Coping on Long haul flights with children

rinroo

Apologies if this has been done a million times...have searched but not much returned..

Anyway, we are traveling to the Dominican republic in a little over 4 weeks and this is our first long haul with our children who are 4 and 7.

They have flown before but the longest was 3 hours.

We never really gave it much thought when we booked it, but now I am starting to worry..more for the people sat in front/behind where we will be.

Does anyone have any useful tips or advise as to how to cope with it?

I have already sorted a small backpack with colours and paper and a few mini games, eldest has a psp with a few new umd's...it more our boisterous 4 year old I worrying about.


Should mention flights are 9am(ish) going and lunch time return

buxtonrabbitgreen

When I went to Australia (without my kids though) there was a console so you could watch films and play games.

stumpycat

We recently flew to the US with our 5 year old - I had packed a bag with an activity pad & pens, card games, and some toys to keep him amused.
Check your in-flight facilities - I was really impressed by what you can get now as I'm more used to the 'you-will-watch-the-awful-film-on-our-tiny-drop-down-screen'
He was completely hooked by the back-of-seat console, especially the flight details, showing where the plane was, outside temperature, altitude etc! :rotfl:

Eventually he got round to watching some cartoons & playing games - they were touch screen and you could play Bejeweled & other games like that or challenge other passengers to chess or poker. The flights went really quickly, and he was good as gold - I hope your flights go as smoothly!

SuzySu

The long haul flight should be fairly easy with the screen in front of every seat. There is a dedicated childrens' channel showing cartoons etc ideal for both your children and, depending which airline you fly with, they should both get a flight pack with various bits and bobs in.

TBH I think the general excitement will (hopefully) tire them out so they will sleep at least some of the time.

Have a fab holiday......

nsimpson123

Hi, I have done long haul twice with my kids, the first time they were the same age as your kids. Please don't worry they will be absoluteley fine, the time will fly:rotfl:, the monitor in the seat in front of you will track the journey and my kids loved watching that, then you,ve got drinks and meals being served which kills more time, then a little walk to the toilets every now and again, the psp will be a good idea and the films on the monitor are usually new films so before you no it you'll be there. Have a great holiday:D

jackomdj

We recently drove to the South of France with our 2 (age 4 & 2) we have a leapster 2 console which the eldest loves. Also the mini doodle pads (you know the type with a magnet pen & magnetic filings inside) went down a treat.

We have seen people take their own DVD player on the plane which may be useful if your LO's are fussy about what they watch (also good once you get to your destination possibly)

HTH Nicky

malkie76

You folks are all assuming the OP is flying with a carrier which offers individual IFE - although seat back screens are practically the norm, there are carriers who do not offer it.

Who are you flying with ? It becomes important as a number of the big names actually offer child activity packs when you board which will add to anything you bring in a back pack.

I'm glad you are concerned about the comfort of other passengers - I wish all parents who bring children on long haul were as considerate as you!

rinroo

Thank you for all your replies.

We fly with Thomson - Just checked the blurb we have 7" monitors and 6 games/ movies...dont know why I didnt check it first.

I like the idea of them being able to keep a track of the journey..

I am hoping that an early morning and waiting about will help they dose off - my friend suggested phenagon (?) but I really dont want to dope them up..they are never normally travel sick.

Becles

I normally travel with a packet of non-chocolatey biscuits and a tube of Pringles. If the worst happens, you can always bribe them to be good

They're also handy to nibble on in case of delays or if they feel hungry before the meals are served. We had that on a Mexico flight where we got a breakfast just after take off, then an afternoon tea just before landing. It was a big gap between the two meals, so I gave them snacks around when their normal lunchtime would have been.

stumpycat

Hi rinroo,
please ignore your friend's recommendation of Phenergan - it's a sedating antihistimine, but can also have the opposite effects and wake them up!
I reckon it's better that they get excited and wear themselves out normally, and also you don't want them being in a different time zone to you! If they're wide awake once you've arrived, remind them they have the activity stuff you packed for them & get them to collect all sorts of tickets & memorabilia for a scrap book of their holiday (and you can doze!)

ferf1223

malkie76 wrote: »

I'm glad you are concerned about the comfort of other passengers - I wish all parents who bring children on long haul were as considerate as you!

Me too. My favorite was the 11 hour flight where the parents put in ear plugs and pretty much ignored their screaming kids for the first 9 hours of it - and I'm only barely exaggerating - at least one of the kids was screaming almost non-stop for the bulk of the flight..I had no idea they could have such stamina...though I suppose with 2 of them they could take turns. Then the kids fell asleep more or less when the rest of us had given up on trying.