But I thought it was the captain who decided on the seat belt sign, not the cabin staff. If he puts it on they have no option but to enforce it. Otherwise they and the airline could wind up in trouble. I would've thought they should have asked the captain to make an in flight announcement explaining why the light had to be kept on for 11 hours. Certainly deserved an explanation.
Wow Nil, 11 hours without a chance to take a leak is tough going.
I had my son alone with me on a few flights to and from Tokyo when he was 3 months old, 1 year old and also at 2 year old ... and sorry to say this, but it's really all about mentality. If you spend the days up to talking about how horribly it may be, it will be horrible
Also, it's not a day to do child raising and "laying down the law" - be flexible, play, extra snacks, favorite movies (the iPad is an amazing tool these days) - make it fun, read stories etc
I often see parents at planes going "cant do that, noo cant do that either, sit still" etc, and 11 hours in a seat where you cant do nothing is not fun for anyone.
And as mentioned, you get the royal service at airports, driven around in the golf carts, express lanes at immigrations, free lounges etc - it's great
I thought so too. But when I began to walk with my daughter, she told us that the captain just asked her to put the seatbelt light on (It was on for the last 9 hours already). When I told her that, she gave the ''I will tell him that we have to do an emergency landing''. Riiiight!
Everytime someone was going to the bathroom, she told them to rush, if we wanted to go in the back for some water, she will tell us to go back in our seats, etc. I asked the crew in the flight back and they never experience a flight where people most stay in their seat at all time for 11 hours. The staff on our flight back were very nice and so helpful.
PS: the pilot did anounce once the seatbelt, in 11 hours.
Before our trip, we bought a DVD player good for 9 hours battery! A life savor! We use it in restaurants as well as when I have to go to the doctor outside her playgroup hours, it gives me a chance to have a proper conversation with my doctor.
Hi
I flew to Brisbane from London alone with my then 16 month old Son and I thought I had thought of everything but there are some good tips on here!
I definitely recommend bringing a change of clothes for yourself as my Son was sick on me and the rucksack I had packed only had stuff for him so that wasn't nice at all!
I would suggest buying small cheap 'pocket money' toys that they haven't seen before and stagger bringing them out, don't show all your cards at once! Aqua draws or drawing things they can wipe clean are a good idea so are stickers. Now my Son is older I would definitely bring our portable dvd player or whatever your kids are into like ipads or ds, psp etc.
One mistake I made was flying to Singapore during the night and then leaving to Brisbane during the day, which was my Son's 'awake' time. Next time I will spend more time in Singapore, go out for the afternoon and then catch another night time flight so hopefully they sleep most of the journey!
I would probably also look into buying some sort of little sleeping bag like a snuggle sac so they can sleep comfortably sitting up!
Just make sure they drink lots of water to keep hydrated, sweeties for the ear popping which is only really an issue when decending encourage sleep when needed and lots of things to play with. Apart from that (and your own sanity) regular walks in the aisle and allowing them to mix with other kids/babies will be a new experience for them. Calpol if all else fails haha.
Good luck
Another thing: when it comes to ordering meals you need to be careful. With Singapore Air, the special meal for children almost always came with chocolate, sweets and even ice cream. I tried sneaking them off the tray before my daughter could see (for my husband and I to eat later, of course) but that wasn't always possible. Over a 24 hour period it's a lot of chocolate...
Having said that, I would always choose to fly with them, although they have recently changed their departure time from Zürich to Australia, which then changes the arrival time in Singapore to a much less child friendly time.
Hi,
my advice: bring a car seat for at least one of the small ones! My crawling-fanatic baby did not understand 'stay put' on my lap, but strapped in his car seat he got the message: can't move - won't move
Superb!
Dried fruits can be nice too, like dried mango pieces.. but it'll depends on how much your kids like to eat.. Once you have some candy, they'll want
more and more all the time.
By the way we were on US airlines too and had an old plane with no benefits for families. And the staff were almost ready for retirement as well and moreover: unmotivated and unfriendly, boohoo.
Computergames: Perfect!!
Do you have a Barbapapa game or just the videos? Not in English I suppose?
Have a safe trip!!
We flew to New Zealand when our son was about 19 months, we also flew Singapore airlines and like everyone else would thoroughly recommend them. Things we found helped:
- having a couple of days at the halfway point, I think we slept 2 nights in Singapore on the way out and one on the way back, which gave our bodies a bit more chance to adjust to the time zone change
- getting our son his own seat even though he wasn't old enough to sit in it for take-off and landing! So he had somewhere to wriggle other than our laps.
- walking as much as possible in the airport to get off energy. I know the buggies and VIP treatment are nice, but it's worth considering whether your child(ren) really need to be sitting down more between flights, if you're not actually in a hurry to get to the next gate. I guess this will be different for different kids/parents.
- we got our son a book about aeroplanes. It wasn't his first flight by any means but it was the first where he had some sort of understanding of what was going on. We got the Usborne Beginners book called Planes, but any book that explains a bit about what is happening behind the scenes, in the control tower/cockpit and so on, with plenty of pictures to talk about, would be good. That was his favourite book for years afterwards!
- we ignored the "children board first" thing. It makes more sense to me to keep the kids off the plane for as long as possible! they're going to be there long enough as it is. Zurich airport has a lovely children's play area - actually several, but a particularly nice one in the long-haul terminal as I remember, with space for feeding your baby, changing nappies, games for all ages, etc.
Otherwise what everyone else said - taking turns with who has what child and so on. We had raisins for take off and landing. And maybe take ear plugs for the older children? We found that snacks came round so often they woke our little one up frequently with the rustling of packets.
And I also found that going into it with the expectation of not sleeping on the flights worked very well. Then any sleep you/they do get is a bonus.
Have a great trip!
Some tips flying from ZRH on Singapore airlines:
- if you think that you would need assistance through your transit in Singapore (especially when you have more young kids than adults) once your ticket is booked, call them up and ask for special assistance. Someone will meet you and help carry with your carry-ons, etc., and accompany you all the way to your next flight while transiting Singapore.
- do use the family rooms either near the A gates or at the E gates in Zurich. Lots of toys to keep the kids entertained while waiting for the flight, having checked in early. This is a great service in ZRH which is not available in SIN!
- if you booked a seat for the infant, then you can bring your car seat. If you didn't bring your car seat, you can't leave your infant in there when the seatbelt lights are on - it would be against regulations (infant's belt must be strapped to an adult's belt, if the infant is not in a carseat).
- bassinet on Singapore airlines maybe ok until about 18 months. After that I would say that it is too small. Check with the airlines! The Swiss ones are ok until about 12 months I hear.
- the bassinet area on the airplanes tend to be cold and drafty. You yourself would need a hoodie! You can always ask them to turn the AC down a bit.
- try to sit upstairs in economy class on the A380. There is a storage box next to the pair of seats by the windows which is very useful for keeping all your stuff.
- ipod/iphone (maybe ipad) can be charged using your normal USB cable on the A380. If flying to BNE or PER on the A330, you can even watch stuff from your ipod on the screen on the back seat!
- ask them to serve you meals according to your time. They will save your choice of meal for you. Doesn't always work though... (I understand that they tend to defrost all the meals at the same time, so there could be issues with keeping stuff fresh for you).
- Children's meal don't look healthy at all to me, as mentioned above. If your kids are ok eating what you eat already, I would not bother.
- if you don't mind breaking the journey, the transit hotel in Singapore Changi airport is good value. Around CHF60 for a block of 4 hours. Chance to catch up on some sleep / wash up if you are arriving at 6am in SIN. The swimming pool (part of the hotel), is great to freshen up!
Good luck!!
Take some children's headphones with you.
The ones on the planes are normally too big and keep falling off -which means you, as a parent, keep getting interrupted when you could be having a hour or so of peace whilst your children are distracted by a film.
Good headphones made for children will have a loudness limiter which should protect their hearing.
And, forget all the good intentions you normally have. If they are happy to watch films all day - don't worry -it will keep them entertained, won't annoy the other passengers and will keep you sane.
i hope you're not flying coach. it is simply unicivilized to fly more than 3 hours unless you're at least in business class.
I agree to some extent but if you're travelling with loads of hand luggage it's good to get on first so you can get the most convenient places for all your stuff so it's easy to reach during the journey.
Hi,
Wasn't there a guy who wrote a lengthy - and quite amusing - post about taking his 3 kids solo on a longhaul flight. It had a lot of good tips - I tried searching but beggered if I can find it.
Cheers,
Nick
Axman, do you know if we can use the pool if we aren't staying? I have a 3.5 hour stopover and a swim would be a dream! Do I need my own towel?
To the rest: Going back to Brissie soon with my now 7.5yr old. It's her fourth trip and she only started sitting still last trip. Otherwise it was a lot of walking and about 4 hours sleep for the whole haul. As I more or less expected it, it wasn't a problem. I also thought of drugging her but found out she is one of those rare species that react to sleeping medication with a bout of hyperactivity - typical!
In the end I have to agree that if you go in worried it will all go south, so stay cool; Singapore airline is JUST the best. I leave ZH late in the evening so daughter gets some sleep, we get to Singapore just in time for a well needed leg stretch and back down under in time to start a new day.
I flew Emirates last time and wasn't so convinced. compared to Singapore it's airport sucked as there was NOTHING to do and everything was sooooo expensive. Plus the flight time break up left us exhausted at the other end. Back to singapore this time.
For general tips; take a bag of fishies, a packet of teeth friendly chewing gum ( for take of and landing and an in between teeth treat), carrot sticks, grapes. Pack a pillow, a blanket and a favourite cuddly toy. My daughter hates the kids meals (but then she has a very diverse palette of food that most kid her age don't have) so I don't order that.
When you are in limbo there is no sticking to times, so don't worry about when is dinner time, when is bed time. At the end of the day use the plane time to break them of that habit so they adjust better when they get down under.
And here's a new one - no matter what food stuffs you take with you, be prepared to leave it all behind because Oz don't allow anything in - and that includes the baby's half bottle of milk!
And of course we all have the deep pockets to finance such a sensible alternative!
Free for hotel guests. Otherwise it is about Fr.10, but you get a drink and a towel too. I always pack my swimmers if I have a 2 hour layover. For the same price, you can opt for the gym instead, but I like the pool... nice to be outdoors and not in the airconditioned airport.
Just found it:
I've been on Singapore air where my stuff was removed to another place to accomodate a family with kids with loads of luggage. Slightly inconvenient for me, but happy to do it for the family (or was it the great smile from the Singapore Girl when she asked....).
So I wouldn't really worry about this.
Although I once flew with Air Berlin and I saw a family in front of me getting a lecture for being in the back of the queue because the staff still needed time to tag their strollers, and then on the plane another lecture from another crew because infant seatbelts had to be handed out and additional safety procedures explained which would have preferably been done much earlier and not when they are rushing to ready the plane for departure.
I thought Air Berlin was great until then...
Definitely if you need to have strollers tagged and stuff then you want to do that a bit sooner but on the other hand you don't all have to get in at the same time perhaps. (And you don't want to keep the plane waiting either, naturally). It's just worth bearing in mind that you don't *have* to board first just because they provide that service.
Also I seem to remember that we had bulkhead seats one way and found the extra leg room handy as small boy could lie down there to sleep if he wanted. (Too big for a bassinet, alas) I don't remember it being particularly cold but I'm always cold in planes anyway and haven't flown in the new big ones.
Are there additional safety procedure when you have kids then? No one's ever told us any! (Just the ones that are on the card in the back of the seat, and the extra seat belt).
It is worth taking the day room 6hr about 60Sing$, just to get the kids away from all the excitement and stimulation of flying, pool is a great option they supply towels and showers for 10Sing$, to Australia with kids I will never fly with anyone but Singapore Airlines, it a shame they use the A380 now it doesn't give you the flexability of the old 2 flights a day. Take no notice of check in lines go straight to business class or first class to get on quick, normally they are really accomodating for families. Preorder special meals they come out first, take all the chips, nuts and water you can get, if the youngun gets hungry the sooner they are fed treated the sooner they will settle, it is only 24hr it won't kill them for a day to eat trash. Too much tv sometimes doesn't help so I put on the flight path screen and make up stories about where we are, What is in Oman daddy?, well they have easter 4 times a year but no chocolate, I wouldn't like Oman daddy!! Politically correct parenting has no place on planes, what works for you is correct!!