Flying Long Haul with Young Children - Advice

[Shepherd31]

We are planning a family holiday to visit family over in Texas - a 10/11 hour flight each way. We want to go within the next 2 years, but are restricted by not wanting to go when weather there is too hot/cold & wanting to avoid school holidays, but unsure when is best to fly with 2 young children and are looking for advice from anyone who has flown long haul with babies & toddlers as we are yet to do anything longer than a 4 hour car journey with the kids

We could either go soon, with a 5 month old and a 2 year old (26 months).
We could go later in the year, so with a 11 month old and 2 year old (32 months).
Or we could go next year with a 17 month old & a 3 year old (38 months).

I'm sure there are pros & cons of going now while they're still young, and also waiting till they're a bit older so please share advice & experience.

Thankyou!

I’d go soon with a 5 month old and a 26 month old, because a 5 month old sleeps so much more than an 11 month old, old only needs milk and is so much more portable (use a sling or carrier) and less mobile.
Also, at 26 months your dc will probably still be wearing nappies, which makes flying so much easier than when they’re being potty trained. I’ve had plenty of pee and poo emergencies on long haul flights. Not nice.

Soon. 5mo is much easier. You can sometimes get the bassinet seats at that age.

17mo is a PITA. Too small to require their own seat, too big to sit on your lap for that long.

Mine have been flying to the west coast since very small, and the toddler years (1.5-5ish) are harder because they want to move and don't have the attention span to just sit and watch movies.

Get the current toddler used to toddler headphones before the flight - we were using them from about 1yo so they can watch cartoons.

For me, the "most shit" age for flying long haul with children was around 18 months so I'd avoid that!

the 2 year old will most likely be easily distracted with cartoons on an iPad (with over ear headphones). I remember DD being mesmerised at 2.5 by The Cat In The Hat - pure bliss!

I think "soon" is better as I agree that the 5 month old will mostly sleep. At 11 months they'll be more demanding.

it's not going to be fun at any age though!

I’d go soon so that the baby isn’t mobile.

We did long haul with DS at 18m, 23m and 30m. The older he was the easier it was as he would watch tv. The walking/crawling stage was a nightmare on the plane before he would watch anything.

Done all those ages long haul and my thoughts are similar to those above.

Texas with a 10 month old was fine. He was also the right age for a lot of the museums which back then had free days (the kids museum in Houston was fab). Basically fed the whole way.
Long haul with the same child at 18months was utter hell for us and everyone else on the flight, despite having my husband with me that time.
Long haul with a 6 month old has been similar to a 10 month old. I've done it twice across 2 kids and both fine although I'd worry about juggling the 2 year old.

So my vote is 11month old and get a bassinet, mostly because that's hopefully a relatively ok age for both.