Which is better - one long flight or two short ones?

WinesNotWhines · April 2011

We're flying to the west coast this summer when M will be around 1 year old and we're debating whether it would be easier to do a direct flight (5 hours) or to get a flight that has a stop somewhere in the middle (7-8 hours total travel time, but the individual flights would be shorter). WWYD? We have differing opinions and I'm supposed to ask you ladies and report back.

Artslvr · April 2011

No brainer for me: one long flight.

amh_navyblue · April 2011

Artslvr:
No brainer for me: one long flight.

Agreed. It's one take off and landing and no worries about the potential for a long delay in the middle of the trip. And you get there faster. A win-win-win scenario. As much as traveling with little ones is a winning scenario;)

LeaLea · April 2011

I vote one flight for reasons noted above.

hollace · April 2011

I vote for one as well. Why put yourself through any possible drama if there's no reason. For what it's worth though, I would choose one flight over 2 any day with or without a child.

NoVABrideNS · April 2011

We have done both, and by far the one longer flight worked out better and was less disruptive to DD's schedule.

LindseyJW · April 2011

we did this when T was about 18months old. the trip out we had legs. the trip home was direct. direct was FAR better than legs.

think about rushing through an airport b/c your flight out was delayed, but your 2nd leg is on time with a toddler and your bags, etc. i never want to do that again!

plus, reducing the up and down inflight was a good thing for the youngster too.

2vthokies · April 2011

LindseyJW:

we did this when T was about 18months old. the trip out we had legs. the trip home was direct. direct was FAR better than legs.

think about rushing through an airport b/c your flight out was delayed, but your 2nd leg is on time with a toddler and your bags, etc. i never want to do that again!

plus, reducing the up and down inflight was a good thing for the youngster too.

THIS. We went to Denver. We had to RUN, flat out sprint, to make our next flight even though they were the same airline and there were at least 10 other people on our flight that had to make the same flight. I forget which airport, but walking was at least a 20 minute walk, so it was a really long way. It was a nightmare because we had so much crap and DD #1 in a stroller. When we got on the plane, people had moved around and weren't sitting in the right seats. We had a ticket for DD and...well, it was just a mess. Not our fault at all and people were still a-holes.

Sofka · April 2011

1 long flight

flamencogal · April 2011

I really think it depends on the kid. We've done direct and lay overs to the west coast and DS does far better with a stop in the middle. Expecting him to sit on a plane for 5+ hours is a recipe for disaster for him. There is no where to go, nothing to do, etc. when he's wailing. He can last about 2-3 hours on a plane with out losing it. (And yes, we do pack all sorts of fun and new things for him but after 3 hours it doesn't really matter for him) So we do 2 legs with a reasonable lay over so he can have time to eat, play, etc. before getting on the next plane.

Now if you have a LO who will sleep, then the direct is going to be much better. We just have a VERY active little boy and the long flights are not a good match for him.

GL!!