Schedule liftoff for just a little past normal naptime.

Anonymous wrote:Direct flight trumps all. After that slight preference for morning flights but doesn’t make too much difference. Morning can hkpefillly get you a naptime on flight. Avoid late flights simply because a 3 hour delayed boarding can really mess up any hopes for timing the flight with bedtime.

1000% agree on direct flight. Don't cheap out and get stuck in an airport somewhere.

I had to go to the ER with a baby and she was wide awake way past her bedtime angrily playing by pulling back my surgical mask and releasing it so it would snap across my n95. Take that how you will.

100% nighttime, in our experience. Approach it much the same as your would their normal bedtime routine, and overpack diapers (preferably the 'overnight' kind) above and beyond what you think you might need.

An afternoon flight to CA means arriving around 11 pm east coast time doesn’t it? I’d probably avoid that all things being equal.

Direct flight trumps all. After that slight preference for morning flights but doesn’t make too much difference. Morning can hkpefillly get you a naptime on flight. Avoid late flights simply because a 3 hour delayed boarding can really mess up any hopes for timing the flight with bedtime.

OP here. Yes, direct is obviously the preference! We are looking at direct flights to San Francisco from DC and have the option of a morning or afternoon flight. Sounds like there isn’t one easy answer.

As long as it's nonstop, I don't care. This is why we bring a nanny. The time one of my kids scream-cried the entire flight, we just handed the nanny $200 in cash after we got to the hotel and said it was hazard pay for the flight.

Anonymous wrote:I look for nonstop and not too expensive and not too crazy a time at either end and by then my choices are pretty narrow

With multiple, kids, this.

If only one child, I prefer a flight that departs around 9 or 10am and am okay with stopovers, especially if I can line them up well with food. Airports are actually fun places for a child who is not overtired or over hungry, and you can make the experience pretty enjoyable by letting them pick reading material or activities at the bookstore, buying food you don't eat that often, etc. And younger kids and non-jaded older kids can be interested in and entertained by the air travel part -- I've passed many a pre-boarding period watching the tarmac workers load or unload luggage (playing "look for our suitcase"), watching planes take of and land, taxi around, or identifying all the different strange vehicles they use to fuel and stock commercial aircraft.

But with two kids, it's good to minimize stops and airport time because of the extra variables. I'd avoid overnight flight with those ages unless they are excellent sleepers when they travel -- I've somehow managed to never have to hang out with a cranky child on an airplane at 3am, and I'd like to keep that streak alive.

Non stop and in the morning. Maybe an afternoon flight on the way out if we have to. Never on the way back. My little ones napped and if it was an afternoon flight back we already checked out and at 4 pm they were miserable in airport and wound up and tired but couldn't sleep on plane. Never again.
It means the last day is wasted as a travel day since we just get up and go. But then we get home not too late and can regroup before next day.

I look for nonstop and not too expensive and not too crazy a time at either end and by then my choices are pretty narrow

I would not take a 6 hr flight with a baby and toddler unless I had to.

Anonymous wrote:Like most things, it depends on the kid.

If the kid won’t sleep in the plane or if it’s not going to be long enough to sleep on the plane, I prefer daytime (early but not painfully early).

One of my kids sleeps well, the other doesn’t. The non-sleeper just watched movies the entire trans-Atlantic flight. The sleeper is actually hyperactive during the day so while jet lag was hard, the plane ride was pretty easy. If your toddler is a good sleeper I’d say definitely go at night.

I forgot to set the scene in the third paragraph: “recently i traveled with our kids and the non-sleeper…”

I’ll add that I did this without DH and it was great that it was an easy flight even without help from another adult.

Like most things, it depends on the kid.

If the kid won’t sleep in the plane or if it’s not going to be long enough to sleep on the plane, I prefer daytime (early but not painfully early).

One of my kids sleeps well, the other doesn’t. The non-sleeper just watched movies the entire trans-Atlantic flight. The sleeper is actually hyperactive during the day so while jet lag was hard, the plane ride was pretty easy. If your toddler is a good sleeper I’d say definitely go at night.

What kinds of preferences do you have for flying with young kids? I particularly mean with regards to time. Do you like early morning flights? Nighttime flight and pack pajamas? We are planning a long flight (about 6 hours) with a baby and toddler.

We’ve had so many of our recent direct flights changed at the last minute that I hesitate to even think too much about this, though!