize sweeties..... (tesco is good for new cheapy small toys) let them have fun seeing whats in there.... hopefully they will go to sleep as well. Dont let them see the magic bag before leaving so it will be a lovely surprise during the flight when they get restless.

On the 2nd leg from LA my lad slept for 10 hours out of the 12... it was night-time and he just flaked out. We took his car seat on the plane and it fitted in ok.... he was comfy and just slept nearly the whole way.

I'm sure youll be fine. Enjoy the food and videos and dont keep looking at how many hours you have left to fly as that will do your head in. Take a book if you like reading and I took some puzzle books too.

I put my important documents in a folder and had them in a folder in my hand luggage.

Im not sure what/how much hand luggage you can take now after those scares the other week. Check before you go.

Good luck and dont worry....itll be ok. Hope some of this helps. :)

SarahB

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

I was going to suggest similar for the kids - how old are they?

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

mmm...dont forget that "hand luggage" is not the hand luggage we all know and love - just a clear plastic bag with odd bits in it.

We travelled back from Baltimore after 9/11 and they swabbed and GC'd/raman'd the car seat (for explosives) as it wouldn't fit through the x-ray machine........
It can be hard to carry a car seat & push a pram but there are usually people to help - best to check with airline over car seat some widebodied cabin seats will take them and others won't....and some airlines are really helpful on this front & others not so!!

good luck - if I get the job I'm applying for this week then all being well we could be following in your jetstream

ian

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

Is that still the case? I thought they'd changed it back to a smaller piece of hand luggage allowance than before, but no longer the plastic bag?

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

you're probably right - all I know is that the works issue laptop is now checked luggage rather than carryon - ie ready to go in the bin..... :p

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

LOL!!

We found it really useful to give the kids a small backpack each that they could carry - yes even the 3 year old - with, as Sarah B suggested - their own activity books, toys, colouring pencils, disposable camera etc; that they had not had access to before.

Our 7 year old son had 3 pictures left on his camera when we got from West Sussex to Heathrow! Lots of photos of motorbikes en route to the airport!!!

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

yep, i woz wrong:

http://img34.imagevenue.com/loc422/t..._122_422lo.jpg

ian

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

done that with our (now) eldest - he was suprisingly well behaved all the way to LAX (and back from SFO).....little so and so.
now got a 13 month old to sort out.....
I used to have real probs with the old allownaces so had to have very large camera case plus big bag plus loose coat plus newspaper plus anything else I could get away with - at least I'm not carrying the 1600ASA film anymore.... :scared:

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

Hello lady-lo0! Yes! We're hoping to go January,but to Wellington. Was supposed to be November but the Uni frigged up our paperwork so we've got one more Christmas. Never mind.
Actually,we even have our leaving do still in November,which seems a bit mad-saying goodbye,then hanging round for 8 weeks! Do you reckon we should move it to Jan?
Interesting what you said about the flights,we would prefer to go from Manchester,but if we go from Heathrow we'll meet you for a last drink! Will let you know. Good luck.

Re: Anybody going in january 2007?
 

Had to smile at the fact you've never flown and then choose NZ as a first flight. In at the deep end :D
Don't panic it'll be fine. The kids are always interested in the tv screens and the food! I've been travelling with my kids since they were small. Follow the advice of previous posters re bags of activities. Phenergan(sp) and a Mothercare mallet work well if you need to put kids to sleep for a few hours :D