There are certain destinations that I will always choose to fly nonstop. Most destinations, in fact. Take the short flight to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. It makes no sense to double or even triple the travel time. And we visit them frequently enough that it is important to us to make it an easy trip. Or flying to Europe. For reasons I will explain below, connections always make our jet lag when we arrive at our European destination way worse. But sometimes there are good reasons to choose an indirect route. In certain situations, choosing to fly indirect may actually be the better option.
My Experiences:
The most difficult flight that I have taken to date with kids was flying on a direct, long haul flight with just one child that was a little over a year old. We were on a narrow body plane (one aisle) for 7.5 hours, plus time for boarding and deplaning. I had an aisle seat with a lap child, but fortunately the middle seat was empty. Still, I probably walked the aisle 37+ times. Basically, whenever the seatbelt sign was off, we were up and about. The flight was in the middle of the day and my toddler napped for 45 minutes total. We were both losing our minds by the time we landed.
Two years later I flew solo to the same destination, but with a 3 year old and an 11 month old and a quick layover to break up the trip. It went so much better! Since then I have taken that same trip 2 more times without the company of another adult. Once more with a layover, and most recently, nonstop. There were very specific reasons, beyond cost, why I chose nonstop or to fly indirect on each of those subsequent trips. And they all went great!
Things to Consider:
1. Flying solo with kids?
If I am flying with my kids with the company and assistance of another adult, the decision to fly indirect or nonstop will mostly be a monetary one. Our schedule limitations may also impact the decision. But if I have the help of my husband or someone else, most of the other considerations listed below don’t carry as much weight. If I am flying solo with my kids, then I definitely take all of the following into consideration when deciding what route will be best.
2. Age of the children
Many kids are big movers between ages 11 -18 months and don’t have the attention span to sit down and do prolonged activities or watch a show/movie all the way through. Even through age 2-2.5 my children have struggled to remain entertained by screens or seated activities for long periods of time. I find between ages 1 and 2 to be the most hands-on and difficult age to travel with kids. Sometimes a layover can help break up a really long trip. The layover can give the child an opportunity to toddle around with less limitations and give the parent a mental break.
Older kids, on the other hand, are able to stay entertained longer. Because they don’t get a lot of screen time at home, I find that by the time my kids are preschoolers, they are pretty happy to binge on age-appropriate movies and shows. There are also a lot more entertainment options at this age. The Yoto mini goes with us everywhere now for screen-free entertainment. My kids love to color. Play games. The list goes on.
Even the experience of just being on the plane going somewhere exciting goes a long way with my older children. They get excited about meals on long-haul flights. Receiving their little meal trays and choosing a special drink. Meals eat up a good hour or more of those longer flights. For this reason, traveling with older kids pulls me more toward nonstop flights. We get there quicker and there isn’t a strong enough reason to break up the day and risk missing a connection.
3. Potty training
Flying with a potty training child adds some extra challenges. Especially when flying indirect. Each time you land and take off, there is solid chunk of time (usually longer than 30 minutes) when the child will not be able to get up from their seat to use the restroom. And if you are rushing to the gate to board your second flight, but your child needs to go, that could be an issue. Many kids aren’t exactly quick on the toilet. If I am weighing the pros and cons of flying nonstop or indirect, potty training will usually be a mark in favor of nonstop.
4. Time of day of the flight
When flying overnight, I will always choose to fly nonstop. Landing at 5:00 or 6:00 am after a night of little-to-no sleep and waiting for a couple hours while exhausted with overtired littles to catch the last leg home is not fun. I way prefer to just push through on one longer redeye stretch. Hopefully my children are sleeping or at least resting in their seats and I am not having to manage meltdowns while waiting for a connection at an airport gate.
If the flight is a really long one in the middle of the day, however, choosing to fly indirect can work well. We once took a flight to Hawaii as follows: ~2 hour flight to Los Angeles (LAX) in the morning. Landed, stretched our legs, and ate lunch. Then got on a 5.5 hour flight from LA to Hawaii that took off at nap time. As we took off, my kids fell asleep, and slept for the first couple hours of the second flight.
This worked out great. Trying to get a kid to turn off their seatback screen and take a nap half-way through a flight isn’t always easy. Letting the rumble of the plane taking off rock them to sleep really helps. This is true for flights that leave at nap time and bedtime. Breaking up the travel day can sometimes help with naps and gives kids an opportunity to stretch their legs a bit partway through. Some airports even have play areas where kids can run around for a bit.
5. Pregnancy
For me, being pregnant is a strong reason to fly nonstop. If I will have help lugging carseats and strollers down the jet bridge (gate checking), carrying bags, and carrying children, then I might be convinced to fly indirect while pregnant. But flying with kids without the company of another adult while pregnant is a different game. Each time you board and deplane, you have to haul stuff (kids, bags, strollers, etc.). Hustling with all that from one gate to the another while pregnant in the case of a tight connection sounds very unappealing. And if the connection is tight, the idea of a missed connection and hauling bags to a hotel definitely sounds more daunting to me when I am pregnant.
For those reasons, I would fly direct whenever possible when pregnant.
6. Flying to Europe?
When I can, I choose nonstop flights to Europe over indirect flights. I do this based on experience. Flying direct makes it so much easier to manage jet lag. Typically when we fly direct to Europe, we land in the morning, have the day to sort of massage out the time difference and sleep deficit with an early long nap on the go or a couple short naps on the go. The adults push through. When everyone is dead tired, we head to bed for an early, but not crazy early, bedtime.
Layovers make it so much harder. You may land at the first stop very early in the morning, then have a layover and the second leg takes you into the afternoon. By the time you arrive at your destination it is too late to offer your children a nap without messing up bedtime. Or sometimes, you arrive quite late, closer to bedtime. My kids never like landing somewhere just to go to bed right away. Everyone is wired and excited to be at the destination so the wind-down for bedtime can be a struggle.
Now when we are going somewhere with no direct flight options, we will (time permitting) usually opt to take a direct flight to Europe, even if it is not our final destination. We will spend a day or two exploring that first stop, before flying or taking a train at a convenient time to the final destination.
I hope you find these considerations helpful. For more tips on flying solo with young kids, check out this post. For more more help selecting flights, check out my post Choosing Flights for Babies and Toddlers.
