Travelled PER-BNE with a child

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Lawrage

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Hey all,

Wanted to share a recent experience I had with Qantas traveling with my almost 3 year old in Y.

We did a trip PER-BNE, traveling there on Qantas and returning on Virgin.

I normally travel solo or with the wife as I like the quiet / downtime in the air but it was time for a family getaway so the little one came with this time.

Having never flown domestically with her before I was quite nervous on how it would go, would she sit in her chair for the almost 5 hour flight, would she cry / scream and annoy the other passengers.

The flight there turned out to be really good, she sat in the chair, slept, ate and didn't cry at all so I was pretty happy with the outcome. The flight attendant was amazing, he came over and offered her a pillow to sleep on, I asked it they have any blankets and he brought one over, offered her juice and warm milk when we were stretching our legs in the galley. At meal time she got a kids pack with various snacks and a hot meal.

The return flight we took Virgin, I like traveling with them due to the complimentary lounge access but a big mistake on my part this time was not checking as it takes half an hour longer BNE-PER on Virgin than it does on Qantas, no idea why that is but my fault for not checking.

Return flight we sit down, we asked for a pillow / blanket and are told they don't offer that on domestic flights, we got no kids pack and no child meal. We put the little one down for a nap over 2 seats and the wife stood in the back galley and was told she had to go and sit down as she wasn't allowed there.

If I was traveling solo both flights would been about the same but with a child I don't think il fly anything other than Qantas domestically from now on. I am not sure if what we experienced is normal but the overall experience of the two traveling with a child was very different.

Just some info on our experience the other weekend for anyone looking at traveling interstate with small kids.
 
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I think if you took the QF flight back, it would also have a stated flight time of about an hour longer than the flight over
 
I think if you took the QF flight back, it would also have a stated flight time of about an hour longer than the flight over

Oh my bad, BNE-PER on Qantas is 5h15m, Virgin is 5h45m, so 30 mins longer on the way back.
 
I think it may be aircraft dependent, as my quick check showed QF at 5h35
 
Great advice Lawrage. I have only ever flown with QF with my kid(s) whether solo or with Mrs Mick. I just assumed all the add ons you mentioned with QF would be available/offered with VA as well.

Just another reason for my continued loyalty to the Red Roo I suppose!
 
My 2 year old daughter has done well over 50 flights and the past year I've been taking her to Sydney alone as my wife doesn't like the commute.

Her moods, understandably, can be very inconsistent. Early on she used to sleep most of the 1 hour flight and travel was easier. She resented sitting on my lap and wanted her own seat. We were lucky that flight loads were light approaching her 2nd birthday and we had spare seat most times but a couple of recent experiences scare me.

On a recent flight from OOL-SYD the flight was relatively full and no spare seat. She refused to sit on my knee. She was pushing me out of the seat so she could sit there. Impossible to reason with her. Screaming non stop and after takeoff they found a spare seat a few rows back and moved us there.

On another recent flight she was sitting in middle seat and as we were taxiing she decided the dog was going to sit in the seat and she will stand up. She was uncontrollable. I lost my cool. She was screaming and screaming. I sort of forced her to sit in her seat and kept her down. The guy in window seat was great showing her things on his phone but she was in her own world.

Last week's return flights were better and on the way down to OOL she was very huggy. She's starting to understand we leave mummy for a night and she's quite good although towards the end of the 2nd day she misses mum.

I'm a glutton for punishment. We're off to Thailand again in mid-November until end of the year and I'll take her to SYD 3 more times between now and then and keep fingers crossed and pray.
 
My 2 year old daughter has done well over 50 flights and the past year I've been taking her to Sydney alone as my wife doesn't like the commute.

Her moods, understandably, can be very inconsistent. Early on she used to sleep most of the 1 hour flight and travel was easier. She resented sitting on my lap and wanted her own seat. We were lucky that flight loads were light approaching her 2nd birthday and we had spare seat most times but a couple of recent experiences scare me.

On a recent flight from OOL-SYD the flight was relatively full and no spare seat. She refused to sit on my knee. She was pushing me out of the seat so she could sit there. Impossible to reason with her. Screaming non stop and after takeoff they found a spare seat a few rows back and moved us there.

On another recent flight she was sitting in middle seat and as we were taxiing she decided the dog was going to sit in the seat and she will stand up. She was uncontrollable. I lost my cool. She was screaming and screaming. I sort of forced her to sit in her seat and kept her down. The guy in window seat was great showing her things on his phone but she was in her own world.

Last week's return flights were better and on the way down to OOL she was very huggy. She's starting to understand we leave mummy for a night and she's quite good although towards the end of the 2nd day she misses mum.

I'm a glutton for punishment. We're off to Thailand again in mid-November until end of the year and I'll take her to SYD 3 more times between now and then and keep fingers crossed and pray.

You are much braver than me. I am impressed with the amount of traveling you take your daughter on. So she is getting used to the idea of "stay in your seat now"?.

This would be the second flight she has ever been on. we took our daughter on one flight when she was 18 months (PER-MAN) and it was the single worst experience in my life so far. She didn't sleep at all the entire 23 hours. To give you an idea, as we were landing into Manchester we lost it and had to discipline her quite loudly in the cabin and we heard some clapping and giggling from the other passengers. The people in the middle near us got a few compliments from other passengers "Your children are so well behaved" and there we are, me, my wife and my mother who couldn't control 1 child, not a very good feeling. After that I swore off flying with her.

Was very nervous about taking her to Brisbane but after this trip I can finally start including her in our travels.
 
....as we were landing into Manchester we lost it and had to discipline her quite loudly in the cabin and we heard some clapping and giggling from the other passengers. ...

Im sorry some people are like this. Yes, no doubt she made noise and annoyed people but its not like you/she set out that day to make people unhappy. My thoughts are kids cry to communicate and she was also unhappy/routine displaced, its not like you can keep them in a box at home for the first 6yrs of their life before you can leave the house.
 
You are much braver than me. I am impressed with the amount of traveling you take your daughter on. So she is getting used to the idea of "stay in your seat now"?.
One of her first words was "Sit there". She says it when she wants to sit somewhere or wants you to sit somewhere. I ask her to "Sit there" if she has not already done so herself.

We've had some nightmare long haul flights with her. I remember one time she fell asleep about 1 hour from arrival and then continued to sleep when we disembarked. Our first long haul as a family she couldn't sleep at all.

Kids are adorable and passengers around her are usually understanding and she loves the interaction. She is getting better and better.
 
This on news .com . au today: Mum told it’s ‘unacceptable’ for baby to cry mid-flight

Parents claim the UA flight attendant berrated them after the baby had been crying for five minutes.

The parents say at that point - after five minutes of crying - they picked him up out of the bassinet. Hard to know what to make of it. I guess other passengers may not understand, and perhaps look at something like this and wonder why the parents didn't pick their son up earlier to try and comfort him.
 
Sometimes parents know the bub will cry themselves to sleep, maybe that explains why there were giving Bub the 5mins but often overtired = inconsolable meltdown.
 
My 2 year old daughter has done well over 50 flights and the past year I've been taking her to Sydney alone as my wife doesn't like the commute.

Her moods, understandably, can be very inconsistent. Early on she used to sleep most of the 1 hour flight and travel was easier. She resented sitting on my lap and wanted her own seat. We were lucky that flight loads were light approaching her 2nd birthday and we had spare seat most times but a couple of recent experiences scare me.

On a recent flight from OOL-SYD the flight was relatively full and no spare seat. She refused to sit on my knee. She was pushing me out of the seat so she could sit there. Impossible to reason with her. Screaming non stop and after takeoff they found a spare seat a few rows back and moved us there.

On another recent flight she was sitting in middle seat and as we were taxiing she decided the dog was going to sit in the seat and she will stand up. She was uncontrollable. I lost my cool. She was screaming and screaming. I sort of forced her to sit in her seat and kept her down. The guy in window seat was great showing her things on his phone but she was in her own world.

Last week's return flights were better and on the way down to OOL she was very huggy. She's starting to understand we leave mummy for a night and she's quite good although towards the end of the 2nd day she misses mum.

I'm a glutton for punishment. We're off to Thailand again in mid-November until end of the year and I'll take her to SYD 3 more times between now and then and keep fingers crossed and pray.
We need a 'Hero' button I think to respond to JohnK's and Lawrage's posts. Having done a few trips with MissK when she was 18 months up to later years I can sympathise with you both. MasterK, a few years older just used to sleep all the time.
It's interesting how people react on a plane when a child cries or asks lots of questions in a loud voice - I divide them up into those who have kids and those who don't. If I'm in the same seat row I'm more than happy to help out as I know how stressful it can be. If a child is crying, I zone out as it's not my kid (NMK).
 
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Im sorry some people are like this. Yes, no doubt she made noise and annoyed people but its not like you/she set out that day to make people unhappy. My thoughts are kids cry to communicate and she was also unhappy/routine displaced, its not like you can keep them in a box at home for the first 6yrs of their life before you can leave the house.

Some people are like that when they too have not slept for 23 hours. The fact that Lawrage "lost it" as they approached Manchester probably reflected tiredness and or frustration on his part. Why is not ok for the other several dozen people seated nearby to feel the same way? Tiredness can do that to you.
 
Some people are like that when they too have not slept for 23 hours. The fact that Lawrage "lost it" as they approached Manchester probably reflected tiredness and or frustration on his part. Why is not ok for the other several dozen people seated nearby to feel the same way? Tiredness can do that to you.

They can feel the same way but a bunch of adults cheering and applauding an obviously upset child being disciplined just makes you an ahole. Would the crowd prefer a good old fashion child slapping to feel better about themselves?
 
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They can feel the same way but a bunch of adults cheering and applauding an obviously upset child being disciplined just makes you an ahole. Would the crowd prefer a good old fashion child slapping to feel better about themselves?

You're pretty quick to label others an "ahole" when you have no idea if their behaviour was out of line in the particular circumstances of this flight. You presumably weren't there and have only heard the point of view of Lawrage. I'm not saying his view is wrong just that there is perhaps another point of view. The reaction of the other passengers would indicate to me that they thought not enough was being done to calm the child down. Most people who travel have seen this in practice.
 
You're pretty quick to label others an "ahole" when you have no idea if their behaviour was out of line in the particular circumstances of this flight. You presumably weren't there and have only heard the point of view of Lawrage. I'm not saying his view is wrong just that there is perhaps another point of view. The reaction of the other passengers would indicate to me that they thought not enough was being done to calm the child down. Most people who travel have seen this in practice.
Im not a parent, Im know there were times in the past that I didnt enjoy a crying and/or screaming child but to actually applaud an adult losing control and disciplining a child, even verbally and possibly physcically, makes you an ahole.

I had a moment last month at a hotel where I said something loudly that upset a kid, even if the parents were not parenting how I would like, it still made me an ahole for upsetting a child for being a kid and even though the father and I disagreed on what his kid did, the kid didnt deserve being scared. (ie, child at hotel buffett sneezing into food and I loudly reacted with a "oh, come on!").

I get it, its ruins your peace and enjoyment but to actually cheer a crying/overtired child being disciplined is not good. I didnt always think this way but I guess Ive evolved.
 
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