No idea how to go about booking a short flight to get my son used to flying!

[allydoobs83]

My 5 year old son will be flying to Hungary with his dad and partner in May, but DS has got it into his head that he's scared of heights (he's not!) and is terrified of flying,despite never having been on a plane before. I'm planning on taking him on a short, internal flight (Dublin,Edinburgh, Jersey, etc) beforehand, so that he knows what to expect but I'm not well travelled myself and,as silly as it sounds, I have no idea where to start with booking flights.
We're in Doncaster so have the choice of a few airports, but am I better off going to individual airport websites,or searching by airline? If I search by airline,is there a quick way of finding out which ones do internal/short haul flights to the destinations I've mentioned above?
Apologies if I am being thick, but any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Use a website called Skyscanner, that will let you search all airports/airlines at once

Yes Skyscanner is your friend here. Flights to Belfast are usually very cheap. I’ve picked them up this time of year for £30 return from Manchester or Liverpool.

I would suggest trying to fly out of the airport he'll be flying in/out of when he goes to Hungary - if you know it! But yes skyscanner is a good way to go 😊

Loganair do lots of short flights - just bear in mind though that some shorter flights can be bumpier/noisier, as they may be in a turboprop plane (as opposed to a jet type).

Honestly I wouldn’t do a short internal flight. It could make it worse.
Instead I would say nothing about flying for a good couple of months and distraction if it comes up.
Then about 2 weeks before the flight I would maybe read a book about flying, watch some fun tv shows. Eg super wings. Pre watch it yourself to make sure there is nothing remotely scary.
Would your ex partner be open to bigginf up the meal at the airport and let him choose a small suitcase and some gifts for the relatives eg chocolate?
Pack him things to distract him on the flight and something for him to suck on take off and landing. We used to call it blast off and my kids loved it and got very excited. Some small new toys wrapped, favorite snacks etc.
I can understand how stressful it must be that you are not going to be there. Maybe his worries are more about leaving you than the flight?

Pop to Paris for the day, 1 hour each way, we paid 30 pound ISH while Olympics were on.

You do know Dublin is in another country don't you? It's not an "internal flight", albeit short.

I don’t really think this is necessary. All airports look the same, especially to a young child.

I wouldn't do this, I used to fly internally to Manchester for work, the planes were tiny, noisy, very bumpy. Nothing like the 747 you get on to go on holiday. Lots of airports so sessions for people afraid of flying where they get to look around a plane speak to crew etc, I think you're better to look into that, also find out why he is suddenly scared

Im not sure this is a good idea, what if it makes things worse if something goes wrong

Are you wanting to stay at the place you go to or literally fly there stay in the airport and get the next flight back again?

Is he using the flight as a sort of distraction for something he’s really worried about. Is he used to being away from you, being on holiday etc? There may be other things to improve his confidence. Also have any of his friends flown….could they play games about flying?

but go to an airport and watch planes maybe?

Agree, but Dublin arrivals into certainly English airports come into the Domestic Arrivals section, not International Arrivals, so it's arguable that flying to Dublin from England could be classed as domestic.

If you know the airport he is flying from check the website as they may already have a social story. If not they’re easy to make. Include what will happen on the holiday it get your ex to do it if he will.

I agree with definitely not doing a short internal flight! Those planes are enough to put off even the most seasoned flyers.

I’m interested as to why you are making this your job. If the flight is with his dad, let his dad sort it out. If it all goes wrong and he finds the flight terrifying and is refusing to go on a holiday with his dad, his dad will be justified by being quite cross you’ve got involved.

Plus, if you are an unseasoned traveller, as it sounds, your nerves will rub off on him. He is probably just worried about going away with his dad without his mum. Pass this news on to his dad and leave it to him.

Don't go to Jersey - it's often very windy when you're coming in to land.

Is it that you want to do his first flight with him?

How about working with him on how to deal with new/stressful situations in general, giving him coping mechanisms etc.? This will come handy through life, whether he does turn out to be a nervous flyer or not - the worst is never certain after all!

Your idea of doing a « trial run » comes from a good place, but realistically that’s not something you’ll be able to do for every single stressful new experience he might face, and it could backfire - others have mentioned how loud/rickety small planes used for internal flights might be, not to mention that it’ll mean a very long and boring day for a small child, without the holiday as a reward in the middle…

If it needs to be before May your only option for Jersey would be easyJet from Manchester or Liverpool. Nothing else from the North until Summer.

I think doing this is making it more of a 'thing' than it needs to be and could backfire as pp have said. Just don't talk about it much until it's nearly here. I believe that we can over-prepare children (with their best interests at heart) but this can actually induce anxiety.

Dublin is not in the UK🤣

This is very bizarre

Just do like all our parents would’ve done and telling him he’ll be fine and ignore him

Hungary isn’t exactly long haul anyway. What makes you think a flight you don’t need to take will help that journey?