traveling with LO?

stargirl76

Hi ladies,

 I was wondering, if you had an option to fly directly from NYC to HNL (~11 hour flight) with a 5 month-ish old LO would you do it? Or would you do a layover somewhere on the west coast?

We're planning on going home to HI for the holidays and debating our options - my best friend told me she'd do the one with the least amount of travel time total (in regards to traveling with her now 5-month old).

We've found REALLY good prices on the exact dates we're looking for (under $750 a ticket!) spanning both holidays so we want to purchase sometime soon...

Thanks!

KShiz

Oy, that's a tough one. On one hand, it would be great to just get it over with, on the other hand, it would be nice to get out and walk for an hour or so. But I agree w/ your friend to just go w/ the least amount of travel time.

inamra

I'd personally go for the shorter travel time too...

myday1708

Wow, that's a good price... When you say holidays, do you mean Christmas? Impressive.

Anyway, I'm going to disagree here... 11 hours is a LONG flight. Seesh, 4 hours was a LONG flight for us and a toddler! I personally, would break it up. I would go nuts if confined on an airplane for 11 hours, let alone with a baby. With two 5-6-hour flights, you'd at least have a layover to look forward to! Get off. Run around. Regroup. Eat. Stretch your legs. Regain your sanity. Just my 2 cents!

myday1708

OK, I just saw that your baby will be 5 months... In that case, I'd do the 11 hours. At 5 months, they'll stay put in your arms and it'll be easy. The layover would only be necessary when they enter the toddlerhood insanity stage. As you were.

mrspresley

myday1708:

Anyway, I'm going to disagree here... 11 hours is a LONG flight. Seesh, 4 hours was a LONG flight for us and a toddler! I personally, would break it up. I would go nuts if confined on an airplane for 11 hours, let alone with a baby. With two 5-6-hour flights, you'd at least have a layover to look forward to! Get off. Run around. Regroup. Eat. Stretch your legs. Regain your sanity. Just my 2 cents!

we flew when Miss A was 6 months old and i know at that point, it was starting to get a little harder to travel w/her.  3-4 hours was her limit (before getting fussy) but that was also b/c she wasn't very good at napping on the plane.  i know 1 month can make a big difference developmentally, though, so 5 months could be totally different. but every baby is different so a particularly alert/active 5 month old could be the same as a 6 month old :P

i know i'm probably not helping much here but if given the choice i guess i'd probably lean towards taking the non-stop flight.  (w/o a baby i'd definitely choose the layover b/c like Malia said, it's a long flight even for adults and it's nice to get off and stretch your legs and regroup a little.)  if you're not going to get a separate seat for baby (they do sleep better in the car seat) then definitely invest in a good carrier b/c it's a great way to get them to sleep when they are fighting it.

mrs.winter

myday1708:

OK, I just saw that your baby will be 5 months... In that case, I'd do the 11 hours. At 5 months, they'll stay put in your arms and it'll be easy. The layover would only be necessary when they enter the toddlerhood insanity stage. As you were.

Ditto!  Ashton flew at 4 months and did awesome!!  He slept the entire way to MD from Hawaii.

stargirl76

Thanks for the input, ladies! I think we're going with the non-stop flight to get it over with, and hopefully he'll sleep (high hopes). He will be 4-5 months old, so we were thinking it might be okay, but as other mamas said - doubtful we'd do that with a toddler! 

myday1708:

Wow, that's a good price... When you say holidays, do you mean Christmas? Impressive.

Haha, yes! From right before Xmas eve to end of first week in January. We're thrilled! We were expecting to pay $900-$1K each or so...

 

mrspresley:

if you're not going to get a separate seat for baby (they do sleep better in the car seat) then definitely invest in a good carrier b/c it's a great way to get them to sleep when they are fighting it.

Great tip! I didn't think of that... we're planning on getting an Ergo... do you think that will do the trick?

 Thanks again, ladies.

mrspresley

stargirl76:

 

mrspresley:

if you're not going to get a separate seat for baby (they do sleep better in the car seat) then definitely invest in a good carrier b/c it's a great way to get them to sleep when they are fighting it.

Great tip! I didn't think of that... we're planning on getting an Ergo... do you think that will do the trick?

 Thanks again, ladies.

yeah the ergo would be great. i've always used a carrier to get through the airport but it wasn't until after several flights that i saw the tip on this board to walk around w/them in the carrier until they fall asleep! i think this would have been a huge help for us b/c Miss A gets super tired but can't get comfy enough to sleep so she tosses and turns in my lap until she is soooooooo exhausted she just passes out. on our last trip she definitely fought sleep but she gave in much sooner than she normally would when i had her in the carrier.  it's hard to walk up and down the aisles sometimes so i just stood in the aisle next to our row and bounced her up and down.  i think on a non stop flight from NY to HI people would be more understanding of you walking up and down the aisles though

stargirl76

mrspresley:

stargirl76:

 

mrspresley:

if you're not going to get a separate seat for baby (they do sleep better in the car seat) then definitely invest in a good carrier b/c it's a great way to get them to sleep when they are fighting it.

Great tip! I didn't think of that... we're planning on getting an Ergo... do you think that will do the trick?

 Thanks again, ladies.

yeah the ergo would be great. i've always used a carrier to get through the airport but it wasn't until after several flights that i saw the tip on this board to walk around w/them in the carrier until they fall asleep! i think this would have been a huge help for us b/c Miss A gets super tired but can't get comfy enough to sleep so she tosses and turns in my lap until she is soooooooo exhausted she just passes out. on our last trip she definitely fought sleep but she gave in much sooner than she normally would when i had her in the carrier.  it's hard to walk up and down the aisles sometimes so i just stood in the aisle next to our row and bounced her up and down.  i think on a non stop flight from NY to HI people would be more understanding of you walking up and down the aisles though

Perfect! We got seats up in the front "mini cabin" in seats that has a little extra legroom as well... so hopefully it'll go off without a hitch. I know that whenever I was previously on those flights, I'd cringe at the sight of a baby on board, anticipating the worst. Now I'm going to get those sympathetic/dirty looks! Ahhhh. Scary.