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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
ABeautifulMind
member
Another travel post: direct flight vs. layover
ABeautifulMind
member
Background info: DD will be about 14.5 months when we fly with her
for the first time. She will be sitting in our laps. We are looking at
two different flight options and trying to figure out the best way to
go.
1. A direct flight: 4.5 hours (from a major airport 2 hours from our home) Typically this is what H and I do if it is just the two of us.
2. A flight with a stop over: 1st leg-2.5 hours, lay over-1.5 hours, 2nd leg-2 hours (at our local airport 20 minutes from home)
The price difference between the two flights is not that much so it has no bearing on our decision.
I know it will be easier not to have to switch plans with all our gear. Inevitably DD is going to get antsy whether it is 4.5 or 2 hours on the plane. So, my question is this: is it better just to get the one flight done and over with and by pass all the risks that go along with lay overs (flight delays,etc.) even though the airport is so far from our home OR should we use our local airport and break the trip up so we all have a real stretch break and she can run around in the airport a bit before getting back on another flight? WWYD?
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Re: Another travel post: direct flight vs. layover
Good luck!
Ooooh, tough.
I generally say direct, but my DD wouldn't be thrilled with two hours in the car. And that makes for a REALLY long day (2 hrs in the car + 1.5 hrs (at least) early to the airport + 4.5 hr = 8 hours)....though it looks like the other stopover version would be about the same amount of total time, too. Hmmmmmmmmm....
FWIW, we did our first stop over flight with DD (previously we had always flown direct with a max flight of about 3.5 hours). We had no direct options this time and the connecting WASN'T bad. Now, there is always the added stress of missing connections/delays/etc, but it was nice to let DD run around the airport for a bit (and to be able to change her in a real bathroom and not on the plane! Which would be inevitable on a 4.5 hour flight). Also, we checked almost everything (except DH and I each had a backpack and I had my purse). We kept the stroller and car seat. We gate checked the stroller all the way to our final destination (so we didn't mess with it at our stop over - which was fine). We gate checked our car seat on a per leg basis b/c we were able to use it on 2 of the 4 legs (roundtrip) (DD was a lap child, but we flew southwest and they let you take the car seat on if there is space. other airlines might have different policies for lap children).
Anyway....there are pros and cons to each. To me, the 2 hour drive is kind of a turn off (mostly because I wouldn't want to do it on the way home. Maybe if you stayed in a hotel near the airport pre-/post-flight?) so I would take my chances with the connection. But, if I had a direct vs. connection from my local airport, I would probably pay more money for the direct flight. But I'm not sure (to me) it is worth the drive. YMMV. Good luck!