Flying MEL - FCO (Rome) with a Family

[Ncik]

Hi all,

Long time reader, second time poster (apart from my intro many years ago).
This post really needs to be in Flight Search Assistance thread but my post count isn't high enough and I can't bear to just make 9 random posts to get the count up!

I hope some one can help?

I was just about to book return MEL - FCO flights with my wife and our 3.5 yr old and 1yr old kids with Etihad, we'd chosen Etihad purely because the departure, stopover and arrival times seem most suitable to flying with our kids (i.e. bulk of the main flight MEL-AUH at night).

I've now been reading reviews and it sounds like Etihad, like milk on a hot day, is a bad choice. Qatar and Emirates both fly the A380 along this route but Emirates leaves MEL at 5am and that dep time is just not possible with tiny kids and Qatar's return flight has a 6hr stop over but on second thoughts, maybe thats OK?... Webjet has now timed out on me so many times I'm kind of starting to loose my mind. I've even tried a travel agent but he also wasn't a lot of help.

I'd happily pay some cash to any members willing to help me with their tips for the best flight options if the Admins would be kind enough to move this post into the 'Flight Search Assistance' thread for me please?
Dep MEL - FCO ~7/5/19. Return FCO - MEL ~8/7/19. Flexible to move dep/return dates by up to a week if it helps. Rough budget is around 5k for 3 tickets + 1yr old on lap. Economy

Perhaps I just need someone to tell me I'm overthinking this and being fussy and flying with kids is going to be hell regardless so I just need to book with Etihad and move on?

Thanks!

Nick.

 

[jakeseven7]

Look Etihad are average.

Are they in the group of world leading airlines? Nope. They used to be a lot better before all the terrible investments hit them back and they had to start cutting costs.

Are they as good as Qatar and Emirates? Definitely not.

With kids does it really matter that much? I’m not sure it does. It’s going to be tough on any airline! And economy? I’d just try and get the hellish journey over with as quickly as possible....

 

[Mattg]

Etihad may not be quite as good as the other Middle Eastern carriers, but they're certainly not bad! If they have the best price and flight times, I would book with them. (If you want, you can even credit all the points & status credits to Velocity and use family pooling to earn some meaningful Velocity status from the trip.)

If you really want a hassle-free experience (as far as this is possible with kids) and good connection times, Singapore Airlines is the way to go. But that would be around $6,000 for all of you.

Otherwise, there are options with Emirates that don't require using the 5am departure out of Melbourne. The 5am flight is the cheapest, but if you take the 6pm departure via Singapore it's only ~$10 more per passenger. Taking the evening flight direct to DXB is more expensive but not overly so. E.g.:

 

[Must...Fly!]

I would not let the reviews stop you taking EY, that's my personal opinion. The service is just fine - it's not amazing but it's fine.

The flying nanny on EY is still a thing and they'll (allegedly) help you out with the little one if required.

The A380 is better than the 787 but with 2 little tackers in-tow, there is no way I would throw an extra stop in to the mix just to get it.

 

[andye]

It's been four years since we flew to Rome on EY with 4 children but we had no problems with the flights. The AUH-FCO-AUH legs were on Alitalia metal-their seats were really quite good and the flight was only half full.