What time of day for plane flight?

I'm flying from Denver to Pittsburgh in October with 1 child (I've posted about this before -- this is a new question though!). She (whichever one I take) will be almost 2 at the time. She will have her own seat.

The flight is about 3 hours with a 2-hr time difference. So if we left Denver at 12pm, we'd arrive in Pit at 5pm. Is it better to try to do this in the morning, so there is more time during the rest of the day to adjust? Or better in the afternoon so hopefully she'd nap some on the plane (though I can't quite picture this)?

There is also an evening flight -- 6pm to 11pm. This seems like a disaster -- or would it actually be best because she'll be so tired?

Or should I just not worry about it and deal with whatever happens? Need advice from seasoned travellers!

 

I think it depends on your child. We've done several flights with both kids and have always taken their car seats on the plane with us. We've generally tried to have the time on the plane overlap either nap time or bed time. DS can hardly stay awake in the car and he does the same thing on a plane. DD, on the other hand, will not sleep in the car or on the plane. The last flight we took was this past summer when the kids were around 20 months. The outgoing flight was late morning/lunch time and the return was in the evening. On both DS slept most of the way and DD almost none. The bad thing about returning in the evening was that DD was very cranky and tired. She finally fell asleep shortly before we landed. Not the best timing .

What did help was to have some new, never seen before toys for the plane ride. I got a Snap N Style doll that DD played with for most of one flight which was great.

 

When we flew to Fl, we planned it such that naptime would be on the plane. This worked pretty well for us.

 

I think the night flight would work.6-11p She would normally be asleep at the arrival time? Good luck

 

Alden, I would go during the middle of the day or the morning. That way people around you don't have an expectation of rest and sleep on the flight. Sounds like it'll go really well if she has her own sleep.

I went to Walmart (yikes) and got some little toys they had NEVER seen before (one was a travel magna doodle, the no mess pens and paper, and as speak and say little tiny elmo tingy)....

You'll be fine! 3 hrs. isn't too bad!!

 

I HIGHLY suggest the AM........I travel with my 3 girls
alot.


Good luck,

M

 

For traveling by plane, I think mid-morning to early afternoon is best. Kids just get too grumpy late in the day. Definitely would avoid the 6pm flight! Going early (i.e 7am) is also tough....since you have to be at the airport by 5:30am. It's hard to get a kid in motion that early and get you and them to the airport on time. The time change will not affect you guys until the next day...just deal with it as best you can.

You should be fine on a 3hr flight...even if she doesn't take a nap. We flew with our boys on a 2hr flight at age 2.5yrs and they did fine...(and they are VERY active young men). They were very interested in being on a plane. Between toys, coloring and snacks they hung in there fine. Plus you have "man on man" defense. If you were traveling alone with two...things would be more challenging.

Good luck. Enjoy your time in Pittsburgh. If you need any info, let me know...We live there!

 

I would definitely not do the 6pm in hopes that she sleeps. I can never sleep on planes and one of my first flights was a red eye, ohh what torture. I would probably be making myself crazy if everyone on the plane wanted to sleep and my child wanted no part of it. During the day wouldn't be as big of an issue, sure there will be people who will want to sleep but it is not like it will be the whole plane.

I posted in your other thread to maybe try JetBlue. I flew with K&K on a 3 hour flight, 10:30-1:30 and it worked out perfectly. We didn't have to be out of the house at a horribly early time but yet we still had alot of the day once we arrived. The tv's kept K&K completely entertained the entire time!

 

Alden, I usually do the night flight. It is so much easier because they do actually sleep the whole time. IMO of course. Good luck!

 

Wow flying with just ONE KID? That will be FUN!

When we flew to FL, we flew down at night (arrived at midnight in Tampa). The boys slept the entire 2nd leg of flight 8ish to midnight . When we flew back at noontime, they were WIDE awake and too active!

HTH and Have fun!!!

 

quote:
Wow flying with just ONE KID? That will be FUN!


I know, all my singleton-mom friends are like "You're travelling BY YOURSELF with a toddler? " and I'm thinking "Just one toddler? Yippee!"

Thanks for all the advice -- I think my choices are going to be midday vs. late evening, so I'll probably go with midday. It would sure be nice if she slept the whole way on the later flight, but I don't want to deal with waking her up, jostling her around for an hour between airplane and house, and then trying to put her back to bed. Besides which, she might not even sleep! (Although both of them always fall asleep in the car if they're tired -- so hopefully that's a good sign.)