Traveling with children can be a rewarding experience, but it also presents unique challenges. In today’s post we’re going to tackle one of the more daunting aspects of family travel, especially for single parents: surviving a red-eye flight with kids.
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What is A Red-Eye Flight?
In commercial air travel speak, a red-eye flight is one in which you depart for your destination in the evening and land in the morning, usually without enough flight-time to catch a good night’s rest, hence red bloodshot eyes.
If you’re planning to fly to Europe, or other points east from the U.S.A., you’re almost certainly going to take a red-eye flight.
Why Are Red-Eye Flights Different With Kids?
While no one loves flying a red-eye, they’re particularly tricky with kids, who are much more sensitive to changes in routines and rhythms.
I don’t know of any young children that can withstand minimal sleep at night and still operate like a reasonable human being the next day. Do you? This is why it’s important that we, as parents, plan ahead.
How To Pick The Right Red-Eye Flight For Your Family
We can’t escape the inherent misery that comes along with taking a red-eye flight with kids, but with careful planning we can minimize the amount of disruption that they will experience during the trip.
Picking The Right Red-Eye Flight With Kids Requires Planning
As I said above, a successful red-eye flight with kids is all about minimizing disruptions to their routines. Thankfully, most kids I know, especially the younger ones, tend to go to sleep between 7 and 9 PM, a great leg up for a red-eye adventure.
As a parent flying with kids, your number 1 job is to minimize disruptions to their routine. While I will provide some guidelines, I recommend you spend some time thinking about your family’s nightly routine. What do you do to get your child physically ready for bed? When do they go to bed? What helps them sleep best at home?
The more you can replicate this when you’re flying with kids the more successful you’ll be in your family travel pursuits.
Guide To Picking The Right Red-Eye Flight When Flying With Kids
Picking the right departure time for your family’s schedule is part art and part science. Red-eye flight departure times, leg lengths, and layovers are all key considerations for a successful trip and vary by origin and destination, so you will have to do a little bit of research here on your intended destination and options.
Book a non-stop red-eye flight if you’re flying with children. If at all possible, try and book a non-stop flight, regardless of the departure time.
A non-stop flight is the best option if you’re flying with children because it minimizes your time navigating airport lines, queues, and gates. A non-stop flight eliminates seating shuffles and the painful takeoff/landing processes that can hurt little ears, and finally, a non-stop flight allows your child to get the maximum amount of undisturbed sleep time.
No, it’s not always possible, especially if your destination is quite far away, but this should be your fist bid if it is possible from your origin location.
If you can’t book a non-stop flight when flying with children on a red-eye journey, align your child’s routine with the longest leg of the journey.
If you’re flying from the U.S. to Europe, the longest leg of your journey will most likely start in the afternoon/evening with a layover in the morning.
When this is the case, you want to book the departure time as close to your child’s bedtime as possible because it will align with their natural rhythm of sleep and will provide them with more in-air hours to get comfortable enough to sleep because they will have time to get used to the sounds, smells, and noise of the plane, and while you’ll be landing early the next morning, 5-7 AM isn’t a horribly unusual breakfast time for kids.
If you’re taking an even longer journey, it can pay to have a layover gap between landing at your Europe hub and the next leg of your flight. Many modern airports now have showers, lounges, and guest areas that can allow you and your family to freshen themselves up, have a nice breakfast, and mentally prepare themselves for the next jump.
Picking The Right Seats For Your Red-Eye Flight With Kids
Once you’ve decided on a departure time for your family’s red-eye flight it’s time to think through your seating plans. You can not expect another passenger to give up the seat they specifically paid to reserve just because you’re flying with children.
Call me a monster for saying it, but if recent news has taught us anything it’s this: if you want to be seated by you children when you’re flying for family travel, you need to pay the extra cost to pick your seat assignments.
It’s not fair to your kids, it’s not fair to flight attendants, and it’s not fair to other passengers for you to skip out on this step and just expect it to work out once you’re on the plane.
Flying First Class With Kids
Are Kids Allowed To Fly In First Class?
When it comes flying with children internationally, especially on a red-eye flight with kids, I refuse to fly anything other than first class. Yes, it is expensive. Yes, I will postpone that vacation for however many years until I can save up enough points to do it.
Flying first class with children, especially taking a first class red-eye flight with kids is 100% worth it, and yes, kids are allowed to fly in first class.
I won’t lie to you, if you’re flying in first class with children you are sure to get some side-eye, especially if you’re a single parent flying with children in first class. I don’t know why, it seems like some sort of classist nonsense, and I don’t really care. You can do it.
The reason that I refuse to fly in economy when flying with children internationally is because of the seats. Most new international flights have lay-flat seating in first class, and that’s an absolute game changer if you’re taking a red-eye flight with kids.
They get sleep. I get sleep. 0 meltdowns from either side. That is the ultimate win-win-win. No one flies first class domestically, and if I go overseas for work I’ll fly economy myself, but with kids in tow it’s first class or nothing.
Another benefit to flying first class is the seating arrangements, which often come in a 2-1-2 arrangement. This allows me to sit next to my youngest with my oldest sitting alone in either the seat in front of us or behind us, which allows me to monitor and help along the journey.
Flying On A Red-Eye Flight With Kids In Economy
There are many things that I love about flying with my two young children in economy right now, the biggest is how small they are. I have two children and that means that we book an entire row as a family and that gives us a wide range of flexibility in seating.
While I usually sit in the middle seat, if I were taking a red-eye flight with kids I would likely opt for the window seat, with my tallest being next to me in the middle and the youngest being in the isle. I’ve found this configuration to be beneficial even on our shorter but early morning rides because when the kids fall asleep they tend to lean towards me and this ensures no one is too smooshed.
The other benefit to booking an entire row is being able to manage nap trade-offs. If you’re in the middle seat on a red-eye flight with your kids, you can recline the seat to get some rest and let the kids each take turns sleeping in your lap for some extra space.
Family Travel Tips: Remember To Prioritize Your Sleep As Well When Taking A Red-Eye Flight With Kids
I know that as parents we’re not used to prioritizing ourselves, but remember: a well rested parent is a more patient, loving, and capable parent. If you’re going to plan on international family travel that involves flying with kids you have to be your best self for them to be their best selves.
Creating The Right Environment For Children On A Red-Eye Flight
You’ve picked your departure time. You’ve settled on a seating strategy, picked your class, and booked your seats. Now what?
When taking a red-eye flight with kids, it’s important to keep their routines. Yes, I’ve mentioned this before, it’s still true here. Here’s where we really get into your specific family’s nightly routine and how to maximize that for family travel.
If your family is like mine, our routine follows a similar pattern –
- Get in PJs
- Brush teeth and wash face
- Read a book
- Hugs and kisses
- Lights out
Replicating this on an airplane that’s full of strangers, with an unfamiliar environment, constant noise, and pressure changes is no small task, but we do have a few tips that you can try out on your next adventure.
How To Make A Child Comfortable Enough To Sleep On A Red-Eye Flight
To create an environment where children want to sleep when flying with kids you’ll need to replicate your going to bed routine.
- Pack a toothbrush and toothpaste, pack a pair of pjs, and pack their favorite book and stuffed animal/trinket in their carry-on. This is going to allow you to “start” your bedtime routine once you’re in the air and safe to move about the cabin.
Once it’s safe, remove your child’s PJs, toothbrush, toothpaste, and face cloth (I actually prefer baby wipes) from their carry-on bags and escort them to the bathroom. Have them get changed, brush their teeth, and wash their face, just like they would at home.
When they’re done, escort them back to your seats. Put away their dirty clothes, toiletries, and other products in their carry-on luggage, and pull out their books, stuffed animal, and/or a blanket from home.
Read their book to them, give them their stuffy, and give them any blankets or pillows to get comfy. When flying with kids, it’s more about maintaining the routine than being a perfect parent and as long as they have these special artifacts at hand they’re going to feel much more comfortable. - Use aides to block out the noise and sounds of the plane. Once you’re done reading to your child and they’re ready to settle down for some rest, it can be helpful to offer them some sound cancelling or stimulating alternatives to the whooooooooseeeee of the plane.
I recommend that all parents pack an appropriately sized set of ear plugs and a sleeping mask for their children in their child’s carry-on luggage. This way when you’re done reading your book they can fully tune out on the activity around them.
If your child usually sleeps with a noise machine at home, consider downloading a static noise generator app on your phone. - Smell Like Home: Our sense of smell has a powerful impact on how we perceive our environment. One tactic I use with my littlest one is to wash whatever stuffed animal he’s bringing on our trip the day before we leave, so it will smell like home.
Smell has a powerful impact on our bodies ability to self-regulate comfort and familiarity, and when you’re flying with kids, bringing something that smells like home is one of my top family travel tips to create a comfortable environment for rest.
None of us will ever sleep as well on a plane as we do in our own familiar beds, but with these tips you can give your child the structure, continuity, routine, and comfort they need to make the most of taking a red-eye flight with kids and surviving the flight.
All that’s left is to stick the landing….
Reaching Your Destination After Taking A Red-Eye Flight With Kids
Anytime you’re flying with kids you have to remind yourself that the journey isn’t over until they’re in the pool, or at least that’s how it goes with my crew. Whereas we, as adults, might simply be happy stepping foot on foreign soil, the same is not true for children.
What you need to realize about flying with kids is that the journey doesn’t end for them when they grab their luggage off the rack, and this is particularly, PAINFULLY true if you’re taking a red-eye flight with kids, where it’s early in the morning and everyone is tired.
You need to have a plan here. My best advice for families flying with kids is to pre-book a ride to their hotel in advance of landing. If you’re taking a red-eye flight with kids be aware: most hotels have specific check in hours that aren’t friendly to red-eye flights and flying with kids in general.
Family Travel Tips: When traveling internationally, book your hotel room for one day before you plan to arrive. My first time flying to Europe I ended up sleeping in a conference room at my workplace because I didn’t realize that my hotel wasn’t going to let me check in until 2 PM local time.
It was a stupid mistake, I know. It’s also one that I won’t ever repeat, especially when I’m flying with kids. While booking a room a day early will mean incurring an additional nightly charge, it’s well worth it at 9am local time when you’ve been awake all night and everyone wants breakfast, a shower, and a nap. Trust me.
In Conclusion
Red-Eye flights are a fact of life if you want to explore the world, and while flying with kids will always be somewhat difficult, these family travel tips will eliminate 90% of the mistakes that you might make when flying with your kids for the first time.
From picking the right flights, the right seating arrangements, creating the right environment to maintain your child’s normal routine, and having a solid plan for your family’s arrival, we’ve given you everything you need to make your family’s next red-eye flight with kids a smashing success.
Until next time!