Children and the flight HELP

suzyt · #1 (**permalink**) 7th August 2008, 10:54 AM

Children and the flight, has anyone got any idea of the best route or stop over to do our flight. We have an 8 year old boy who is very good and the flight isnt a problem with him. Its our very very lively 2 and a bit year old. I just cant imagine being stuck on an aircraft with him for all that time. PLEASE HELP

northern mover · #2 (**permalink**) 7th August 2008, 01:11 PM

Hiya,
contact scottishcelts. Simialr ages for the kids. I also found leapfrog computers, gameboys, colouring books etc useful..... but my kids are aged now (10-18).
Good Luck, i'm sure you will get some useful tips
Jane

suzyt · #3 (**permalink**) 7th August 2008, 02:15 PM

ok thanks for that, the last time i did the flight to Australia was when i only had my first son and he was only 3 months old then and slept most of the way oh how life changes. I just worrie if people will start huffing and puffing as they do and you can see their eyes roll to the back of their heads when they see they have to share the flight with some ones kids.

northern mover · #4 (**permalink**) 8th August 2008, 08:08 AM

Oh Suzy,
how i remember the folks tutting and huffing; i just ignored them after 2-3 flights. Reacting and trying to please others by "contolling" or cajoling your kids just gets them fractious; you frazzled and stressed because YOU think your'e a bad mum!
Share the load with your oh and big kids! I reckon 2 year olds are great, and much more savvy than we give credit for......

Often a little walk round the plane, chatting to the others travelling, and the child will be so full of chatting up others, you will win hearts.
Good luck with it.

Jane

u2downunder · #5 (**permalink**) 8th August 2008, 08:57 PM

Hi there, I flew with my 2 year old to OZ and was dreading it. I booked a night flight, kept him up all day and took his own food and toys etc. and the Medised or Calpol. He slept all the way on the first leg. He would not eat the food, wanted to through the rills and peas etc... and he did. Urgh! SO, I ask them not to bring any more food and saved the bottled water, yoghurts and orange for him. The Srewards will always give them to you when you ask. Handy for the stopovers at Dubai etc. Also, keep the plastic cutlery they came in very handy when we arrived. Emirates are the best with children by far and I have done the trip 6 times since he was 5 months old. Sorry Qantas, you were the PITS, they would not give me any milk as they said there was not enough to go around for the coffees?????
I also found that allowing yr child to walk up and down alleviates his boredom and the staff always take them for you too, and they are so safe so I stayed seated. The child soon gets bored of that and wants to sit back down again with you. Oh and take a cot blanket that he relates too and smells like his bed, will get him more cosy as if at home. I hope this helps good luck!
Elisa

scottishcelts · #6 (**permalink**) 9th August 2008, 08:36 PM

Oh god i am so dreading these flights, we too are going via Emirates, doing the Dubai - Singapore - Brisbane flights and too have been told Emirates are the best without a doubt, especially with kids.

I cant believe that with Quantas and not enough milk, i would die as my kids drink a cow a day lol. They cant survive without milk.

We have a 9 year old, an almost 6 year old and my daughter will be 2 on the 9th October. We are flying on the 29th September! aarrrggghhh

We have done loads of research on the situation and the best we have come up with is definately Emirates, the Dubai stopover is 8 hours and we arrive there at midnight so have booked a room at the Dubai airport hotel, we'll only be there for about 6 hours but means the kids can get their head down and then (hopefully) sleep all the way to Brisbane.

That's the hope anyway

CoffeeKath · #7 (**permalink**) 10th August 2008, 05:21 AM

A tip - make sure you pre order kids meals, I've found the ones on Emirates fab

My boy was 4 the first time we flew to Oz and he was transfixed by all the games and movies that were available on board. I did take magnetic games and colouring books etc for him to play with but he didn't need them. I also had sachets of calpol in my hand luggage just in case he had any trouble with pain in his ears.

Once the seat belt signs are off get up and about with them as often as you can, a walk up and down the plane should ease little restless legs.

cmallon · #8 (**permalink**) 11th August 2008, 03:32 AM

Emirates are definately fantastic with kids. We came to visit last year when our son was just under 2 and the stewards could not have been better. We didn't have a seat for him so they moved us up the back so that we could extra seats to lie him down, he got books and toys and they took a souvenier photo. We couldn't book a kids meal though as he didn't get one with not having a seat although they provided fruit and baby jars if we wanted them. They also filled the bottle with milk when we had used our own and they heated it for us. When we came out in March after getting our visas we went via San Fransisco and flew with United Airlines, Charlie got a badge! We had 4 channels that were on repeat for the entertainment from Heathrow to San Fransisco and never even had individual screens from San Fransisco to Sydney. If I ever do the flight again I will definately go with Emirates via Dubai!!