Advice for 11hr daytime flight with 4yo

[longhauler]

Hi,

Posted on parenting board but it's quiet.

I am taking my 4 year old on our first longish-haul flight at half term and am looking for some advice from parents who've done this! The longest flight she's been on before now is 4hrs.

For the return flight it's overnight so I'm very much hoping she will sleep. Unfortunately the outbound flight was only available in the day. So we leave the UK at 10am our time and fly for 11 hours, arriving at our destination at 3pm their time (9pm UK time).

Does anyone have any advice or tips both for the flight and what to do when we arrive at our destination? Should we try to keep child awake on the outbound flight? There will be a transfer of an hour to our hotel and I'm sure she will fall asleep. Should we just let her or will that make the new bedtime a nightmare? Should we do the opposite and try to keep her awake throughout the whole thing until 7pm ish their time?

Also on the flight itself does anyone have any advice other than iPad with downloaded films? What do we do for 11 hours?! 😩

We’ve done 9hrs a couple of times with that age and younger.

I got a travel snug so they could nap comfortably on the plane. I actually find long haul much easier than short haul with little ones because there are meals and screens to keep them occupied.

It’s fine if she sleeps on the transfer. We usually have an early dinner and all go to bed around 7. She will probably wake up in the early hrs 5/6am but because you all went to bed early it won’t be awful. We actually use this first morning to walk down to the beach and watch the sunrise as a family; I find it’s a really special moment.