Better to fly 7hrs in the day or eve with a 2yo??

[Needadvice02]

My instinct was that an overnight flight would be easier because hopefully he’d sleep, but then I’ve read that toddlers often don’t sleep well on planes and can end up overtired.

On the other hand, a daytime flight means he’s awake for much of the journey, but perhaps it’s easier to keep him entertained and then get him onto local time when we arrive.

If you’ve flown this route with a toddler, which did you choose and would you do the same again? Any tips for making the flight as smooth as possible would also be really appreciated.

I’ve done it many times and I’m afraid you’re right: daytime is a nightmare, overnight is a nightmare if he decides not to sleep. Also, 7 hours isn’t actually 7 hours because by the time you taxi, take off, they do the dinner service, clear up, then get ready for the morning/breakfast service and prepare to land, you really only get about 4-5 hours with the lights off. Unless your toddler is a super duper sleeper I think you’d do well to prepare yourself for a rough few hours - and that way you’ll be soooo happy if he does sleep! (18-36months are the blackout period imo. They’ll sleep younger than 18mo, can be entertained with activities and the screen from 3yo onwards. 2 is….tricky!)

I would do daytime.

We had a late night flight recently, 4 hours. Boarding at about 10pm. Our 2 year old did not sleep at all and found the whole thing quite difficult and upsetting. It’s also very annoying that they can’t have a lap belt, she finally calmed down and started getting sleepy when it was time to land but she had to go back on her own seat (or we had to try) and that was quite unsuccessful too.

The daytime flight was much easier.

They never really tuned the lights down on our flight which really didn’t help.

If you're doing it for a holiday, I just wouldn't.

If it's unavoidable I'd probably go for the earliest morning flight you can - they may have a couple of hours nap on the flight and if not they'll definitely crash after on the transfer and hopefully refresh but still be ok for bed (depending on time difference).

Night flight. I live abroad and have two children aged 5 and 6 and every summer we go back to the UK. We always choose the night flight and they always sleep. Keeping them entertained for 7 hours would be much harder.

What afe the actual take off and landing times, with time diffetence?

We had a toddler scream for the majority of a 4.5hr flight, departing at midnight, last summer. Poor thing, he was exhausted. His parents tried everytbing. No one slept.

Thankyou everyone! Theres a few options.. basically taking off morning and arriving in NY in the early afternoon or evening and it will be overnight and arriving 2am time in NY... starting to think we shouldn't even go as it's only for a week and not even sure the trip is worth it with a 2yo 🥴

I wouldn’t do overnight if it’s only 7 hours, he won’t get enough sleep in and it’ll just be awful. He’ll be tired, you’ll be exhausted all of the next day. Do daytime, keep him entertained as much as possible (hopefully he’ll nap) and at least you know you’re (hopefully) having a good night sleep that night then.

In general, I always prefer to travel to the US in the day time so I’d go with that.

I would do a lot to never fly overnight. Even if a miracle happened and my child slept for a bit, I don’t sleep on planes so I’m a mess the day after an overnight flight (my husband and I are immigrants).

That was my least favourite age for travelling - babies and children are mostly fine but the toddler years were rough for sure!

Thankyou everyone.. this is what I'm thinking 🙏🙏🙏

Oh if it's for an optional week 100% don't go. You'll spend the whole week dreading the flight back.

Day.

Because I have one of those kids (and husbands) who just don't sleep on planes.
Night flights are a nightmare - especially when I was flying alone, and desperate to sleep, and needed to entertain the child!!! Better once he hit about 5, and I could just plug him into a screen.

And won’t the two year old just be jet lagged the whole week anyway?

Daytime..

Arriving into any of the US Eastern seaboard airports at early AM on your own body clock can be quite unpleasant even without the added effort/responsibility of handling a toddler.

Only complication is depending on where you live a breakfast'ish time departure from Europe might mean a night at the airport beforehand.

Good luck.

Daytime - that young would do daytime 100%

Mine never slept and DH could sleep standing up so long haul night flights = disaster with DC sleep deprived, me sleep deprived etc

Although if you have an option avoiding would be even better … a 2yr old doesn’t care about NYC unless you find a nice soft play and the same food they have at home

I’m not against travelling with DC btw, it’s more about having expectations in the right place

We lived in US when DD was 0-3 so quite familiar with transatlantic flights with a toddler. 1 million percent the day flight. It isn’t that hard to entertain them with snacks, screen and hopefully a nap. Then, due to time difference, when you land they’re tired from the travel and it’s actually night time so put them to bed and voila next morning you’re mostly adjusted and no jet lag. The night flight though, at best they’ll get about 4-5 hours because first there is meal service and the lights all come on an hour before landing, you have no chance of any sleep with them conked out on top of you and worst case they won’t sleep at all and will be upset disturbing other passengers who all want to sleep. Then the next day you’ll all be exhausted but will need to push through to bedtime to get on the right time zone. I’d only do it when there is no option for a daytime flight and/or the flight is longer than 7 hours allowing for more sleep.

I wouldn’t take two year old to NY for a week, but if I had to I’d go for the early morning flight.

Neither. If you must fly with a child that young, make it short haul for the sake of your fellow passengers.

Sounds like a great trip but I honestly wouldn’t bother at that age! The problem with a week is you’ll be exhausted from the flight (whether you choose night or day!) then there’ll be jet lag to contend with meaning it will be hard to really recover from the flight in that time period, once you’re back to some good sleep toddler will inevitably have 10x more tantrums due to being in a different place and no routine! Sounds exhausting!

We never ever thought we’d be the type of people to just get a 2 hour flight to Europe and do a similar holiday every year but here we are doing just that

We are saving up for the minute my youngest turns 6 and we can do more exciting trips again!

With a 2yo your best is a Europe flight with only an hour time difference and somewhere with a pool, beach and play park if just for a week.

It’s worthwhile getting them use to flying young and then do longer flights when they get older.

my ds did 4 hour flights from 6 months as we lived abroad. He was pretty good but between 2-4 yo he was harder to entertain and too interested in his surroundings for my favoured night flights (where he’s previously slept through) to work!

lived overseas for many years when mine were little. Always went for night flights when possible. Pyjamas on, fav blanket, drink etc like they would have at home. Tended to do the trick.

Nightime might work for some on some routes but the problem is Europe/UK > US East coast you are not going to find many, if any, genuine nightime flights: schedules, demand/night time curfew don't really support them.

Chances are the OP is going to either have to go for an AM departure UK/Europe with a US arrival late PM/evening on the body clock or depart later in the day and arrive Stateside even later on the body clock.

Having experienced a few evening departures UK that arrive US something like 0200 -0300 on the body clock IMO they are very much an avoid, even if they are nightime all the way, which they are in winter...they're generally frankly horrid.

I’d leave that kind of trip for a few years.

With a baby it would be easier, wait till DC are 4 or 5. When they can be reasoned with and enjoy the inflight films more.

My 4 yo managed so much better than my 2yo on the late night flight. He watched a film and slept. But he also understood what was going on. My toddler didn’t understand why we didn’t just open the door and get off the plane.

It probably much easier if DC are used to it!