Flying to Asia with baby and toddler- day time, evening or night flight best??

[tvfriend]

Probably going to Malaysia in December with a 1 year old and 2 year old (eek). can't decide if it's better to get a 10am, 6pm or 11pm ish flight.
Any tips from you seasoned Asian travellers?
Originally thought the night flight but they will both be so tired by then I fear total meltdown..
maybe a morning flight is best?

6pm would get my vote, hands down. If you wait until the 11pm one, the cabin lights won't be dimmed until 12.30am UK time, by which time the DCs will be demented.

6pm gives them time to get on board, look around, press all the little buttons, have something to eat and then go to sleep.

I would go for 6pm, which is effectively a night flight from their point of view. You can settle in before they get too tired, but then they should be ready to sleep fairly soon.

6 pm.

6pm gets my vote too. They'll be just ready to have dinner and settle down and sleep when you need them to. And the airport bit will be pleasant.

10am means waking them up early, getting grumpy children to the airport etc etc

That seems unanimous then! Thanks! Forgot that a 10am flight means getting up at the crack of dawn even though we are vaguely near Heathrow.
6pm it is...

We go to Malaysia every year and usually go for an early evening flight if we can get it. DS gets very travel sick so it helps if he's fairly sleepy for most of the flight.

When DS was about 2 (or just before) we brought his car seat onto the plane with us on Singapore Air. That worked out really well as he was used to sleeping and sitting still in his car seat. It also meant that we didn't have to move him when we hit turbulance. The poor family across the aisle had to lift their daughter from the bassinet and strap her to their lap about 4 times on the flight home and the poor thing howled at being woken.

I used to the love the airport bit before long haul flights- wandering around duty free, having a glass of bubbly, checking out the films on the flight etc. Not looking forward to it so much this time

bran- which car seat did you have? Ours is a huge Maxi Cosi thing and weighs a ton. I can't decide whether to shell out for a ticket for the baby either. He will be just 1 when we go but is quite small at the moment and may be Ok in a basinette.

Sorry- another question...
Sigapore Airlines or Malaysian (or BA?)

We had a Maxi Cosi Priori. It was quite heavy and awkward but we had a very stable pushchair and we were able to lengthen the car seat straps and hook it onto the back of the pushchair so we didn't have to carry it around.

The next time we go DD will be about 23 months and much to big for the bassinet so we will be buying a seat for her, but even if she were smaller and younger I would probably buy a seat just in case we wanted to use it. We have to bring a car seat for her anyway as they are not that freely available in Malaysia and I don't really trust baggage handlers not to dump something heavy on top of it in the hold. I suppose whether you buy a seat or not boils down to whether you need the extra space enough to pay for it (or whether you're rich enough not to feel the pinch of a potentially unused seat).

Not BA IMO. Singapore are the best but you would have to take another short flight to Malaysia. Malaysian are quite good, but more variable than Singapore with a tendency to cut corners if they're not making enough profit.

Whereabouts are you going in Malaysia?

We're going to Langkawi- have been there a few times before and have flown all the airlines at one time or another, just never with kids.

If you're going to Langkawi then you might have to change planes if you fly Malaysian anyway, in which case use Singapore. If you can get a direct flight to Langkawi then it's probably worth going with whoever flys there. Having said that we fly to KL and I prefer flying to Singapore and changing over a direct flight to KL with Malaysian. DH prefers to use Malaysian and fly direct to KL. I've never done the journey with two kids so it'll be interesting which one of DH and I win the airline battle when it arises.

(you could take a child each, go on different airlines and see who's still smiling when you get there... )

yes- we will either have to change in Singapore or KL. Malaysia only leaves London at 10am or 10pm so will prob get the 6pm SQ flight.

In a way the flight is the least of my worries P&L, even the worst flight with a vomitting DS and a howling DD will be bliss compared with a single day spent with my MIL. I'm considering asking for business class flights as my Christmas present, bearing in mind that I haven't had a Christmas/birthday/anniversary present from DH for at least 5 years so I'm owed quite a bit.

I'd make sure you're in business and your DH and kids are in economy...

That could work too tvfriend, and it wouldn't cost so much.

Last December DH took DS on his own. He booked with Emirates (I think) on a flight that his brother and family were supposed to be returning from holiday on, so he thought he'd have lots of company and entertainment for DS. His brother's dates changed and DH ended up flying both ways alone with DS. Apparently it was horrible, a long stop over in the middle east, a non-functioning seat back screen and excruciatingly slow service. If I keep prodding at the memory of that I might be able to swing business class.

6pm Singapore flight sounds the business for you.