When's the best time to fly with kids [closed]

I'm about to take my son on a trip overseas, should I book a early morning flight or book a afternoon flight ? Taking in the time difference we would arrive at his bed time if we took afternoon flight

Best Answer

For small babies (up to 6-7 months):

Any time of the day will work. Babies sleep a lot at this time, and if they will sleep on the plane, they will. Usually feeding/nursing a young baby to sleep on the plane is the best way to go.

For older babies and young toddlers (7 months- 1.5 years):

Redeyes usually work the best I found. At this age it is very hard to entertain the babies on the plane, especially after they learn to crawl and walk. They will want to MOVE. If you can go at their regular night time, it is easier regardless of the trouble with jet lag after you arrive. Over 1 year I would personally recommend a ticket and a carseat approved by the airline for longer flights, even if you can have a kid on your lap up till 2 years.

For older toddlers (1.5 years- 4 years)

Here personality comes more into play. How easily is he entertained by something like an iPad? For us, we found that leaving locally in the afternoon, but skipping the mid day nap is the easiest. They feed you on the plane, and the kid has an early night. when going East this means you arrive close to evening time, but travel wears you out, and he just stayed up a couple of extra hours. If you kid is easily entertained when sitting still, it may be better to go during day if you can sleep when you arrive. In addition, note that most kids are really excited about the plane and the airport and everything at first, so it may take a little while to calm down to sleep.

For older kids (4-5 years and more)

In my experience kids this age usually does pretty well watching movies for an entire 8-10 hour flight, and are able to sit mostly still for a long time. Unless you have a very active kid, you should probably pick whatever is best depending on arrival time.

Of course all of this does depends heavily on the kid's personality. Is he very calm? Is he afraid of flying? Does she fall asleep easily in new places? Is she easy to handle when a little tired (as a result of jetlag)? It also depends on you. If you take a redeye and your kid doesn't sleep, are you able to function?

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What is the least busy day of the week to fly?

Weekend vs weekdays It is worth doing some research into the airport you are flying from. However, Tuesday and Wednesday are often less busy. This is because you have to take more days off work to fly mid-week, which people are usually reluctant to do. Upgraded Points notes that these days are also often cheaper.

Is it better to fly late at night or early morning?

Early morning on-time performance is best explained by air traffic. As Forbes explained, airspace is less likely to be crowded in the morning as all previous flights have landed for the night. But as planes build up and wait for takeoff, air traffic controllers begin to delay departures and landings.

What is the least busy time of day to fly?

For many airports, the most busy time of operation is during the workday (between 8 am and 5 pm). Crowds often begin tapering off around 6 pm with some of the least busy times being in the late evening. If it's at all possible to leave in the evening, we recommend taking a flight at around 9:30 pm or later.

What is the hardest age to travel with a child?

Experienced traveling families already know this, but in most cases the hardest time to travel with a child is from when they become squirmy and mobile by about 9 months old until they hit the age of reason bargaining/cartooning/snacking at about 18 months.

Shawn Mendes - When You're Gone

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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