Flying at 14 Months: Direct or Layover?

bnwillia3

Hey all! Planning a trip from NY to AZ in the fall. We did the same trip last year when he was just six weeks old - flew direct and baby slept nearly the whole time, but not expecting the same thing this time So, my question - would you recommend a direct 4.5/5 hour flight? Or could a break between two shorter flights be a better option? Or do you think it doesn't matter and I'm overthinking?  

BabyBugutsky

I say one and done. That way the day doesn't turn out to be longer for you and LO. Lay overs mean more time travelling so more time for fussiness if it happens. I know when we drive long trips my LO gets upset going back into the car seat if we take a break so we go as long as possible with out stopping.

momofsweetps

Definitely one and done. I hate layovers especially with kids! My son #2 kiddo traveled well at 15 months and 17 months.

KissMeImScottish

I actually am going to be the odd man out here and say take the layover, every, every, every time, less for baby and more for your sanity, just from personal experience. I suppose flight times matter, so if you feel it's a short enough flight, you could do direct, but my husband and I are stationed in Pearl Harbor, HI, but I just spent the last 6 months in Connecticut while he was deployed. That means that kiddo and I have flow back and forth between CT and Hawaii (12 hours of flight time), with vacations in PA and CA to visit family, three or four times since he was born, the latest of which was 3 days ago. That makes for a lot of planes and a lot of hours in the air. Unless you plan on buying your kiddo a ticket, lap sitting for 6+ hours had me praying by hour two that the flight would be over quickly. Kiddo wasn't fussy at all, just very awake, very vocal, and very wiggly. It was exhausting. My layover in Seattle was my saving grace. It gave me time to get kiddo food, refill his juice cup, decompress a bit, change his diaper somewhere other than in the plane bathroom, and generally just recollect myself. It's a personal call, but I'll take the layover every time until he is old enough for an iPad to babysit him in flight.

LoveLee85

We just traveled with LO and I chose lay over and it was GREAT! Two shorter flights worked wonders for us. We were able to not have to use the jets restroom once, yay! He slept through both flights since it was nap time. It was honestly wonderful. Good luck, either way. 

missliz53

I think it depends on how long the layovers are and if it will result in more tine in the air for you. You don't want to be rushing to get to your next flight, but keeping a toddler happy for an extended period of time in the airport could be a real headache. Plus some flights with layovers send you all over the stinking country which is no good either. 

We just did a 2 hr flight from MN to Toronto and I very highly recommend getting lo their own seat if you can afford it. DD was able to rear face in the airplane and stayed in her car seat the whole flight. It made it easy to entertain her with toys (the passengers behind us were eager to help), feed her, keep her busy with a pacifier and sippy cup during take off and landing, and she even napped. If she had been in my lap, she would have been all over the place. Plus on the way there, she had a major poosplosion and that would have been in my lap. 

mill1020

Oh dear G-d, go direct.  It's so much harder to keep a child happy when you tack a few extra hours onto an already long trip.  It's all about minimizing the amount of time you spend in transit!

jen83mn

Definitely direct! Sitting in an airport for a few hours between isn't really "a break" and then you run the possibility of missing your next flight, a flight delay, etc. Plus, then you have to go through boarding and getting off a plane all over again ... so instead of it taking 5 hours to get there, it ends up taking 8+ hours to arrive at your destination.

We flew for 3 hours when LO was 10 months old ... flight there was great! It was early in the day, during nap time, and he slept most of the way. Flight home was a different story. It was early evening, past nap time, and LO was already exhausted from the day's packing, car commute to the airport, etc. Plus, on the descent, his ears plugged up (he refused to nurse and it was a rapid descent), so he screamed hard for 10-15 minutes. Thankfully we were in the back of the plane with other parents and they were understanding (although at the time I didn't care at all what anyone else thought and just felt bad for my little guy!). So if I had to choose one flight takeoff and descent over two, one is the way to go!

The things I learned for next time: Book a flight earlier in the day during nap time so baby isn't already worn out from a long day but will sleep at least a good portion of the flight. Book a seat near the back of the plane where the engine is noisier (good white noise) and there's more parents with kids who will understand if baby acts up. Pack plenty of finger food snacks and a sippy, and new toys and books for the flight to keep baby entertained! Good luck!

LoveLee85

I guess it depends on how far you are traveling and the lay over time, really. Two shorter flights worked wonders for us. 

KissMeImScottish

I definitely agree with @LoveLee85. Most of my flight experiences with kiddo have been 12 hours of flight time. While sitting around in an airport might not be a break, our hour and a half layover after six hours in air, knowing we had another 6 hours coming, sure felt like one. For a four hour hop? I'd definitely say direct. But anything over 3-4 hours, that layover was a Godsend for me. The trick is to give yourself enough of a layover you don't feel stressed about missing your flight and so that you have enough time to stretch, walk around, change the baby, eat, and so on, but not so much time that you're left finding things to entertain baby with. In our case, Seattle for an hour and a half after flying from Boston, knowing we had to still go on to Honolulu and it being just me and baby since daddy is out to sea, was exactly what we needed.

That said, if you can afford a separate seat for kiddo (in my case, an extra $600 dollars for a one way ticket wasn't in the cards), then direct probably wouldn't be quite as much of a bear, since you'd have your seat. Again, though, I'm not one that has that extra money lying around, especially since we just bought a house and my husband just made Chief, which means having to spend almost $2000 on new uniforms. So, with the lap baby, the layover was our savior.

kate913

We just did a layover flight going to Hawaii. We had no choice it was all that was available. It was a longer trip but it was totally fine having a layover!

ems028

Your flight is really short hah!
I took my then 9 month old from Jakarta, Indonesia to the uk...and then back again 3 weeks later. 
She was on our laps...with a 4 hour stopover in Dubai..the total flight time was 16/17 hours. It was so hard! But your flight will be fine in one go!

jenboston22

I'd fly without a layover for that length of flight -- I think a layover would not be worth it.

Next month we're traveling to India and we're stopping over in Hong Kong -- so, our first leg of the trip will be 14(!) hours, and the second leg will be 6 hours (and then we'll be traveling by car for another 4 hours...). We're spending a couple of days in Hong Kong to help break up the trip.

We purchased our baby a seat, so hopefully that will help somewhat!

bnwillia3

Thanks all!! We actually decided to push our travel back to January, so I have more time to fret I think I'll go with the direct flight since our travel time isn't all that long and I hadn't really considered that a layover, while a break, would add to our total time in transit, which might be more stressful. I have to say I am totally impressed with all these long flights so many of you have done/are doing! Put my five hour flight in perspective! 12+ hours of travel with baby?! Y'all are my heroes!! 

missliz53

If you are going to get lo their own seat, make sure you check the seat specifications on the airline to make sure your car seat will fit. We had to buy a Costco Scenera Next because our regular convertible wouldn't fit. It was 40 bucks, but only weighed 11 lbs so it wasn't bad to lug around