Auckland to London... with a toddler

Ahh yay this has given me lots of good tips for when i go to the UK next year with B Im wanting to stop in Thailand for a bit though to stop and see my Brother and neice. Sounds like im going to go with Emirates or Singapore!

Ive never travelled long distance before, so excuse the dumb question, lol, but when you stop (in bangkok), are you able to stay for longer than just a few hours? Like maybe a day? Cause id love to be able to spend a bit more than a couple of hours with my neice (plus, a friend of my sister in laws family does awesome tats and i want to get one. lol. My bro got a massive one for about 80bux it took 6 hours and over here would have cost him about 600)

 

My mum and aunty always use AirNZ(coming from or going back to England) and they never seem to have any complaints! Althought they dont have any kids with them hehe.

I've just come back from a trip to Scotland with my 5 1/2 month old.

We booked really late so ended up with Air NZ and Lufthansa via LA on the way there and via Hong Kong on the way back.

AVOID LA AT ALL COSTS even without a child, too much hassle with their security regulations and screening.

Hong Kong was good on the way back, we were able to have a shower and freshen up between flights but my husband and I both said that next time we'll stopover for a night.

As for airlines, Air NZ were great, they really are much better long haul than domestically, much prefer them to Qantas and any of the asian airlines. Lufthansa were AWFUL, offered no help at all and as I travelled on my own with bubs on the way to Scotland I felt really let down by them, at one point when were were clearly being encouraged to sleep bubs was on his awake time and chatting away and playing with his toys, no way was he going to sleep, a stewardess came and asked if I needed any milk to help him sleep!!!

I've flown Air NZ and SIngapore Airlines via Singapore before (without a baby) and would recommend that route. Haven't flown Emirates so can't comment on them but I have a friend in Australia who flew from Melbourne to Glasgow via Sydney and Dubai with Emirates with an 18month old and she was 6 months preganant too, she said it was too much hassle with all the stops and would rather have taken a more direct route with less stops.

Even if you don't stopover for a night or whatever both Hong Kong and SIngapore have shower facilities so you can freshen up, well worth it just to get into an fresh set of clothes really!!

I have a question for anyone on this subject, how do I get my baby over jetlag - he's sleeping lots during the day and awake all night since we got back on Sunday!!!!! he's still on UK time, gonna try getting back to our old routine today and see if that helps but any advice much appreciated....

*sigh* We've booked with AirNZ & Lufthansa for Xmas. It was the cheapest fare we could get. I'll expect and prepare for the worst on the Lufthansa flight.

Thanks BooBoo, this was exactly the thread I wanted!

Sally, we're in the process of working it out at the moment - will let you know when we get confirmation, hopefully early next week.

Tishy, I hope the flight goes well and that Lufthansa get their act together for you. Having bassinets is great, but how big are the girls? Bassinets on planes usually only take up to 10kgs, so hopefully they'll be well under that.

We got Singapore Air! We have a layover in Singapore for about 18 hours at a really nice hotel, and the Singapore to London leg is on an A380! Cooooool...

Coooool! We Singapore, such good food! Singapore Airlines is a great airline.
Awesome you'll be on an A380!!

The girls are 7kgs now so should be alright I'd say.

Singapore Airlines are great and I love their food. Well as much as you can love airline food.

Oh that's great information about the bassinets Lou. The girls will definitely fit those

What date are you flying? We leave Dec 17th. Maybe you can let me know how your trip goes before we head off

If I remember correctly you're going through Hong Kong? We're flying the other direction.