Flying fr CA to FL with kids - Direct or Layover?

[Smile]

It's a long flight. Do I break it up or fly direct. DS is 3 and DD is 2. DS flew to South to see Disneyland was ok, but wanted to find out what everyone's else experience was.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

 

[CarolMN]

If it were me, I'd go non-stop if at all possible. (FWIW, direct means you stop at least once, but don't have to change planes).

Best wishes -

 

[dgaston]

This is a tough question. I'm a grown-up (sort-of), and I like stopping at Chicago when I'm flying coast to coast to break it up. You'd have to take the kids up and down the aisle on the plane to work their legs. but direct might be better for little ones!

 

[caspersmom83]

It's a long flight. Do I break it up or fly direct. DS is 3 and DD is 2. DS flew to South to see Disneyland was ok, but wanted to find out what everyone's else experience was.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

In my expierence layovers are terrible. Once I get my two year old in his car seat on the plane with his Dvd player he's fine. We once had a layover and it was a nightmare trying to keep him occupied taking the car seat out and putting it back in. Of course we also got delayed durring our layover as well.

 

[jmatias]

We travel from Hawaii to Orlando so we have very long flights. I book the longest leg as an overnighter so I know the kids ( 9, 8, and 2) will sleep. We usually go from Honolulu to Atlanta/or Houston, then change planes to Orlando.

Several times we've done an LAX to MCO and it works best for us if the flight is during nap time.

We do however, prefer as direct a flight as possible with the fewest layovers. So in your case I would say go direct...your total travel time will be less.

 

[SylviaL]

I would fly direct and bring carseat(s). When we flew from Chicago to Orlando, we didn't bring a carseat for DS2. He couldn't get comfortable in his seat so he only slept for 1/2 hour and then he cried for 1/2 hour (it was very painful). We have a trip to Orange County in March. Originally, we had a connecting flight in Dallas but the times changed. With the new flights we would have only had 45 minuts to get to the connecting flight which was even in a different terminal. There is no possible way we would have made it with 2 toddlers (2 & 4). Because of the carseat (we don't bring one for DS4--he's a good traveller), we are usually the last ones to get off. It's too much of a hassle to schlepp all our stuff to a new plane. I called and since it was such a big difference in time, they let me change it to a direct flight (frequent flyer award ticket).

 

[shellybaxter]

We live in a rural town in North Eastern California and direct flights are not an option (they simply don't exist from here). We always try to connect through Dallas or Houston. These cities are the least effected by weather (went through Chicago once and had a nine hour delay due to fog) and about half way. While we don't have children we've traveled frequently with our niece since she was 3 (she's now 6) and she does fine with a short lay over. She is a great travelor though. She's good at keeping busy and sleeps easily on the plane.

 

[shellbelle1971]

We fly a lot with 6 kids (12, 10, 7, 6, 3, & 9 months). Here are my suggestions:

1. If you can, fly direct. We often have to take connecting flights because we fly on frequent flier miles, but when we can get direct we always take it

2. If your children sleep well in carseats, consider taking a redeye. Mine do, so we often leave very early and the little ones are out cold for the whole thing. (And in the unfortunate event that they don't sleep, but SCREAM through the whole thing, they're disturbing fewer passengers...)

3. To prevent problems make sure kids' sinuses & ears are clear. A dose of benadryl and/or childrens sudafed about 20 minutes before boarding helps a lot, but in case that isn't enough, we also keep prescription ear numbing drops and infants' tylenol in the diaper bag. (As a side benefit, the benadryl seems to help with #2 above, too.) Nursing a baby or giving a bottle or sippy cup with juice to a toddler during takeoff/landing helps ears "pop" when they need to. Older kids do well with gum to chew on.

4. A cheap, portable DVD player with earphones and a couple of brand new DVDs is worth its weight in gold. Most laptop computers work, too.

5. Most airlines have greatly reduced the food choices available in-flight. Be prepared with your own food. I usually pack a few special treats in the bag (things the kids wouldn't normally get) and allow them to unwrap them at certain intervals (like every hour on a long flight) if (and ONLY if) behavior is within defined acceptable bounds. Remember that your flight could easily end up taking far longer than its scheduled time, so plan food, games, diapers, videos, etc. accordingly.

5. PRACTICE! When our 5 & 7 year olds flew unaccompanied minor (that's alone--without me or dad) to visit Grandma (in Ohio, a 4 hour flight) we played a "game" a few times where they took turns sitting in our "pretend airplane" and demonstrating proper behavior. (We even threw in a few "emergencies"--"What if you need to go to the bathroom, but the seatbelt light is on?" "What if your brother touches the seat in front of him?" "What if your sister won't stop talking to the person next to her?" They thought it was great fun, and after several 45 minute practices, I felt very comfortable that they would understand what to expect and what was expected of them. I was worried when, due to weather delays, they ended up stuck on their plane, in their seats, for over 7 hours (!) but the flight attendant reported to their Grandmother that they were the best behaved children she had ever seen. (And that many of the adults on board were actually acting far worse than the kids!)

Hope this helps!

Michelle

 

[MaeDisney]

We flew from LAX to MCO, on a non-stop Delta Song airline, last July 2005. I have 2 kids - DS was 5 at that time and DD was 1. Delta Song was great because each seat had it's own small TV screen and each person can pick from different channels from cartoons to the news to even HGTV!

We also brought a portable DVD player and several DVDs, and I also packed some books, crayons and puzzles to keep them entertained. I didn't show my kids the activities that I packed for them, so when we got on the flight, it was kind of a surprise for them each time I would bring out something "new". The 5-hour flight didn't feel like a long flight at all.

On the flight back home, they were both so tired from our whole vacation that they just ended sleeping almost all the way home.

hope this helps and have fun!

 

[Scotch]

3. To prevent problems make sure kids' sinuses & ears are clear. A dose of benadryl and/or childrens sudafed about 20 minutes before boarding helps a lot, but in case that isn't enough, we also keep prescription ear numbing drops and infants' tylenol in the diaper bag. (As a side benefit, the benadryl seems to help with #2 above, too.)

I recommend folks not do this until your pediatrian says okay. We have never given DS (now 21 months) any drugs for flying when he is not showing signs of illness. Our doctor recommended against it; and some children get hyper when taking benadryl. I know many parents do this, but we feel why medicate our kids when it is unnecessary? DS is a good traveller, having done many flying trips from the mid-west to CA as well as Orlando. We try to fly nonstop whenever we can and we pick flights that would cover his nap time. We bring new toys along as "surprises" to keep him entertained onboard, as well as lots of snacks and drinks. So far so good.

 

[dis-happy]

I've been flying coast to coast with kids and babies for 16 years now, at least 3 times per year. Non-stop is the way to go if at all possible!

Red-eyes don't always work so well; a lot of times the pilot would come on and make an announcement and wake up the sleeping child, and that was the end of that.

Coming from CA the time change should work pretty well. Get them up in the morning, take the flight, get there, get set in your room, eat dinner and hope that the long day of travel would tire them out enough to go to sleep and get an early start the next day.

FWIW, it was my pediatrician who recommended giving some benedryl or pediacare when traveling. But always try it out at home first. One child would get wired on benedryl, the other two would sleep. This stuff is made for children--a dose is not going to hurt them.

Have a great trip!

 

[happyrebster]

We do coast to coast and I can't imagine flying anything other than direct. It's already a long day for the little ones -- so tough for them to be in the confined airplane space, without their usual distractions. So, the less time spent in aiports and on planes, the better -- even if the kids are good little travelers. Def fly direct, if you can. I know some folks think it better to stop for a connection and let the little ones stretch their legs; but, really, with such a long flight, I think that you are just asking for a very cranky toddler at the end of a day that took 10 hours when it could have been done in 6. Just my $.02.

 

[all4fun]

We live in the Pacific NW and have yet to find a direct flight from here to MCO unfortunately. I would much prefer it. A flight with a stopover (no changing planes) would be acceptable too. I would just prefer it because traveling with car seats is not my idea of "fun" and if I could negate some of the hassle of uninstalling and reinstalling it on another plane I would. Plus having non-stop flight would make the trip much shorter.

Since the topic came up, we also never medicate ds for the flights except for if he's sick, and he does fine without it. I know someone who's a flight attendant who travels A LOT with her kids and she only recommends it for really long long-haul flights - like international flights that are 10+ hrs. I guess if we were doing a red-eye I might consider it to help him sleep but for a flight during the daytime there has never been a need (for us anyway). Just my 2cents.

 

[OurDogCisco]

We don't have any direct flights from my area. But when I have to do a layover I prefer it be in Altanta Georgia or Texas. I hate layovers in Denver or Salt Lake because it sort of the middle. At least when we fly to Atlanta we stay on the plane for a long time and then, take a short one hour flight to Orlando. In theory I'd go for the direct flight. I find out layover times can be horrible.

GL...

 

[AnaheimGirl]

Another vote for non-stop, if you can. If they fall asleep in their car seats, you don't have to wake them up to get off the plane until you've reached your destination.

Also, a layover long enough to allow them to run around in the airport will make for a long day of travel. Shorter layovers do more harm than good, IMO, because they only get that 10-15 minute walk to the next gate, then they're sitting in the plane again for an extra 20 minutes before it takes off.

Good luck.

 

[brownj15]

We just returned from a week in WDW on Jan 18th. (Kids are 5, 2 and 6 mo) We could not get a nonstop flight so we had one layover. Going down to Orlando went OK, but coming home our flight out of Orlando took off one hour late and we had 5 minutes to make our connection. My husband ran ahead of us to ask them to wait. Running for a flight with 3 kids and 2 strollers and a car seat is not fun. My husband got to the gate and they were closing the door. They told him that they would not wait for us and we would have to fly standby on the next booked flight which was 3 hours later. He asked to speak with a manager and the manager did agree to wait for us. It was not a pleasant experience racing for that flight and I cannot imagine how bad it would have been if that manager would not have waited for us. So, I would definitely recommend a direct flight!

 

[JimMIA]

Another vote for non-stop -- especially going West to East. I'm a big fan of same-day service.

Get on the plane and get there. If you take off reasonably on-time, you are going to arrive reasonably on-time.

If you stop, all bets are off. The equipment that is supposed to take you to MCO could be stuck somewhere and you will be in a big delay...at best. I had a trip a couple of years ago where I went non-stop and a colleague had a stop. I got home late (3 AM), but she called me after walking in the door at 4 PM the next day! She spent the night in the Atlanta airport because her connecting aircraft never got there.

 

[Nicolepa]

We live in the Pacific NW and have yet to find a direct flight from here to MCO unfortunately. I would much prefer it. A flight with a stopover (no changing planes) would be acceptable too. I would just prefer it because traveling with car seats is not my idea of "fun" and if I could negate some of the hassle of uninstalling and reinstalling it on another plane I would. Plus having non-stop flight would make the trip much shorter.

I'm assuming you would fly out of Portland, right? We took a direct flight last August from Seattle (on Alaska). OMG it was the best flight ever! It seemed so short compared to any other flight. No stress trying to catch a connection, no lugging all the kids stuff on and off, no trying to keep track of the kids in a busy airport, no waiting for another plane. We have family in Ft. Lauderdale so we make the flight at least a couple times a year and usually fly into MCO to see the mouse and then drive down to FLL. Unfortunalty since there is only one airline flying direct it is hard to get a decent deal.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Do I break it up or fly direct.

Actually, I think you mean non-stop, not direct. A direct flight can have stops.

Why would you not want the non-stop? It's less travel time and hassle. And every take off and landing can mean more delays.

Since the topic came up, we also never medicate ds for the flights except for if he's sick, and he does fine without it. I know someone who's a flight attendant who travels A LOT with her kids and she only recommends it for really long long-haul flights

In this case, I recommend that the ADULT self-medicates,

 

[shellbelle1971]

About medicating...
this was at our pediatrician's suggestion for one child who is prone to ear problems--he's so sensitive that even the elevation changes of driving in the mountains cause him serious pain. Of course you shouldn't give anything to your own child without checking with your doctor first!

That said--it has worked very well for us. Nothing wrong with choosing not to medicate, either.