Emirates Melbourne to Glasgow on my own with 2 kids - I have some questions

[Rosalina99]

I need to make a trip back to Scotland and will be flying Melbourne to Dubai with 2 hrs to get to the transfer flight to Glasgow. It is the first time I will be flying with my 2 little ones (age 6 and 2) on my own. I am really worrying about it but it has to be done.

Firstly, will I need something from my husband to say he gives permission for me to take them back to the UK without him? He has work commitments and can not join us. We're only going for a few weeks then coming home to Oz.

How did you handle the flight on your own with little kids? How do you negotiate the toilet situation? All of us go together every time?

How about the transit through Dubai airport as a woman on her own with kids? Any advice?

I don't really know what I am looking for. Just some advice from those who have done this as it was hard enough doing the one way flight to get here a few years ago with help but doing this on my own and having to do it again coming home in a few weeks is really freaking me out.

Thanks for reading.

My mantra -you get on the plane and you get off. Everything that happens in between best be forgotten.

I would suggest a letter (I travelled with one) in case you get asked (I didn't).

I take loads of snacks, ipad and dollar store toys (wrapped up to buy me another 30 seconds to restore my sanity). I also take snacks for myself to keep my energy up (eg chocolate!).

They used to have strollers at Dubai airport -might be helpful for the transfer.

Good luck.

They still have strollers in the Emirates terminal. 2 hours is fine, but it is a very big airport so make sure you find out how far your new gate is straightaway.

With regards to toilet breaks, the 6 yo can go by himself/ stay when you go and look after the 2 yo? Also don't be afraid to ask for help. (Remember nobody can get off the plane with your children )

You can book a special children's meal for the little ones. Those also usually get served first which is nice.

I recently did a long haul flight with DD18mo and was really astonished how helpful the other passengers around me were. There was also a lady next to me with a little baby and I offered to hold him while she went to the loo. It'll be ok!

Yes, do take a letter that has each stage of the journey mentioned on it along with dates. Its what I do when travelling with grandchildren and funnily enough its always in the UK that Im questioned even when flying between Wales and Scotland.

The flight - what will be will be regardless of what you take to amuse the children and there really is no point in worrying about it. One thing I would say to take in hand luggage though is Calpol type medication that can dissolve on the tongue because sometimes flying just makes the children feel unwell. I would also take panadol for yourself for the same reason.

I also take pajamas for my grandchildren if doing very long haul because it helps them realise ah its night time and time to sleep.

The loo - your six year old can go alone, and if you are flying on an A380 perhaps download a plan of the aircraft and familiarise yourself with where your seats are in relation to the loos etc. It may seem daft but it means once you board you'll be a bit more in the know so to speak.

Strollers - they're available in the terminal.

Transit times - they're well thought out and your transit time is what Emirates know is enough to get off one plane and get onto the next.

On your own with the Children in Dubai Airport - Im not sure what it is your worried about but 1000's do it everyday.

You will be fine. Having flown since my dd was 7 weeks old, long haul now with 4dc I still wouldn't worry.
Strollers as said in terminal if it helps.
Surely at 6 toilet etc is quite an independent activity?
Don't pack much is my advice. TVs colouring stuff, food. The more you carry the more you lug around. We travel in joggers. That will do day and night. They will sleep at random times. Just go with the flow.
As for Letter of permission. Urrr wouldn't even cross my mind. You have their passports. Your a parent. As long as dh doesn't call the police to say you can't leave all good! There is only an alert if its triggered by the police. Hence people leave the country and are summonsed to return under Hague convention. I guess if it makes you feel better take a letter but it's in no way legally binding, could be written by anyone .

Chloe, the general way of doing it is that you also provide a copy of the persons ID.

Apologies for the Daily Mail link but it was first up on Google

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2629266/Parents-stopped-Britains-borders-officials-think-theyve-kidnapped-children.html

www.parentdish.co.uk/kids/your-surname-is-different-from-your-child-passport-control-changes-needed/

I've done the Emirates Melbourne to Glasgow run a couple of times now by myself with our toddler.

Never taken a letter. Even when toddler was on an Aussie passport and I was on my British one. Never had a problem...never been questioned, and never even thought about it.

Dubai is great - strollers galore, and the gates are never a huge walk from each other.

Other passengers and crew have been very helpful at loo breaks! Crew especially have always been more than happy to hold baby/sit with toddler (I never ask at meal service etc though).

Always lovely arriving home in Glasgow - queues at immigration are short

My dd had a different surname for 3'years to me. Still no problem.
Not sure that carrying a partners passport etc helps? Surely you could have just taken it?
Immigration uk and Aus both have no mention of any permission letters. I fear it's the world going a little ott.

Personally I'd not stress. Just go, enjoy the break, be happy to get back to sunny Melbourne again x

I am chuckling at my only immigration faux pa when did left Aus aged 7 weeks. She had her passport flown to the airport for us to collect as we left. Caused great drama, not as ex partner her biological father wasn't present, given consent or anything to do with him, but because It hasn't been activated in the haste of getting it! It was a one year temporary passport, I was made to sign in in front of two policemen. With 3 proofs of ID, sobbing as I didn't want to leave. But no mention or concern of dd's biological father

Chloe perhaps you just need to accept that just as you have not had any problem going through various immigration procedures others have and its way more common than you think.

Sorry about that.

I have been questioned with my children and grandchildren when entering the Uk, France, and going between Wales and Scotland. And the letters were not enough, my granddaughter was actually asked questions by the immigration officer to see if her details tallied up with what was on the letter and the passport.

Ive also been asked if I could prove my severely disabled son mixed race son was in fact my son.

Im sorry, I did it again and posted to soon.

Also wanted to say a quick search of MN will show many threads where people are telling of being stopped and asked for letters of authorisation, and in one case when the parent didnt have one the immigration officials phoned the other parents and asked if the child was being allowed to travel

I wasn't stopped and all my kids have different surnames to me. If the Feds have you on an airport watch list you wouldn't get through check in so don't worry about that.
Again I flew from Perth, didn't bother with snacks etc, we were fine, these things can be over complicated.

I've been questioned travelling alone with my children and we all have the same names. I had full care and control (as it was known then) and had no need of anyone's permission. That wasn't enough for the border officers in US and Canada. It's a bit irresponsible to advise people not to bother just because you haven't had any problems!

After the first horrendous experience (carrying a baby and with a three year old after an 8 hour flight and eventually being led away to an interview room) I always carried a letter. Their father always knew we were travelling and fully supported it so we were not on any "watch list"!

The authenticity of the letter was never checked (just a note from exH on his firm's notepaper saying he gave permission) but seemed to pacify them.

The actual flights were always fine.

I said not to bother with snacks not letters. :-)
We all have different experiences, sorry to hear yours wasn't good.

I would bring letter and snacks...the food on emirates ( unless business) isn't great for kids

Definitely take snacks. We've recently done Emirates from oz to UK and the kids meals were awful, my DC didn't eat any of the hot food and just picked the cookies, crisps and juice..great. I normally take lots of little sandwiches (Vegemite, cucumber, cheese) making sure the fresh stuff gets handed out first, raisins, mini breadsticks, apples (bananas just get squished), satsumas and then treats....treatsize choc bars given out every hour for good behaviour

I think you're thinking of the "no objection" letter that dependents need from their sponsors to leave the country in Dubai? It's not relevant in your case because you're not a Dubai resident and also you're not actually leaving Dubai as you'll never be in it - you won't clear immigration- you'll just be in transit. All that said, just take a letter- it's one less thing to stress about.

Re the flight- it'll suck and then it will be over! iPad, snacks, headphones, wine for you. Best of British!!

No, thats not the letter Im thinking about.

I was asking the OP- I wondered if she was concerned about flying through Dubai specifically as it's never crossed my mind to take any sort of letter when traveling alone with the DC, which I do very frequently- 4 or 5 times a year.

Hi, am just back last weekend from a melbourne-gatwick Emirates flight with a 6yo and 3yo. Flight was full of families with small children and there was a bit of helping each other out. Cabin staff weren't massively helpful - there weren't really enough of them. My children barely ate any of their meals (didn't need to book special childrens meals, these came automatically) so definitely take some snacks. Also, it was hard getting enough water, so take bottles on with you, although you get screened getting off and onto the plane in Dubai, even though you're still in transit, so you'll need to empty your bottles and refill them from fountain in the departure lounge if you don't want to have to keep buying more water.

Onboard entertainment system kept my children happily entertained for entire flight - there's a CBeebies channel. We had iPads loaded with stuff as well, and there are recharging sockets in the backs of seats to keep everything going. They also get a colouring book and pencils, a soft today and special blanket. We didn't use any of the colouring books etc we brought, so I wouldn't bother with that again. Basically, they just wanted to watch TVs and sleep.

Dubai airport was fine - couldn't find any play areas, but the gates were pretty close for our flights each way. Lots of loos and children's changing areas. Grab the first buggy you see as they go pretty quickly! Or you can get little luggage trolleys with a seat for a child, which my son managed to sleep in!

I would take a letter, you never know..Reduces any stress if you have it just in case. But there's no customs etc in Dubai, so you won't need anything for there, just at the oz and UK ends. I noticed that customs at both ends were pretty careful to check out my children's Id - not just whether photos matched, but also checking whether they responded to the names on the passports.

Hope that's helpful - the flights were actually much easier than I was expecting, mainly because they can now watch tv for hours and because they're so small, economy is like business class for them.

Good luck

One more thing...my 6yo is pretty independent with the toilet generally, but I'm not sure she would have managed to go by herself on the plane. Door lock is hard to operate (stiff, high up) and she couldn't reach the tap. Flush is also very loud, which freaked her out a bit. Sorry! But you should be able to find someone to watch your 2yo for a few minutes if you need to and we were only 8 rows at most from a loo both ways.

Ceedub, Ive had that as well. My grandchildren being asked their names and a few other wee things by way of general conversation about their holiday just to see if everything matched up.