Share your tips for keeping your children happy on flights with Qatar Airways - £300 voucher to be won

[JustineBMumsnet]

Taking your children on a plane journey can lead to worries that they will be bored and miserable until you arrive. Qatar Airways have recently launched their new Oryx Kids Club programme, and want to hear your tips for keeping your children happy when you’re on a flight.

Qatar Airways Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Ehab Amin, said: “Qatar Airways is delighted to announce the launch of Oryx Kids Club programme and loyalty programme for its youngest travellers, offering them the opportunity to enjoy exceptional benefits while travelling with Qatar Airways. As an airline that is committed to welcoming children and families on board, Qatar Airways is thrilled about this new opportunity to interact with our passengers, from the moment they arrive at the airport.”

Are you an expert in finding plane friendly toys? Maybe you have an ingenious and unique way of preventing boredom on long plane journeys? Do you use family friendly lounges? Perhaps you play I spy from the sky? Do you use films and games from in-flight entertainment systems or do you prefer to download favourites onto your own tablets to keep your children entertained?

Whatever you do to keep your children happy on flights, share this in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight Terms and Conditions apply

[GeekyWombat]

Just did 9.5 hour flights to Florida and back with DC aged 2 and 4.

We used:

• Unlimited screen time on Kindle Fires for kids and or in flight entertainment screens (basically until they fell asleep!)
  
• Big bag of lollipops to help with ears popping and give respite to long-suffering people sat near us.
  

We let them buy a magazine each in the WHSmith by the departure lounge (with plastic tat to play with and stickers and colouring included) and then they choose a grown up sized bag of crisps for the flight.

All of these things independently are rare and exotic treats. We basically did all of them as a nuclear option and pretty much got through unscathed.

#dontbeahero #mumoftheyearawardlostinthepost

[happyflower]

Flown several times with kids:
Top tips:
Download films and tv shows to watch on tablets - make sure you have headphones that are comfortable and work and plenty of spare battery back up! In flight entertainment not always that good so would be good to know in advance what's available.

Be prepared to play games with them - rock, paper scissors / counting pontoon / similar verbal games

Plenty of food, snacks and drinks.

Soft blankets or bags that can double up as a pillow.

[ImogenTubbs]

We fly a lot with DD aged almost 5. We have several tricks:

-Tablet fully charged with a selection of games

• Colouring book and good choice of pens
• A small treat bought at the airport - a magazine, kinder egg, something new and exciting to put her in a good mood!

Take water, light nibbles, get any meals on board. Dress in layers in case she's hot/cold

And finally... take her to see the captain when we're getting off the flight! She really enjoys it and we spend some time talking about what the captain will be like and what she wants to ask them. I always make sure we do this whenever there is a female captain as it doesn't happen that often and I want her to see.

[SillyMoomin]

pre-planning. I think of the plane journey in blocks of 30 mins

eating: 1 block
watching a tv episode: 1 block
"going for a walk round the plane and looking out the back galley windows: 1 block
etc etc

Go through the plane journey beforehand and make sure you've got enough stuff (tv shows downloaded / colouring in books / food) to last for 2 blocks over the plane length (this allows for delays etc)

[bibolda]

We are so lucky. We first took my daughter on flight when she was 6 months old and she was sleeping most of the time and looking around, so it was easy.
Now she is bigger and she needs to move a bit and also need to something to play with, so we take her favorite toys with us and tablet and we play with her on the flight.
She is very curious about everything so it is easy to deal with the situation.

[asuwere]

Best suggestion is to avoid long haul flights with young children as much as possible! :)

[Sleepysausage]

We make sure dad has plenty of her face on a tablet, colouring, little games to play with us and chatting. And a couple of emergency snacks/bribes. This seems to keep her very happy on flights.

[ShePersisted]

I don't stress about flights because, at least, the children are contained and so is the time period. So even if all fails and they tantrum for 12 hours, well, it was just one day and with a group of people who will survive and whom you're unlikely to see again! :)

Otherwise, I thought it was quite good to have many, small snacks, activity books and toys all individually wrapped. The excitement of a new surprise every hour or so keeps them more or less happily seated! And, if yours are super social like mine are: nothing beats the long strolls up and down the aisles for making friends and giving high fives.

[Hermie12]

A Tablet with favourites downloaded a must, plenty of snacks with a lot of variety, including some extra treats my daughter isnt often allowed. A visit to the airport shop to choose a magazine, a comfy pillow for naps and regular walks round the plane to stretch little legs.

[BrieAndChilli]

Pick up lots of little ‘tat’ toys that you can bring out when they start to get restless. Things that it doesn’t matter if you lose a piece on the plane/leave behind.

Tablets and headphones are a godsend. Can be loaded with films and games (even educational ones seem fun when you are stuck on a plane!!)

Comfy clothes


Make sure that all the stuff you need is in a small bag you can put under your seat so you don’t have to keep getting up and getting stuff out of the overhead lockers every 2 min!!

Lollies for take off and landing

[PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks]

Drug them? (lighthearted)

[NeverTwerkNaked]

iPad!! (Or similar). Plus obviously making sure they are fed and comfortable. I also always get to the airport with a fair bit of time before the flight so they have time to stretch their legs and run about a bit (there’s normally a corner you can find for this somewhere).

[sharond101]

We have little craft storage boxes I use as a picnic box to keep lots of different snacks in. Kids love them. A kids magazine they pick at airport, card games and colouring are always good too.

[del2929]

weve used ipads and inflight screens to keep the little ones quiet. backpacks of crayons and small toys have also been useful.
whilst travelling on certain airlines we have had inflight entertainment for children - face paint etc.

[Alibongo0001]

Buy lots of cheap toys, books, crayons, colouring books and wrap them separately. Each half hour they can open a present.
Also have limited tablet time as well as reading books and card games.
Making sure they have plenty of snacks too

[ThePug]

Stickers and snacks are the essentials for my toddler!

[BalloonFlowers]

Unlimited screen time on the plane - long haul in flight entertainment is usually good.
Playground in terminal before flying, and again at transit. And if you can't find a playground, find an empty corner, and get them doing high knees, butt kicks and jumping jacks (there are some ace play areas at Doha Hamad airport)
Expect it to be horrific, and then hopefully you are pleasantly surprised!

[stickladilove]

Flown several times since they were babies, longest is 13 hour flight
Flight entertainment screens, they always have the popular movies
iPads/ Amazon fire when they are bored with the same movie
DS likes his small cars/trains
DD likes her books
Flight kids packs help, they like the toy and activity book

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

Dreamliner inflight entertainment systems are the bees’ knees. I agree with pp - now is not the time to stress about screen time.

[XenakisCarter]

• Interesting snacks that they’re not allowed at home but not too much sugar - they’re already excited, you don’t need giddy sugar-amped kids.
  
• iPad/tablet - obviously
  
• little games that aren’t loud or can be played individually - respect for other passengers has to be taught just like everything else
  
• a scrapbook to record the journey/holiday - I bought one of those little cameras that prints out photos - they love sticking them in and writing about what they’re doing.

[Rawesome6]

Mmmmm we flew Qatar with our daughter under a medical note and medication back to the U.K. Qatar bumped us at Doha from the second leg back to the U.K. and treated us appallingly. Apparently overbooking flights and bumping passengers is not uncommon, and having a young child travelling under medical advice (requiring Qatar's involvement) made not one jot of difference once our name was on the bumped list. So my advice would be never to fly Qatar, and certainly not with children.

[habibihabibi]

Frequent fun but nutritious snacks that are low in sugar, rather than a big meal with everything given at once.
A small quality souvenir of the flight rather than a stuffed toy sponge bob or plastic folder with low quality pencils and booklet, that have nothing to do with the airline, destination or hold any cultural significance. Flying makes my carbon footprint bad enough already I don't want my kids being thrust some landfill .

[ButterflyOfFreedom]

We've flown a couple of times with ours.

We take lots of snacks & water (for all.of us!), sticker books, felt tips & paper / colouring books, some little toys like plastic animals etc, and we usually let them pick a comic or magazine in the airport shop before we board.

[MrsFrTedCrilly]

We’ve always packed a small surprise toy in our hand luggage as a treat along with colouring pencils and paper puzzle book/reading book, stickers and snacks and drinks depending on which airline we are flying with. Full agree with the tablet or a few episodes of something they enjoy on your phone. Dress in layers and have a small blanket in case they get cold. Also given the amount of times my kids have puked on me when travelling a pack of wipes and a parental change of clothing is another essential!
Nice flight attendants can make all the difference to a journey and if they engage the children with a picture or a quick chat it really helps.

[Cliveybaby]

We used to fly long haul a lot when we were little, and the best things were:

• inflight movies (we were allowed to watch as many as we liked, that was a real treat)
  
• audiobooks, often with a craft activity like knitting (my gran taught me to knit when I was about 8 and I loved it)
  
• food and snacks (we weren't allowed fizzy drinks at home, so they were a real novelty on the plane)