What is easier with a 4 y/o? 1 long haul economy flight, or 2 FC segments?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We'd never even consider 1st class, so to me the straight shot seems like the thing I'd choose.

Choosing 3 flights and an over night instead of 1 flight seems to make the travel take forever. But how long are the 3 flights each, vs the 1 straight shot?

Where are people getting 3 flights?

OP is pretty clear she's choosing between

Fly, 18 hour layover in a hotel, fly

or fly straight.

I'd choose FC. My kids at 4 would have slept fine in their carseats in coach. But then I'd be grumpy and stiff from not sleeping with a wide awake 4 year old. So, I'd pick the lie flat for me!

This assumes the cost is reasonable. I don't have a FC budget!

[Anonymous]

Straight shot. There's no way I'd want to leave the airport deal with transportation and security, waiting for bags, hoping my flight isn't canceled, etc twice. Do it once and be done.

[Anonymous]

Lie-flat seats are not as great as they sound with kids - we did them to/from Hawaii recently.

The way they're configured, it's hard to be "next" to your kid -
If you get 2 seats in the middle, it's a very far and awkward reach across the consoles to help them with their food, iPad, monitor, stuff, and they are on the aisle on the other side of the plane so you have to go all the way around if you need to get to their seat for something. If you get 2 aisles, the seats don't line up directly across from each other - they're kind of staggered, so you end up having to get up to see them / help them out / etc. We were traveling with 3 adults and 2 kids older than yours and still found it hard to be "close" to them in the times we needed/wanted to be. I enjoyed the seats myself and would absolutely do them solo or with another adult(s), but probably wouldn't do it with kids again.

I'd generally endorse the straight-shot anyway - less hanging out and waiting/whining, fewer chances for things to go sideways with connections, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Straight shot. Boarding and unboarding and waiting to board is the worst. That's when my kids act up. While they're buckled in, with ipads, they are little angels.

Coach sucks, though. And if you can't control your kids for 20 minutes at a time...

And coach is an issue on long-haul if you want your kids to sleep. They are much more likely to sleep on the flight with lay flat seats

Long haul?!? It's Germany, not Asia. You board, get dinner, wake up in Germany.

PP. Yeah, I actually take back my advice now that I read more closely. Germany isn't far at all, I was thinking 10+ hours

[Anonymous]

I’ve never flown first class so I’d be tempted to choose that for the novelty (and option to sleep myself). But honestly I think your 4yo will be fine either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lie-flat seats are not as great as they sound with kids - we did them to/from Hawaii recently.

The way they're configured, it's hard to be "next" to your kid -
If you get 2 seats in the middle, it's a very far and awkward reach across the consoles to help them with their food, iPad, monitor, stuff, and they are on the aisle on the other side of the plane so you have to go all the way around if you need to get to their seat for something. If you get 2 aisles, the seats don't line up directly across from each other - they're kind of staggered, so you end up having to get up to see them / help them out / etc. We were traveling with 3 adults and 2 kids older than yours and still found it hard to be "close" to them in the times we needed/wanted to be. I enjoyed the seats myself and would absolutely do them solo or with another adult(s), but probably wouldn't do it with kids again.

I'd generally endorse the straight-shot anyway - less hanging out and waiting/whining, fewer chances for things to go sideways with connections, etc.

+1. My kindergartener did not like that she couldn’t be as close to us as she wanted. You really are in your own little world in your business seat. That’s great for adults. Not all smaller children will like it.

[Zazza]

Straight shot all the way.

[Anonymous]

Depends on where the layover is. International so you have to go through customs twice or domestic? Is the airport hotel near downtown or farther out? 18 hours isn't really long enough to explore a city with a kid bedtime if you have to wait at customs to leave, then arrive early at the airport the next day. Also you have to worry about luggage getting lost in the connection and flight delays. Agree that Germany is an easy flight and I'd rather do a straight shot and spend more time at your destination. Unless the layover is somewhere very interesting and the timing works out that you could have a good chunk of time to explore versus just hang out at the hotel.

[Anonymous]

The segmented trip is more expensive and takes longer. And entertaining my child for 18 hours in a strange place and going through the whole checkin nonsense again does not sound appealing. I would do the straight shot just to get it all over with.

[Anonymous]

Germany isn’t that far. We would fly to Asia where the first leg was 14 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We'd never even consider 1st class, so to me the straight shot seems like the thing I'd choose.

Choosing 3 flights and an over night instead of 1 flight seems to make the travel take forever. But how long are the 3 flights each, vs the 1 straight shot?

Then you aren't the target audience.

If you had real money you'd fly private charter. FC commercial and economy commercial are, at the end of the day, commercial hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We'd never even consider 1st class, so to me the straight shot seems like the thing I'd choose.

Choosing 3 flights and an over night instead of 1 flight seems to make the travel take forever. But how long are the 3 flights each, vs the 1 straight shot?

Then you aren't the target audience.

If you had real money you'd fly private charter. FC commercial and economy commercial are, at the end of the day, commercial hell.

As a commercial pilot and former NTSB employee, I'm more comfortable flying with the airlines.

[Anonymous]

This is not a long flight. Why would you add an 18 hour layover? Its an entire extra day of travel. Yuck.

Straight shot - even w the poors. No brainer

[Anonymous]

I would leave-out the 4 year old in your decision making. Op, what would you prefer. Hope for the best. Likely you (or anyone) will come to justify whatever decision you make as the best decision.

[Anonymous]

Straight shot no layover. 18 hours is enough to be a pain in the ass but not enough to get to hotel, get kid caught up, wake up, get back to airport.

Upgrade to premium economy. A non stop flight to Germany isn’t that long.