Long Haul flights with babies.......

As much as it is annoying after a while there's really only 3 reasons a baby would cry, needs food, needs changing or it just feels like it.

In the later case there's not much you can do at all. My nephew who is 1 today can cry on queue.. just need to say.. "Ohh no Harry" and he will put on a very loud and annoying fake cry! Although I think its more the way its said than the actual words :)
 
Get a dart gun and some horse tranquillizer.

No, seriously now. I flew from Manchester to Orlando a few weeks ago and there was a baby behind us. I thought "no, please god no!" but really the baby was as good as gold most of the flight because the parents kept it entertained, it only really cried a little when they left it alone too long.

Keep the baby happy and entertained and everything will be dandy.
 
Little bit of a thread resurrection but why not!

Having read this thread the general consensus is don't take a baby on a flight. I can understand this from other passengers point of view if it is a little **** all the flight but I have flown 6 times now with my son since he was 6 months old and only had the crying on descent, maybe a little when he was tired and a little ****ed off at one point.

Anyway, on to the reason for the thread res. My son is just about to turn 2 years old and we are looking to go to Dom Rep, Mexico or Florida at some point in the next 18 months. So has anyone travelled long haul with a 3/3.5 year old? If so, what was your experience? How did you keep him/her entertained?

A bit of our flight history:

July 2015 we had a week in Ibiza he was about to turn 6 months old. The flight was fantastic, passenger close by commented on how well behaved he was. Had a few toys, PLENTY of bottles made up ready to go as it shuts him up if needed. Only a 2 hour flight but he had a kip. Transfer to San Miguel was 30/40 mins and was pleasant.

The flight back was the same, as mentioned a little crying on both descents.

May 2016 a week in Majorca. 16 months old. A lot more awake had toys, tablet with cartoon etc but having a late flight like Ibiza he got ratty, needed some sleep. Had a bit of a fight as he was sat on our knees and eventually he slept. Nothing major in the crying game. Just descent again. Transfer to Alcudia was a nightmare. 90mins. A few babies/children on bus REALLY groggy and over tired. Next time we getting a taxi. Flight home good.

December 2016 22 months old. Fuerteventura. longer flight and we had tablet filled with movies, peppapig etc. Very well behaved but as the flight was not full we managed to have 3 seats so he sat inbetween us. Good flight but was tired 3 hours into it. Took a while to settle. Same again,. a little crying game but nothing to bad. Other passengers didn't seem to be bothered as they were all old and probably deaf. :)

We got taxi to hotel as it was 10 min drive from airport.

Since we have been back from our December holiday he has developed loads. I know children have times where they seem to grow up all of a sudden and he is having one of those. Copying what we do more, just about to talk properly. Currently he has his won language but can say a handful of real words. I am trying to persuade my wife that in 18 months he will be totally different to now and I personally think he will be fine on a flight for 10 hours or so. He would have his own TV in seat head rest, unlimited snacks and drinks on the flight. He would probably be into drawing and playing games on tablet more.

I think he would be ok. So have you gone long with a 3 year old?
 
kitch9 said:
Yes it is, you were a baby once and you were noisy.

Your taxes now pay the pensions of the small minded stupid idiots who tutted at your mother every time she dared leave the house with you as a baby.
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I don't think you know what small minded means. Also there's a difference between leaving the house and being stuck in a confined space for 7+ hours with a mewling child who is in pain/discomfort/fear.
 
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kitch9 said:
I took 10 month old twins to new Zealand.

Piece of cake.

One will be a doddle.
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If we knew last year going to Ibiza with a 6 month old would have been easy like it was then we would have gone lang haul then, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.. :).

A 3 year old should be fairly straight forward, considering how he has been so far flying. He loves the airport and flying in general, looking out the window etc.
 
SuperBOB said:
Has anyone flown long haul with a baby? I am flying from London to Sydney with a 6 month old baby in a months time and could use some reassurance/wise words/general anaesthetic.
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At 6 months no problem at all.its a breeze.

When taking off it can be good to breastfeed to their ears adjust to air pressure
 
Dis86 said:
I don't think you know what small minded means. Also there's a difference between leaving the house and being stuck in a confined space for 7+ hours with a Melling child who is in pain/discomfort/fear.
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If a babies crying on a plane, barring take off and landing it would probably be crying at home over the same thing.

Babies cry, open your mind and be thankful that there's a new generation to wipe your old ass when you'll need it.

Do you regularly suffer pain when flying? I'm wondering why you get the impression kids do?
 
kitch9 said:
If a babies crying on a plane, barring take off and landing it would probably be crying at home over the same thing.

Babies cry, open your mind and be thankful that there's a new generation to wipe your old ass when you'll need it.

Do you regularly suffer pain when flying? I'm wondering why you get the impression kids do?
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"Unfortunately, ear pain is especially common in children since the Eustachian tubes that help our ears adjust to changing air pressure are smaller in children"

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/prevent-ear-pain-children-plane-102153.html

"Babies and young children are especially vulnerable to ear pain during takeoffs and landings because their tiny eustachian tubes, which connect the middle ear to the back of the throat and keep air pressure stable in the ear, are easily compressed"

http://www.parents.com/advice/babies/safety/how-can-i-protect-my-babys-ears-on-planes/

Want anymore sources to show you why children suffer pain when flying? Having suffered from Eustachian tube pain due to an infection (something else kids are prone to) I can't understand why anyone would want to subject their child to that.

What has babies crying got to do with someone opening their mind? :confused: It's not a mental choice to accept it. It's a physical issue.
 
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The post above about the babies ears is something we researched before flying to ibiza. We took plenty of bottles of milk ready for the ascent and descent. Adults suffer from it too and it's not nice. Apart from being tired on two occasions I would imagine that would have been his only discomfort during the flights he has been on. Well apart from the discomfort EVERYONE had on the coach transfer to Alcudia, damn that was bad. Grown adults pretty much crying on that. haha
 
asim18 said:
I'd rather sit next to a baby than a fat obese person.

Think about it. It's a baby. The sound of its cry can easily be drowned out by the sound of the engines paired with some in flight entertainment, also babies are cute. On the other hand, the bulging fat of a fat man will be forever overhanging the arm rest the duration of the flight. Furthermore, the easy sweating of fat men paired with the increased skin surface area will be a breeding ground for stink and bacteria.
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I had that on the way back from Mexico 10 years ago. We had 2 of the 4 center seats and on my boarding pass I had the aisle seat. Missus the next one and the fatty next to her. She asked to swap. I told her not allowed to in case we crash and they have to do identity checks on our bodies if we all die. :D

He didn't half stink. It was like fresh kebab at the start and got progressively stronger as the flight went on. I can't explain the stench when we got back to England.

Edit: I have flown many times and always had babies and children on the plane in close proximity and yeah they cried, some were noisy and sometimes a pain but families have to go on holiday as well. I didn't have any problem with it then and certainly don't now. I guess some people are stuck up their own arses to have any common sense regarding people of any age are allowed to travel.
 
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I went to mexico before Christmas.

On the way there and back several (not one) couple decided to bring there very young children with them. In addition to this they decided to bring them into premium as well. So now everyone else who has paid considerable amounts of money to be there had to put up with them as well.

Several of them were obviously distraught by the experience and screamed the place down for at least 4 hours there and back. (we ended up with mostly the same people on the way back)

I will admit i don't have kids and i don't expect to have any soon either.

That been said i have to ask why ? Just why ? why would you bring a very young child on a 10 hour flight. It just comes across as extremely selfish to everyone else. I am not sure if its just out of sheer selfishness (we want to go to mexico where it is warm so we don't care) or out of some mistaken belief that the child will appreciate/remember it? If your going to have children surely not been able to go on holiday where and when you want is a side effect of that decision?

In addition to this it totally baffles me why the airlines encourage this by giving them free flights in a lot of instances ? I get that not allowing children on flights excludes a significant proportion of the population but what about all the other paying customers on the flight? (the couples with the children were in the minority on this flight)

On the flight to mexico there were huge arguments, people swearing at each other. One guy stood up and confronted another guy over his balling child. The air hostesses almost looked to have lost control of it at one point and had to move people to other seats.

My girlfriends mum said that a lot of it appeared to be due to poor parenting which is an aspect i obviously cant appreciate.
 
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