Small children on Long haul flights

DH and I visited the Batu Caves in Malaysia recently - Hindu temple at the top of a flight of 272 stairs. It was intensely hot and humid At the top was a woman walking around with a tiny child wrapped around her lower leg and sitting on her foot. I hope she felt it was worth it. I felt sorry for her tbh.

Are you the woman from the baby group? Because if so, I don't like you 😛

We did a very similar holiday when my oldest was 6 months, not the Maldives but another Indian Ocean island.

We didn't do it because wanted our child to remember the holiday, we did it because we wanted to have a holiday, that destination is our second favourite (after the Maldives) and is about 50% the price of the Maldives.

Our little one was amazing on the way out, slept the whole flight in the cot, on the way home they were not happy at all as the flight was delayed, they ended up overtired and unhappy.

We had an amazing holiday, we came home more relaxed and laid back, felt rested and I feel we parent better like that so I would say it was worth it.

I had family in Hong Kong when I was born, from the age of 3 months to 6 I flew out there multiple times a year to visit. While I don't remember the first few trips I have some amazing memories of some of the later ones and the wider family have great memories of the trips.

How does the age of another member of the public on a flight impact you? I am obviously “doing me” that being the only option. As did my parents and their parents before them. If you wish to keep yourself and your children fairly local to their birthplace by all means crack on.

Well long car has no impact on other people so you do you on that one! Trains? Yes, for sure. Especially if you don’t try to parent said child.

Do you feel the same about a long car drive or train? I travelled long haul regularly as a child and so have my children. Some of the things people think you can’t do with children are just bizarre.

I think it’s mental and selfish. There are plenty of nice places to holiday within a 4/ish hour flight of the UK, it’s only for a few years. I honestly don’t know why people do it, and why they can be so inconsiderate of others (let alone their own kids).

I wouldn't do it personally as I am an extremely anxious parent who has to plan every walk round the park or trip to the shops like a military operation so the thought of taking a small child on a long flight is extremely panic-inducing and not for me!
However, if I were a more relaxed and chilled parent I'd probably just take it in my stride. I do admire parents who can just set off on adventures with their kids without all the disaster planning that goes on in my head before even leaving the house. It's probably great for children to be exposed to a range of different locations and situations and, while it might have been annoying for some nearby passengers on the plane, I imagine the toddler hasn't been hhharmed by the experience of the flight and probably had a lovely time, even if he might not be able to recall much about it in later years!

I know everyone on mn seems to say the opposite but I actually found the holiday part ( not the travelling ) easier when they were small in many ways . Now my kids are preteens it can actually be way harder tbh . It was so simple when they were smaller , easier to keep happy , nap times so downtime. Maybe they are enjoying the holiday with their small kids hut agree flights can be a total nightmare at that age tbf .

Is there an age, distance or reason at which it’s acceptable to travel with young children?

Young children get grumpy sometimes but life doesn’t stop, their parent’s wanted to go on holiday and the flight is a necessary part of that. Long haul economy (I’ve assumed economy here) is miserable for adults as much as children, doesn’t stop hundreds of people doing it on each flight.

We’ve rarely had any problems with children on flights, it’s the adults that cause any fuss or arguments we’ve come across.

Do you only do things that your small children will remember when older? Even if they have a lovely time at the time of doing it?

did can’t remember her first couple of holidays to Florida but I can remember what a blast she had, and the photographs show it too.
to be fair to her she was also fine in the plane, at 2 and 4, but we wouldn’t have known that when booking.

Heck even the thought of a two hour flight to Spain with my toddler fills me with dread 😅

YABU. Took mine on multiple long haul flights every year from when they were 3 months old. Fairly certain they are not scarred for life and they definitely do remember some places and experiences from around 1.5 to 2. Do they ‘need’ to travel so far? Obviously not but we either wanted to or needed to in order to see family. Do I enjoy travelling long haul with babies and toddlers? Absolutely not, I miss my childfree flights. But I enjoy the holidays and seeing family so enduring the flights is well worth it to me. Other parents will feel differently. Babies and kids are entitled to be on flights however, so unfortunately everyone has to put up with them unless you can afford to fly private. I get the frustration but now I long for the days when someone else’s screaming baby next to me was my biggest problem on a flight - it’s far worse when it’s your own and you can’t just put on the noise cancelling headphones
and try to block it out!

Because it's free for under 2s and you get more legroom. We did long haul, did stay with family but only for part of the holiday. So glad we did it before we were tied to term times and easier to get time off if you're not both full time and kids in school. Best holiday we ever had an much cheaper than if we had to take our older kids now they're very spendy

I would assume it's because they want to and can afford it.

We flew to the Caribbean when older DC were 2 and 1 and they were amazing during the flights and we had a fab holiday.

My 3rd DC is not such a great flyer, so it is probably a good thing we can't afford long haul holidays!

I took my 2 year old to Mauritius so similar flight time. Didn’t enjoy that. From age 4 we went lots of long haul. I don’t really understand the Maldives and young kids though, everything we did would have been ruined if we’d have our kids with us! Lots of places nearer that offer the same.

( we only went to Mauritius as a family birthday - wasn’t my choice)

We travel long haul once a year with dcs to visit family - both dcs first travelled from age 10/11 months. We've had to put effort into keeping them busy, but it's never been a stressful or miserable flight, and they haven't cried much on board. From age 3 they're very happy to use the in flight entertainment, before then they often slept for a big chunk of the time. We live in an affluent area of London and many families here are international, and it's just normal to continue overseas holidays (for leisure, not just visiting family) once dcs are born. It would be just weird to most people here to hold back from doing long haul flight for years.

We've only just returned from a trip to Japan - our first o/s trip since having DC, who are 9 & 12 now. We didn't see the value as we can't afford to travel often, so it has to be worth it. We're in Aus, so have plenty of options domestically anyway.

In japan we saw many families traveling with young children & babies only a few months old.

I think the difference is that those families have more money & time so can travel more often, so it doesn't hold the same financial pressure to have a successful trip.

Or, like us, they were trying an o/s trip with babies, believing the nonsense that they 'just go where you go'. We took DS to Fiji & learned it wasn't worth it!

Well yes, you'd expect a teenager to be well behaved on a plane. I'm not saying that children don't grow up to be well behaved on planes if they don't fly at a young age, rather that if they fly a lot early on then they are used to it early on so by 3/4 are likely good travellers. .

My kids didn’t fly until they were early teens. However, they’re surprisingly good travellers now as adults and very well behaved on the plane.

We didn't take our son abroad until he was 4 & we were able to explain thing's & reason with him, that was our choice & until he was 12 we only went short haul. I would never take little one's on such a long flight & when I watch parents on a plane with little one's they look so stressed!

OFGS

The OP merely meant that they didn't necessarily need to travel for 11 hours with miserable children to have a fantastic holiday with sea, sun and sand

Why are so many posters being so deliberately obtuse?

You all know what she was getting at

We flew to Asia half a dozen times with pre school kids. One flight was awful the rest were fine. It’s a risk, but the holidays were worth it.

Well it is when you are on a long flight and all you can hear is some kid crying. None of us exist in a vacuum.