NermaltheCute

Follow on from the who did you travel with thread, I've got a four year old daughter, do any of your recommendations change with that knowledge?

Thanks again the advice is invaluable.

P2L

Pluses and minuses with both Singapore and Malaysia, although when I think about it again, I would say Malaysia: We had empty seats on the first leg of our flight with Singapore and these were given to people without children first, so not very impressed, whereas Malaysia blocked seats for us at check in and air crew made sure we had a whole row for our 2 eldest

minky

We have flown with Quantas they were fine Singapore and Malaysian were good as they serve the children first also opt for the childrens menu.

nukiwi

Don't have kids myself but on Emirates I noticed that kids were well catered for and they get lots of extras to keep them entertained throughout the flight. You can also book your seats online as soon as you have a booking reference to guarantee you all sit together.

http://www.emirates.com/nz/English/f..._for_kids.aspx

hosebergine

We flew air new zealand this year with a 3 yr old - piece of cake, they were great. We went via Hong Kong and came back via LA but didn't have a stopover at either because we just wanted to cope with one lump of time difference. LA security check was absolutely fine - nice guy and we had a chuckle with him. Having a child gets you to the front of the queue. The lounge isn't exactly cheerful and the loos are a bit rough in LA but it was all fine and the free biscuits and apples were really welcome.

Hong Kong was gorgeous with acres of space to run around but people were grumpier.

But Air New Zealand were generally terrific with us - I was pregnant as well - and sorted out the diabolical mess BMI made of our tickets really well (but that's another story!!)

teebrown

We flew with AirNZ and had a 4 & 6 yr old at the time, the first leg was London - LA, we all hated LA, the people were bordering on ok, but that was it, the return was via Hong Kong, and this was fantastic, the people were great.

My son, who was 4 at the time decided to throw up all over himself and passport control and continue to throw up on board the flight, Air NZ were brilliant, they helped us out and and mopped him up, they really gave us a great service thoughout the flights, that's why we are booking our one way tickets through them again and going via Hong Kong.

There is loads of entertainment on the in-screen flight for my 4 yrs old to do and they both travelled very very well.

kepow

we flew out with Emirates this summer for a 5 week stay with the in-laws with our 5 and 2 year old.

Most people look horrified when I tell them how we did it, but it worked well for us. We had 3 stops, but just flew straight on. Having a 12 hour stop over just didn't work for us last time as we all wanted to sleep at different times and it just wasnt fun.

This way the longest your are in the sky for is 8 hours(I hate flying) we changed planes at Dubai refuelled at Bangkok and Sydney, so 8 hours, 7 hours, 7 hours and 2.5hours. You then get about an hour and a half to get out and strech your legs at each airport. When we arrived in Bangkok it was empty and we just ran them up and down the airport which helped alot with the cabin fever. The journey out felt easy, the last flight we were all so excited (hadn't been to see the family for 4 years) it went really quickly.

The journey home was harder,always is. and we flew to Brisbourne and then were held in a landing queue so it was nearer 4 hours and the last flight seemed to go on for ever, but still works well getting off for a run around. They feed the kids first on Emirates so you can help them out before you get yours. They get special boxes which were a bit too full of junk food for my liking, but thats only a minor niggle. The TV channels were good, but my 5 year old watched the same 4 episodes of the Kuala Brothers from Manchester to Auckland!

I think the ideal would be to do it in 3 flights rather than 4 for us, but most people dont fancy the thought of all the disembarking at airports, but we will definitely do it again next time (March 09)

NermaltheCute

I like the sound of your logic kepow. Thanks to you all for your replies, next trick is to keep the little one occupied on the flight!