Flight Advice

[kensington09]

Hi,

Looking for advice on flight times.

Booking a holiday for next year, DC will be 4 and just turned 2.

We live an hour from the airport and can either get a 7.30am flight or 10am flight.

Which would you choose and why?

Flight time 4.5 hours.

Thanks!

10am. Otherwise you will have a horribly early start.

Would it be better to get up early, children fall back to sleep in the car, and then get to holiday earlier. Or take the later flight, they have a better sleep, but we get to our destination later and have less of the day there.

One parent thinks 7.30 flight, one thinks 10am flight.

Looking for advice from those who have flew with children before - we have not

10am

10am otherwise you are getting up at 4am

Later flight. They won't fall back to sleep
In the car.

For a 7:30am flight you'll need to ideally be at the airport between 4:30-5:30, if you have cases. So leaving at 3:30-4:30am, could be an incredibly early pick up. Whilst they will sleep in the car they are less likely to sleep when in the airport, for going through security and bag drop, etc. depending on the time you arrive you may not be able to get into your room/accommodation straight away which means tired cranky children mid day too.

There's a fairly big difference with being up at 4am rather than 6am, especially with such young children.

10am absolutely.
They won't drop back off and are likely to be cranky and/or over excited.
We always pick mid daytime or early eve flights with kids and pay a premium for it!

We usually seem to fly about 7am, and although my DD is older (now a teen), I can honestly say it’s fine. I love having more of the day at our destination, and I don’t ever remember DD finding it a struggle.
However, if I had the choice I would go for 10am!

10am would be my choice too - although I might be swayed if it’s a long transfer at the other end too.

10 am is a nice time as you will get there mid afternoon - no waiting around for your accommodation. Most recent holiday we had 6 am flight. Taxi at 3.15, I had to get up at 2.30.

Annoyingly, the original flight time was 12 noon and the airline changed the time a few weeks before our holiday .

The 10am flight.
With that one, you're getting up and going, much closer to your usual wake up times.
I wouldn't disrupt the sleeping pattern by getting everyone up at 2am.

10am. Don't estimate how early you need to wake up with an early flight. You'll arrive at your destination and have a nap thereby wasting precious time. Speaking from experience.

We’d do the earlier flight although seem to be in the minority. Works for us to have longer at the destination.

Is there a time difference between here and your destination?

And how far will you have to travel when you arrive?

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.

I was leaning towards 10am & that's helped me decide.

Thank you!

I’d pick the earlier one. The roads and airport will be quieter, and the flight itself will be quieter as the passengers will snooze (I’m ex cabin crew!).

Even better, stay at an airport hotel and get the early flight!

Without knowing anything about your kids, I'd say go for the 10 because it's a better wake up time for everyone involved.
You parents will function better with those few hours more sleep because it's a longish day.

Maybe one of you thinks that if they are tired they'll sleep on the plane. I've flown multiple times on my own with two toddlers, and yes, it is possible, but we were quite frequent fliers and the early starts were always through necessity, not choice.
Better to prepare to entertain the kids on the flight when you yourselves have had a good nights sleep than hope they fall asleep( and then find that they don't) when you guys are already tired.