To hope my children won’t be toooo tired after a midnight flight?

[Carla6]

Hi, we’re flying back from Greece right at the end of the summer holidays and I hoped my children would sleep on the plane back so booked it for the night before they start back at school as that was much cheaper. Now I’m wondering if I’ve messed up as it’s a midnight flight landing at 2am! Then a 2 drive home once we get luggage…I didn’t think this through properly when booking. Has anyone had a journey back like this and how were their children the next day and following day, tiredness wise?! I mean I can’t actually move the flights now but I’m just wondering how much of a mistake I’ve made! Any tips for comfy sleeping on the plane?! Thanks!

Yes you've made a mistake. I think you should try to ensure some sleep extra the previous night or two.

We had a flight time similar to this last year but it was the last week of term (we were allowed time off school due to my husbands job/holiday allocation).
I played it by ear, if they were awake and wanted to they would go to school or if they were too tired I would have let them have the day off. As it was DD5 fell asleep in the airport about 11pm and slept until we landed at 2am-ish (plus time difference so about 5 hours sleep), then fell asleep again in the car home and until about 8am. So only had a little bit less sleep than usual. DS7 was similar but maybe midnight-8. They both happily went to school the next day excited to see their friends. Early bed that night but it was fine!

We did this once, flying back from USA on the red-eye I didn't realise that DD's school went back earlier than her brothers'.
She was at secondary school. She slept on the plane then, as plane was delayed, went from airport to home then straight to school! Fortunately only had to be in for a couple of hours.

Sounds like u didn’t have a clue when u were booking.

I never understand people who do this. I always need time to decompress after a holiday.

Oh and I always factor in the chance of delays and cancellations

Have you looked at the price of flights recently?! Yeh obviously in an ideal world we’d all get great times for flights and loads of time to rest and recover after but with getting value for money and maximising time off work etc this doesn’t always happen!

I've done a lot of late-night travelling with kids and always assume that it will be a skipped night of sleep. Everyone is often still wired at dawn so it might be possible to take them to school at a normal time but let teachers know that the flight was very late and you'd like to pick them up at the first break-time after the usual first day settling in. It's slightly unusual but will at least show you've made an effort without lumbering the teachers with crabby kids (they'll be sleeping at their desks by lunchtime)

I think you'll be fine. Just early night the next night! And if they're tired keep them off but I wouldn't change the booking.

You say it like somone has put a gun to your head forcing you to book a holiday and you have no choice but to choose the worst possible combination. You still have time off work by having a day to breathe, but I guess people thinking like you are why the OP is in this ridiculous situation.

And yes, my family lives overseas so I've booked to go home for christmas, long haul flights are incredibly expensive, this one set me back £800. Still have left time before heading back to work though! 2 days, don't need 'loads of time'.

"Have you looked at the price of flights recently?!"

Yes, and you can either afford them or you can't. Regardless, if I was taking my kid out of school just to save a few quid I'd be doing it at the end of term or having a look at their inset days.

Not making them miss the first day back for all the reasons already outlined. I've just asked both of my kids, who are confident and settled and travel lots and they agree that it would be horrible to miss the first day back in September.

They may well sleep but it won't be a restful sleep, and they won't be ready for school the next day. I'd keep them off, unless it's the first day of year 7 or reception!

People are so ridiculous- as if one late night after a lovely holiday is the end of the world! It’s not ideal but it’s not worth not living over

They are going to be wiped out! Definitely keep them off that day. They’ll have to start school a day late.

We've done it when mine were young - around 4 and 6. They slept whole 5 hour flight, woke up to go through airport and then slept all the way home and transferred into bed, so had around 9 hours and they were tired but fine. We were flying from Cyprus which is 2 hours ahead so they were awake naturally in time for school! I'd play it by ear and hope for the best!

It IS cruel.
One minute they’re super chilled and relaxed by the pool, the next minute they are up all night and then whisked into school to a brand new class and teacher. The first few days are often the most strict, as teachers lay the ground rules and show the children there’s to be no messing. The expectation is that children are well rested and ready to get off on the right foot.
They will be tired and grumpy.
Talk about setting your children up to fail.

Some of the answers on here seem to suggest that parents make decisions based around “What is it reasonable to expect my child to put up with” rather than “what is the best decision for my child”.
So very depressing.

This ^

I also see s lot of minimising 'oh it's just one late night' type comment. A late night for children would be around midnight. These kids won't be getting home until around 5am, that's more than a late night.

Everything is about balance. So long as, overall, parents act in the best interests of their children, it doesn't matter if one individual decision isn't the best one for them.

By booking these cheaper flights, OP has saved a significant amount of money and her children are still having a holiday. That is money that can be spent elsewhere in the family budget to benefit her children, on activities and new clothes.

Maybe others would have made a different judgement call, but imo it's difficult to say that the OP has balanced things wrongly. Of course flights at a more reasonable time would have been better but most families don't have unlimited budgets.

The OP could've chosen pretty much any other time to take her kids out of school for a day to save money on flights. It's the fact that it's the first day of the new school year that is the issue.

"Everything is about balance. So long as, overall, parents act in the best interests of their children, it doesn't matter if one individual decision isn't the best one for them."

And no, I have standards and choosing to do something that isn't in their best interests does matter.