Long Haul Flight with an 18 month old
Discussion
Hi,
My son is coming up 7 months and some close friends have recently moved to Live in LA. I have an Amex 241 voucher and enough avios to fly us all out there and back in Club World at this time next year, but i'm wondering if anyone can shed any light on what travelling with an 18 month old boy, who obviously won't have his own seat, would be like. My wife is starting to think it could be an absolute nightmare on the plane and then we don't know how well young kids adapt to new time zones.
Appreciate any help or advice as at the moment we are in danger of ending up in Portugal, again.
My son is coming up 7 months and some close friends have recently moved to Live in LA. I have an Amex 241 voucher and enough avios to fly us all out there and back in Club World at this time next year, but i'm wondering if anyone can shed any light on what travelling with an 18 month old boy, who obviously won't have his own seat, would be like. My wife is starting to think it could be an absolute nightmare on the plane and then we don't know how well young kids adapt to new time zones.
Appreciate any help or advice as at the moment we are in danger of ending up in Portugal, again.
I think that is the worst possible age. Too old to just sleep, too young to understand where he is. My boy (3) enjoyed a quick NCL-LHR-NCL day trip as he wanted to go on a 'big aeroplane', but any longer than that I think would have been difficult. Ask why you really need to go all that way. Is it for his benefit, or yours?
I flew to Hong Kong, then to Bangkok, then Phuket, then back to BKK, then to Dubai, and finally home!
18 month old, and wife is preggers.
Honestly, just get on with it. Life is too short not to.
He was total nightmare of two flights (threw up on one!) and then didn't settle on another.
If you can get night flights, or get it in line with with sleep times job done. Also an ipad with Peppa Pig works.
I also made sure he ran around the airports pre-flights, and generally had fun and got tired.
FYI he doesn't fit in basket, so was on our laps. Try to get a 3 seats, with one empty in the middle.
Just don't expect the old ways of having a nice relaxing flight - those days are long gone for us!
RE: world club, yes not fair and probs not worth it as you will getting up to walk the brat around to the back of the plane. You'll get lots attention from the air stewardess :-)
Enjoy.
18 month old, and wife is preggers.
Honestly, just get on with it. Life is too short not to.
He was total nightmare of two flights (threw up on one!) and then didn't settle on another.
If you can get night flights, or get it in line with with sleep times job done. Also an ipad with Peppa Pig works.
I also made sure he ran around the airports pre-flights, and generally had fun and got tired.
FYI he doesn't fit in basket, so was on our laps. Try to get a 3 seats, with one empty in the middle.
Just don't expect the old ways of having a nice relaxing flight - those days are long gone for us!
RE: world club, yes not fair and probs not worth it as you will getting up to walk the brat around to the back of the plane. You'll get lots attention from the air stewardess :-)
Enjoy.
Henry Fiddleton said:
I flew to Hong Kong, then to Bangkok, then Phuket, then back to BKK, then to Dubai, and finally home!
18 month old, and wife is preggers.
Honestly, just get on with it. Life is too short not to.
He was total nightmare of two flights (threw up on one!) and then didn't settle on another.
If you can get night flights, or get it in line with with sleep times job done. Also an ipad with Peppa Pig works.
I also made sure he ran around the airports pre-flights, and generally had fun and got tired.
FYI he doesn't fit in basket, so was on our laps. Try to get a 3 seats, with one empty in the middle.
Just don't expect the old ways of having a nice relaxing flight - those days are long gone for us!
RE: world club, yes not fair and probs not worth it as you will getting up to walk the brat around to the back of the plane. You'll get lots attention from the air stewardess :-)
Enjoy.
Why on earth did you fly to Phuket via Hong Kong and Bangkok and back via Bangkok and Dubai? That's mental without a baby. 18 month old, and wife is preggers.
Honestly, just get on with it. Life is too short not to.
He was total nightmare of two flights (threw up on one!) and then didn't settle on another.
If you can get night flights, or get it in line with with sleep times job done. Also an ipad with Peppa Pig works.
I also made sure he ran around the airports pre-flights, and generally had fun and got tired.
FYI he doesn't fit in basket, so was on our laps. Try to get a 3 seats, with one empty in the middle.
Just don't expect the old ways of having a nice relaxing flight - those days are long gone for us!
RE: world club, yes not fair and probs not worth it as you will getting up to walk the brat around to the back of the plane. You'll get lots attention from the air stewardess :-)
Enjoy.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
You can and we did travel Business with a child (children even - did it with three) and not upset other passengers. You just have to be considerate and keep the child from getting frustrated. There will be the occasional brief cry, but when I'm flying business for work, I find that less disturbing than a snoring, fat, half-drunk oaf.Zod said:
anonymous said:
[redacted]
You can and we did travel Business with a child (children even - did it with three) and not upset other passengers. You just have to be considerate and keep the child from getting frustrated. There will be the occasional brief cry, but when I'm flying business for work, I find that less disturbing than a snoring, fat, half-drunk oaf.el stovey said:
Why on earth did you fly to Phuket via Hong Kong and Bangkok and back via Bangkok and Dubai? That's mental without a baby.
See the world, weddings, and family visits. All with Emirates. Great trip, and the flights were not that hard - as parents you just have to work harder.
Next up Rome pre 2nd baby July.
We took our 18 month old to NZ last year. It was hell!
He wasn't able to sleep in the bassinet and because of the way he is he wouldn't sleep on us. The end result was that he only slept for 5 hours the whole way. As you can imagine this wasn't fun!
However, we would do it again.
As someone said, life it too short to worry about it. Once there we all had a fantastic time and the lack of sleep on the plane actually enabled us to settle into the new time zone very easily.
We followed lots of advice beforehand about buying lots of small p
resents to open every hour but the only thing that made any difference was the tablet with lots of apps and films on.
He wasn't able to sleep in the bassinet and because of the way he is he wouldn't sleep on us. The end result was that he only slept for 5 hours the whole way. As you can imagine this wasn't fun!
However, we would do it again.
As someone said, life it too short to worry about it. Once there we all had a fantastic time and the lack of sleep on the plane actually enabled us to settle into the new time zone very easily.
We followed lots of advice beforehand about buying lots of small p
resents to open every hour but the only thing that made any difference was the tablet with lots of apps and films on.
Being on a flights with kids is my definition of hell - however, if I can see the parents understand their responsibilities and are having a good go at trying to keep the kid(s) busy and everyone else's flight as quiet as possible, I have no complaints.
It's the 'parents' that let the buggers run riot, scream their heads off and do zilch to sort it out that really piss me off.
It's the 'parents' that let the buggers run riot, scream their heads off and do zilch to sort it out that really piss me off.
Preparation will be key.
At 18 months will need constant entertainment unless asleep. Ipad good idea - but you would need to think about headphones.
We did one flight to South of France with our daughter at this age and she was a real pain. Did not help that it was a small plane with no room to move.
at 3 - it was easy.
At 18 months will need constant entertainment unless asleep. Ipad good idea - but you would need to think about headphones.
We did one flight to South of France with our daughter at this age and she was a real pain. Did not help that it was a small plane with no room to move.
at 3 - it was easy.
asimpleusername said:
Hi,
My son is coming up 7 months and some close friends have recently moved to Live in LA. I have an Amex 241 voucher and enough avios to fly us all out there and back in Club World at this time next year, but i'm wondering if anyone can shed any light on what travelling with an 18 month old boy, who obviously won't have his own seat, would be like. My wife is starting to think it could be an absolute nightmare on the plane and then we don't know how well young kids adapt to new time zones.
Appreciate any help or advice as at the moment we are in danger of ending up in Portugal, again.
It can be fine. We took ours to the west coast twice a year from when they were born. My son is coming up 7 months and some close friends have recently moved to Live in LA. I have an Amex 241 voucher and enough avios to fly us all out there and back in Club World at this time next year, but i'm wondering if anyone can shed any light on what travelling with an 18 month old boy, who obviously won't have his own seat, would be like. My wife is starting to think it could be an absolute nightmare on the plane and then we don't know how well young kids adapt to new time zones.
Appreciate any help or advice as at the moment we are in danger of ending up in Portugal, again.
The main trick is to take charge of their timetable: they eat when you want them to eat, they watch tv when you want them to, and they sleep when you want them to. Do not try out anything for the first time on board: so ideally have a stash of food you know they will eat, a tablet with something you know they like to watch, and some medicine you know will put them to sleep. A wrapped up gift in the shape of a small toy or a book can also work wonders if deployed jut before things look like they are about to go tits up.
As for the other passengers, it's public transport. FWIW anecdotally it seems that the principal reason that other passengers get pissed off is the impression that the parents are doing nothing to calm/quiet a noisy child.
Adaptation to time zones wasn't really an issue for ours; in fact both of them started to sleep through the night when on the west coast, having been terrible sleepers before then.
Make it a night flight and make sure he has his own seat - having a heavy toddler on your lap for several hours will not be fun for him or you. We took an 18 month old to Oz via Singapore. Night-flight to Singapore - had his own seat, slept most of the way and was good as gold for the rest. Seatback videos and new toys/books help, as does a decent stopover with a stay in a hotel(i'd say you are pushing it expecting toddler co-operation beyond 12 hours). If you have to trade down from business to economy to afford the extra seat for him it will be very well worth it.
However, the above depends on knowing your child; if your wife is viewing this with trepidation, she may know more about him than you do
However, the above depends on knowing your child; if your wife is viewing this with trepidation, she may know more about him than you do
asimpleusername said:
My wife is starting to think it could be an absolute nightmare on the plane....
It definitely could be. But it could be fine. The child not having its own seat for that length of flight doesn't sound like a good idea. How is he on people's knees normally?
We took our somewhat bonkers active granddaughter to the US as she turned 3 and she was absolutely fine, with the exception that on the night flight back she didn't sleep at all. We were in PE on Virgin and the armrests don't come up. In hindsight that was a mistake as she really wanted to lean on someone, but couldn't.
Timezone change is more of a problem coming home.
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