Night flights with children?

[User2309]

Found a great deal on a holiday in June 2022, in a place we have visited before so we know we like it. Everything is fab but the flight home to get the free child places it means we have to fly back at midnight, landing here at about 230am...would you pay extra for the better flight and therefore possibly not be able to afford to go (already have holiday plans for later in the year) or just suck it up, go with the flight. We would all have the sunday off (we would land early hours of the sunday morning) before back to school and work on the monday?

Don't forget to factor in delays and baggage reclaim etc, then getting back to your car.

We did it once, never again!

Those free child places often come with a sting in the tail. Also if the plane did land at 02.30 or thereabouts you may not be actually leaving the airport until around 03.30 at the very least. Then you've got the journey home. How far are you away from the airport?.

You also have to bear in mind that you will not be able to use the e-passport gates because your children are not old enough to use them.

I would certainly endeavour to find alternative flights or look at other destinations.

Why are people saying pay for better flights when tbe op says that it would likely mean they can't go as they can't afford it.
We used to take what ever flights were available. The kids might be cranky for a day but its soon forgotten and routines was established quickly. You remember the holiday and the good times and forget about a day or two grumpiness!!
I would go it if it meant having a good holiday to a place you like rather than missing out.

I'll be honest I dont fancy the flights either and agree with pretty much everything has said about it been a pain and not the most ideal experience but the other side of me just thinks suck it up. It means you get an extra holiday next year and yes the kids will be tired but Ive checked the flight times again we will land at 145, all been well should be home for 330. We can go to bed till 10/11 the rest of the day to sort ourselves back out and prepare for school and work the next day.
The extra £800 that the nicer flight adds would be our spending money....
We discussed going somewhere else but because we are hoping to go with extended family including my elderly grandad we know the hotel we have chosen is just right for us and his wheelchair etc.

Just book it OP, one day with disrupted sleep is fine, kids are adaptable will be well rested after a holiday anyway.

We’ve done this a couple of times and while it’s not pleasant getting sleeping/grumpy DC of a plane at 3am, it’s really not the end of the earth. When we’ve done it we’ve checked out as late as possible, asked to leave the luggage in the hotel and gone and spent a day and early evening in town. What we don’t do though is drive back immediately after landing, instead we book a hotel at the airport (it’s usually Gatwick or Heathrow for us so the on-site Premier Inns), get a bit more sleep and have a good breakfast before heading back in the car.

Honestly, it’s not worth not doing the holiday because it’s not ideal. And you certainly won’t be the only family with kids doing the exact same thing.

I always pay the extra for better time flights or look
At flight times on different days. I hate coming home feeling more knackered than I went. I also find I spend quite a bit of money on the last day waiting around for the flight snd I dislike the waiting around.

Our DCs are young and we prefer night flights (one of them gets a tad too hyper on day flights). It means you don't have to deal with meals, snacks, entertaining (and for us nappy changes for our youngest) and get some kip yourself. Many airports have pushchairs you can borrow when you leave the plane until you collect your own pushchair from baggage reclaim if your 4 year old needs one that time of night. The night flights tend to be more empty so on many occasions we've managed to spread out a bit on empty seats. We also take a buggy board with a seat clipped on to the main pushchair for an older child to sit/nap on. It also means the DCs are put to bed straight away at the destination and 100% refreshed the next morning instead of being grouchy & tired. We only figured this out after a few instances of nightmare day flights, trying out a night flight and finding it bliss in comparison. Go for it, you won't know what suits your family until you've tried it.

Many hotels also offer to securely lock your luggage if you're out for the day after you've checked out so we normally plan an excursion or some local sight seeing on the last day to fill the time before the return flight. Some of the all inclusives also let you use all the facilities (including meals) and a courtesy room for 30 to 40mins to get changed etc before your return trip. Some hotels also offer late check out at a fee. Worth asking the hotel about this.

No way world I pay £800 for better flights!

I flew with my kids at all times of day and night, and they rose to the occasion fine.it seems like a lot of MNers have very little faith in their kids.

Talk to your children beforehand about what it might mean, how they might feel a bit tired and fed up, but how it will be worth it and that you're sure they will manage fine.
Talk it up, make sure they're in comfortable clothing and have eye masks or whatever else they might need to nap on the flight or in the terminal.

Just saw you're booking over a year in advance. Yeah, those flight times are unlikely to remain the same. Absolutely no way I'd pay more for better timings when realistically the airlines schedule is highly unlikely to be fixed at this point.

Is this Caribbean/US night flight back? If so we've done it and ours coped remarkably well, slept through most. They fared much better than we did!

I hope by the time that you travel that the Borders Agency have started to manage and do their job properly. The appearance on one of the Covid briefings alongside Grant Shapps on Friday was a man just trotting out excuses in advance for poor performance.

The pandemic is over a year old, and the right to a summer holiday has existed over 80 years, so it's not as if they could not say that they have not had enough warning.