To change entire holiday?

[Whatisgoingoff2024]

We have our honeymoon booked to Crete in July with our 2 year old Son. We have spent a lot of money on the honey moon and of course want it to be perfect.

TUI have since changed our return flight home to 2:50am, meaning that we land in the UK around 5:30am. Of course, this screams absolute nightmare given that we will be travelling with our 2 year old. He is a firm cot napper with lots of resistance to the push chair.

Because the flight change is less than 3 hours (2 hour 50) TUI are saying there is nothing to compensate.

Im thinking of changing the entire holiday to a different airport just for a better flight time that would suit our family.

AIBU? Would you suck it up?

It wouldn't bother me tbh, and yes I have small children (just turned 4 and 7) and have travelled a couple of times a year with them since being about 7mths old. We go with the flow for holidays - short haul, long haul, road trips round Europe and Interrailing this year. It's one night, they might be a bit tired. Ours stayed up to watch fireworks until midnight in Disney at 2yrs.
But my kids have followed us in being chilled about routines (personality i suspect rather than anything we've done). Just depends if you're happy to do that.

How much would it cost to change?

He’ll be asleep, it really wouldn’t worry me enough to change anything

Tbh so many flights get delayed anyway it’s a risk wherever you switch to. My neighbour had an 12 hour delay last year

@Whatisgoingoff2024
We are going with jet2 in May, also Crete, and our flights also got changed similar, we now get back in at 4am! With a 3 and 6 year old I'm not looking forward to it, but can't change ours!

if he only sleeps in a cot then he’s not going to sleep, I thalink that’s OP’s point

It's your pricey honeymoon so if you can pay to change it to have a better holiday then go for it. In for a penny in for a pound.

I did wonder of they moved the time forward or back? If the fight was supposed to be at 550 am I think I'd be quite annoyed as you could feasibly get half a nights sleep before departure, book a hotel etc. I'd try renegotiating with them about how they can support you to have a better trip given that you may not have booked it with that time flight.

I will not leave the house at 3am for a 6am flight. About 9am is my earliest departure.

I will not leave resort after around 6-8pm so fly around 10pm. I'm happy flying through the night long haul and land 7am but short haul want to be back in Manchester for midnight.

I will pay extra for convenience.

Travelling with kids is shit. They always cry but I want to be at my best to deal with it.

She’s already said he only sleeps in his cot

YANBU. We travelled abroad on holiday every year with babies and children, but this flight wouldn’t be something I’d do. Normally we’d check out of the hotel at 12pm so that’s a lot of waiting around for a late flight with young kids. I’d change the holiday without a second thought.

what was the flight originally? because tbh neither a midnight flight nor a 5.40 one sounded ideal with a toddler in the first place.

It is a pretty crap time, because presumably you'll still have to check out of the hotel early in the day, and even if you can still hang around there until leaving for the airport, at, what 11pm, you won't have anywhere for the toddler to nap. It's a long day just hanging around by the pool without anywhere to go back to. I thought tui were supposed to have better times than the cheap-as-chips airlines?

otoh hopefully a random time will mean the airport will be quieter and flight less likely to be delayed?

for me I guess it would depend how much it would cost to change. less than £100, maybe. Several hundred, probably not. You'd be gutted if you paid a fortune for a slightly earlier flight and then it ended up getting delayed anyway....

I would check if you can pay for a late check out and keep your accommodation for the day. I think I paid around €50 to do this before in Greece and it made everything much easier. At least then it’s just the airports and flights you have to deal with.

We’ve travelled a lot with our kids and I find that they cope much better than you think with weird / early flight times. From the beginning I would worry dragging them up at 2:30am for an early flight but they were fine. Slept in the car/ on the plane etc. It bothers me more to be honest haha! If it’s not that expensive to change flights I would pay for it, for my sake.

Oh and I would not do it unless I could keep the room until we had to leave for the airport!

assume you’ll incur charges changing it? If it’s going to stress you out, change it. As others have said, flights get delayed and cancelled and kids cope. Your original flight was quite late anyway, i’d travel earlier in the day as the ideal.

What's the point in changing it ? The same thing could happen again. Just see if a late checkout is an option with the hotel at the time.
interesting what PP said about TUI flights, I never knew that

When you say change the ‘whole’ holiday to another airport. Do mean change the whole package including hotel or or literally change your departure airport?

I wouldn’t change the hotel / location you booked it for a reason.

Whether I would change the airport, would depend on how much better the new flight times are and how much it would cost to change. Then weigh up how upset you would be if you paid and they either changed the times again or you ended up delayed.

What I would probably throw money at was making the it as easy as possible to manage the flight. Can you book an extra night at the hotel direct with the hotel so you can you room right up until leaving. This at least allows toddler to sleep day before and for a few hours before you depart. No hanging around the pools for a full day. Can you book a private transfer as this will give you extra time to sleep and usually quicker at the airport as your don’t arrive at the same time as a full coach of people.

I'd change it. Mine don't sleep on planes either. I'd spend the last bit of the holiday dreading the flight.

delays and cancellations are part of flying. I would just suck it up. If it's such. big concern, then maybe flying isn't for you and a UK holiday the better option?

I woudlnt

of it’s only 2hr50 difference then surely your original flight was at midnight or 5am anyway? So either way your son wouldn’t have slept if he doesn’t in pram

I would just go with it. It’s a tad annoying but it’s not like original flight was at 1pm.

I would spend money on adding a late check out to hotel so you can use room longer.

child will sleep in pram if knackered, and if not he will just be up

My kids were the same in general life but the white noise of planes always knocked them out. Unless OP has done night flights before and had a nightmare then I would bet money he’ll be asleep and it will be fine.

If it’s only changed by 3 hours then no. 5.30am arrival isn’t great however a 2.30am arrival is equally shit imo.
Both of my kids will only sleep in their beds, I’ll only consider daytime flights for this reason.
I’d just book one night extra at the hotel, and put your child down for a sleep at tea time until just before you get picked up for the airport.

What’s the original flight time?

It’s not true. They have terrible flight times!

I would change it, overnight flights are worth it if you’re going long haul but not for a European flight.