6am DME or layover with toddler

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

We will have a just turned 2 year old on our upcoming trip. Currently the departing non-stop flight for us leaves at 9:15am which means roughly 6am pickup for magical express. We are really not feeling this early wakeup since we usually like to have a sit-down breakfast at the hotel before we leave and would like to get a decent night's sleep. The alternative is to book a flight with a layover but I am a bit worried how the long travel times might be with a 2 year old. For those that have traveled with a toddler which do you think is better?

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

With the way my kids are for early wakeups (sleepy, compliant) I'd do the early direct flight. Layovers with little kids to me are just a risk - it will probably be fine - but you add another chance of delays and being stuck in an airport nowhere near home or my destination with a toddler is not my idea of a good time. Nor needing to get on ANOTHER plane with a toddler who thought we were all done or suddenly decided they hate the plane, etc.

We woke my kids up very early for our departing flight and we gave them some extra snacks and on the plane/bus I had some nice nappers.

I guess for you it just depends on how much you value that breakfast/sleep vs. how much risk you're willing to take on that second flight & only you know that...

 

[2kidsForMe]

I've traveled a lot with my kids. In my experience I would take the early direct flight. With a layover you always run the risk of the the second flight being delayed. Or worse, your first flight being delayed and you miss your connection. I've experienced both. With kids, I feel better just getting on the plane and being settled, even if means an early sleepy morning.

 

[Minnesota!]

Honestly? I think layovers are the BEST way to go with toddlers. Breaks things up, lets them burn off some energy, etc. So, I would choose that. We always opted for layovers when they were young. It made it a lot easier on us.

 

[DisneyWorldbuff]

I always choose direct flights when possible. There are so many variables that can cause issues with connections. I would get snacks for the plane and have everything ready the night before and go for the direct early flight. Good luck!

 

[bigbabyblues]

We have only flown once with our kids, but I would say it depends on how long your total flight time is. If the total flight time is 2-3 hours, I would fly direct. If you are flying all the way across the country, I would want a break to get off the plane and let them run around the airport. Of course, if you get delayed or whatever, it would not be fun.

 

[Shanti]

I vote for the early morning, direct flight. Have a nice big brunch or lunch somewhere (maybe to take home with you) after arriving at your home city.

Direct flights make transportation exponentially easier, in my experience. Babies can have a hard time with take-offs and landings due to cabin pressure changes, and stopovers mean you'll have 2 takeoffs & 2 landings. Non-direct flights carry a higher chance of luggage being misrouted, as well. As a PP noted, there is also the chance of missing a connection, or at least the stress of worrying about it. You've got to go through an airport to find your gate twice, get settled in for the wait before boarding twice, go through the tiresome boarding and deboarding process twice... All in all, stopovers are a hassle, imo.

 

[westie55]

Direct flight! To me, layovers are a nightmare. More time waiting in airports. Double the time boarding a plane and waiting for everyone to sit down and take off. More chance of delays. 6am is an early wakeup but it's not horribly unnatural for toddlers, who tend to get up around sunrise anyway. If your LO is tired, maybe a nap will happen on the flight! I've done flights at this time with my son multiple times. He is also almost 2. I say direct flight without hesitation.

 

[sweetpeama]

@APiratesLifeForMe2 I have been in your shoes only worse 7:15 am flight and no option of a direct flight which met bell services knocking on our door at 3:30 am for a 4 am ME time. I had a 2 and 5 year old along with my DH as part of a larger group of 12. ( At least the airline had cancelled our original ( at the time of ticket purchase) connecting flight as we would have had 45 minutes to get off the plane-3 senior citizens ( 1 had a heart attack a little over a year before, 1 had double knee replacement 4 months before and should have been using a scooter in the parks but was too stubborn to do so, and 1 has other health issues), total of 4 children ranging in age from 2-6 years in age and make it down to long concourses change levels in the airport and go back down about half the length of the final concourse before going through a ground tunnel to air stairs outside ( oh and this in January in an area prone to snow and ice) to what was supposed to be a 2 hour layover.
Anyways here are a few tips.

Night before get something easy to keep in the room fridge/cooler such as the pizza meal ( grab a juice to go with it), the apple slices with caramel, hard boiled eggs ( I can't remember if they have those in the snack case), uncrustable so that you can have something quick in the morning. We were not able to find a single place open near our gate to get something at the airport before we left and had a 6 hour flight on the first leg so waiting to get to the hub airport was not happening. At least with having a little something ( the salad from a pizza meal along with a bottle of juice and splitting apples and dip with the kids who also had half of the pizza between them and either a bottle of milk or one of juice, with DH having the other half of the individual serving pizza) I only needed to get a fruit and muffin option on the plane which did have a string cheese for 3 of the 4 of us to share. ( 5 year old feel asleep on the plane sitting between my sister and a complete stranger ( We ended up scattered all over the plane but at least every kid was with at least 1 adult from our group and DH and I had our 2 year old) and didn't even stir when my sister moved sleeping child to the aisle seat so the other person was not being kicked. ( had to be woken up at the approach for landing.

We were able to have a nice lunch at a fast food place in the airport and were not rushed before heading down to our gate where we found out that our plane had mechanical issues and they were waiting for another one along with a second crew plus they were watching the weather because at that time we would not be able to land at our home airport and were going to be diverted 3 hours away. By the time we took off almost 2 hours late the weather had cleared at our home airport but due to another storm approaching we did not know if we were going to land there or at another airport 5 hours away ( the one we were originally going to divert to was under conditions too dangerous to land as well as another one about 3 hours away). Luckily we were able to land at our home airport and give the people bringing the vehicles up to us ( easier to do that than pay long term parking and much lower in costs) a call that we had landed while in the jet way. By the time we got our luggage the warm vehicles were there at the door and we were on our way for the 20 minute drive home. Where I sat down on my couch ( no foot stool) for just a minute and ended sleeping sitting up for 15 hours (DH was nice enough to cover me with a blanket)

Due to the possible change in airport location and the fuel needed they had called for some to give up their flight and were offering some fairly nice perks to do so had we had extra items for the kids that they would need for a hotel room night we would have taken it but those were all packed in our checked luggage and it didn't sound like we would get those bags just our carry on items. Tip if you have a layover make sure you have what you would need for a last minute hotel stay plus a change for the next day especially if your hitting a northern airport in the winter.

 

[hskaggs11]

The luggage service to the airport and the ME to the airport are actually two separate services, unlike on your arrival, when if you want your luggage delivered, you have to ride ME. What we have done in the past (this was pre-kids though) is send our luggage on with the luggage check-in service (you can do this as early as 5:30am), then go to a resort and have a nice breakfast, and take an Uber to the airport instead of riding ME. We timed it to arrive at the airport 1.5 hours early, instead of the 3 hours ME makes you get there. That way, you aren't at the airport so long, and since you don't have to deal with checking bags, 1.5hrs is plenty of time to get through security. Our Uber, if memory serves, was around $25-$30. They do offer Ubers with child seats, so if you schedule your Uber a little in advance, you shouldn't have any issues getting one.

 

[sharkyandbones]

I too would vote the early am flight. Layovers with kids can be a hassle. Maybe you'll get lucky with a late morning nap

 

[kboo]

ODD 6 has flown over 50 flights, YDD at 18 months has flown about a dozen. We take early AM direct flights over layovers EVERY time. Too much can go sideways with a connection, whether it be luggage, delays, missed or canceled flights.... with an early AM flight the wake up is hard but that's it.

 

[scrapquitler]

The luggage service to the airport and the ME to the airport are actually two separate services, unlike on your arrival, when if you want your luggage delivered, you have to ride ME. What we have done in the past (this was pre-kids though) is send our luggage on with the luggage check-in service (you can do this as early as 5:30am), then go to a resort and have a nice breakfast, and take an Uber to the airport instead of riding ME. We timed it to arrive at the airport 1.5 hours early, instead of the 3 hours ME makes you get there. That way, you aren't at the airport so long, and since you don't have to deal with checking bags, 1.5hrs is plenty of time to get through security. Our Uber, if memory serves, was around $25-$30. They do offer Ubers with child seats, so if you schedule your Uber a little in advance, you shouldn't have any issues getting one.

The OP won't be able to use the Resort Airline Check in service for their bags, because that doesn't open until 5am, and you have to check your bags at the resort at least three hours prior to your flight's departure time. OP is going to have to bring all of their checked bags on ME and check them at the airport. To me, THIS is the major downside of the early morning flight. EDIT: NEVERMIND. I MISREAD THE ORIGINAL POST, I THOUGHT OP FLIGHT WAS A 6:15 DEPARTURE>

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Ok so they released our flights today and the direct flight home doesn't leave until 3pm!!! Yay!!!

New problem is the direct flight down doesn't leave until 4ish (can't recall exact time) when we're we're hoping for 10 like the current patterns. I wanted to go ahead and take the direct and just arrive later but DH wanted an earlier flight with a layover getting us there at noon instead of 6. I booked it for now but I hope southwest releases an earlier direct flight sometime later. Otherwise it might be me and DM with DS on a late direct flight and DH with our friend on the connecting flight so they can get in a tee time after arrival

 

[ice_queenocf]

You know your kids best.
For MY family, the layover would be best. We fly a lot and love layovers. Have since they were infants. Now at 21, 10 and 6 we still prefer it this way.

Stretch, eat, burn off steam, see something new....much better than waking us up that early. Not a single one of us is an early bird.

 

[Minnesota!]

You know your kids best.
For MY family, the layover would be best. We fly a lot and love layovers. Have since they were infants. Now at 21, 10 and 6 we still prefer it this way.

Stretch, eat, burn off steam, see something new....much better than waking us up that early. Not a single one of us is an early bird.

This is us, too. Layovers are part of the adventure of vacations for us. We have been delayed, cancelled, missed flights, etc., sure. With infants/toddlers, too. We have learned to just roll with it. Although, we are early birds... best flights (out) for us are the 530a ones. Nothing like getting on the road at 230a knowing adventure awaits!

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

Too much can go sideways with a connection, whether it be luggage, delays, missed or canceled flights.... with an early AM flight the wake up is hard but that's it.

This is what seems to be the theme with responses and I didn't really think about it. The hard part is trying to convince DH of this, he seems to think everything will be fine. Now that our flight home is fine it's just the flight down we have to consider.

 

[kboo]

This is what seems to be the theme with responses and I didn't really think about it. The hard part is trying to convince DH of this, he seems to think everything will be fine. Now that our flight home is fine it's just the flight down we have to consider.

What season are you traveling, and where from? Consider the weather when flying through a hub, too. If I have to connect (we live in NYC, so usually avoid connections easily), I avoid connections in Chicago (or anywhere north of Houston or PHX, really) in the winter since any winter storm can disrupt travel for days on end. In summer, it's a little riskier to connect through the thunderstorm belt in the southern half of the US.

Slight tangent: We went to Hawaii in January for a week, flying JFK-LAX (staying in a hotel overnight)-KOA (Kona). We got to the gate at JFK as it started snowing lightly. At boarding time, it was almost white out conditions. Our departure was delayed another 1.5-2 hours because they had to plow the runway 2x and deice the plane. We finally took off, and after we were in the air learned that they had closed JFK for the rest of the day.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

What season are you traveling, and where from? Consider the weather when flying through a hub, too. If I have to connect (we live in NYC, so usually avoid connections easily), I avoid connections in Chicago (or anywhere north of Houston or PHX, really) in the winter since any winter storm can disrupt travel for days on end. In summer, it's a little riskier to connect through the thunderstorm belt in the southern half of the US.

Slight tangent: We went to Hawaii in January for a week, flying JFK-LAX (staying in a hotel overnight)-KOA (Kona). We got to the gate at JFK as it started snowing lightly. At boarding time, it was almost white out conditions. Our departure was delayed another 1.5-2 hours because they had to plow the runway 2x and deice the plane. We finally took off, and after we were in the air learned that they had closed JFK for the rest of the day.

It will be early December from Louisville to Orlando. The layover would be in BWI which is roughly as far north as we are currently, just further east. We have friends in that area who said weather isn't an issue that time of year. That proposed flight would get usthere 6 hours earlier and it seems like even just one delay would ruin that. Even worse, the layover would only be 45minutes!!! I just can't imagine trying to get off the plane with a toddler and right onto another one. We might even miss family boarding which would then be horrible trying to get on a plane finding at least two seats together. DH still thinks it will be fine. It's probably because we have never traveled with a child before so he just isn't getting it. I think I have been convinced otherwise.

 

[kboo]

Yeah weather *shouldn't* be an issue, but a 45 minute layover is way too close for comfort with a toddler. That's iffy for adults! And if you are checking luggage - I wouldn't recommend it.