Would this journey be completely mental?

[bananasarebeautiful]

Emirates to Auckland-which involves a 20 hour flight (refuelling somewhere?? not sure) from Dubai. Is this survivable? I have a horrible feeling it's not and yet it's so cheap....

totally survivable I have done London to Melbourne 4 times with small children with just 1 hour refuel. Exhausting but over quick enough. love a cheap flight!

Horrible, yes, but all long haul in cattle class is hell, even if you get a stop somewhere.

I would try for a flight where you can at least get off and change planes if poss. Somewhere like HK. Book yourself into the VIP lounge and have a shower :)

It'll stop somewhere and you'll get off, it'll be fine.

Its cheap because it is not cheerful at all.

Air NZ may also be worth looking at.

Would look at other routings and airlines; see if you can change planes somewhere like Singapore or Hong Kong.

Yes it's survivable - why wouldn't it be? Blood clots aside, that is.

Are you travelling with screaming children, 2 or more, under the age of 3? Reduces the pleasantness but you'll live. You almost certainly will have to re-fuel somewhere, I would think.

I've done Sydney to London HR with young DS several times (he's now 4.6) - fastest was about 22 1/2h, I think - with a short stop off in either Bangkok or Singapore. Survived it every time! (and I do have a high risk of blood clots).

Well children will be 8 & 11-not screaming (hopefully) but certainly very very whinging at times! If it was just ME going it would be fine. Having horrible flasbacks to last time we went when son who was 7 said he was bored a few hours into the journey and that he had already had a sleep and what was he supposed to do now?
Would LOVE a VIP lounge, warm showers, stopovers etc etc but trip will be so expensive anyhow (additional travel links/accommodation etc) so the cheap fare is calling to me........

Oh- would be going Dublin-Auckland so the 20 hours is only part of it!

BIL and SIL have taken both their girls on long haul flights from UK to Australia with not much fuss. Both girls were very tiny the first times, eldest is now 6y (just), youngest is 2y - and they;ve not had any problems.

Have taken DD on long haul no problem too - not as far though. Longest was Vegas a couple of years ago (aged 8y) and that was about 11/12 hours, also done Florida (9 hours) a few times from aged 2y upwards. Again, no problems at all.

I guess it is just the particular break down for this flight that scares me.

1. Seven and a half hour flight to Dubai-fine
2. Only an hour and a half to connect then sitting in next plane for TWENTY hours
3. Wait around at Melbourne airport for SIX hours
4. Three and a half hour flight to Auckland
5. Mental/physical/nervous exhaustion!!

Oops-just checked and the one via Melbourne is only sixteen hours. The journey back is 20 hours and no stop in Melbourne.

We can do it can't we?!

My mum did this exact flight two weeks ago and said it was sheer hell. And that's without kids.
BUT I've been home loads with wee ones and would probably go for it if it's cheaper than everyone else (much prefer Singapore Air). You just have to look at it as torture that's confined to those two days! It does hang over your head though when you're home and thinking about the return flight.
If you're with someone else you can share the load with you should be ok.

Perfectly doable. I've done London to Sydney/Melbourne via HK or Singapore 5 or 6 times when my older three were small. The first time they were 4, 3 and 1.

The last time I did it with them they were 10, 9 and 7 and all were fine. I suppose they were quite seasoned travellers, but they were occupied by the seat back films/games etc and we took lots of books. I also travelled on the night flight from the UK, arriving in the Far East in the early evening (ish), so the bulk of that leg was handy for them sleeping.

Sheer hell-hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
I have a vague memory from last time we went that I said I would never do it without a stopover again (am trying to ignore that inner dialogue).
We ended up with a lovely free stopover in Singapore on our way back due to disruption in Bangkok. Don't imagine I could rely on that happening again.

Frank-did you travel straight thru without a stopover then?

I just realised your name NotInGuatemalaNowDrRopata !! We used to use that line all the time!!

We would either stopover in SIngapore or HK. I preferred S'pore as there is a pool at the airside hotel, so I'd try to go for the 6hr stopover and feed/knacker them in the pool for the next leg - either way. I always found a very short stopover to be more of a pain, no real time to stretch legs/pee/eat/do anything iyswim.

TBH I almost preferred doing the long haul flights with them as opposed to a 3hr flight to somewhere. More for them to 'do' on the flight meant (generally) less chance of them being bored and tearing each other to pieces (a regular thing back then!)

I honestly wouldn't dread the trip at all if we could try out the pool in Singapore or stay in a hotel for a few hours. But the difference in price......

There is that! The last time I did it was 8 years ago, so I dread to think what the prices are now. Did you have a look on Skyscanner? We're flying to HK next Easter and have got flights on Virgin for £550 return. Skyscanner can be great for some flights if you can be slightly flexible. I'm always very happy to fly late at night Eastwards and then get a stupid o'clock one back. For some reason these seem to be slightly cheaper, and I've always found that they (and me) are much much more likely to have a decent kip e/w and be less shitty for the first couple of days...

Yep, Skyscanner is where I'm looking! The Emirates flights from Dublin come in at £3171 for the four of us-which seems a reasonable price. However we also have to factor in a cheap flight from Edinburgh (and if there is weather disruption we might miss the main flight?!). From Edinburgh it seems to be £4600 minimum-will keep searching!

Blimey. Is it worth getting a train/coach down to one of the London airports? It's shitty that you have to have the extra flights... though that seems a good price when I look at ours of £2600 for 5 to HK, bearing in mind you're going a further 5000 ish miles. IT's such an arse isn't it.

It is indeed. Have just found one for £4300 from Edinburgh. Six hours to hang out in Singapore airport (pool?) but only a couple of hours on the way back.

Keep contemplating going to London but can't stand the train trip down (and can't even contemplate the coach!) and having to navigate London with the kids and luggage...

Nail biting as to whether to book something now or wait and see if prices go down (or up).

Bit of a mouthful, but I figured people from home would know where I was from!

Good luck with the flights. 20 hours straight is unbelievable - I didn't believe mum until I checked online myself. Your kids are old enough to watch the movies, but you'd need something other than that wouldn't you?

Yeah-I think we will be needing sedation!

Hmm - now seen the full flight schedule and it does lie a heck of a journey. Noy sure it is one I (as an adult) would want to do tbh.

I know-I keep trying to tell myself that the torture will only last a day or two but MY GOD what torture!!

Hmmm.... 20 hours is a horrible leg of a flight, when you've got others to tag on either end. :( We do Oz/NZ pretty much every 12/18 months, to see DP's family, and usually go Qantas or Singapore, depending on the prices. I flew once with Emirates, and swore never to do it again, as although it involved a direct flight from Glasgow - Dubai, instead of having to go through London, there was a 10 hour wait in Dubai each way, which was just a killer.

Now we have DD (3), we try to break the trip at least one way with a couple of days in Singapore/Bangkok. However, she's pretty good on the trip - better than we ever thought she would be! I always find it a grim journey, and am grumpy and tired at the other end, but it is only 2 days, and you get over it. Last year was the worst trip we've done in a oner, and it was sheer madness: Edinburgh - London - Bangkok - Sydney - Christchurch - Invercargill. Never ever again. 42 hours travelling. I think I was grouchier than DD! Anyway, those flights for the 3 of us were a total of £3800, with Qantas. Worth checking out??