SIN to EDI/GLA/ABZ at Xmas - with 2 young kids (1 and 3) - best sanity option?

[TheScotsman]

A recent debate with wife, anyone experienced or got an opinion?
This will be my first flight with 2 kids (who will be 1 and 3 at Xmas) other than short trip SIN to HKT

Anyway is it better to fly 11pm SIN to LHR (˜13 hours) + then (˜1hr) to Scotland?
[swap LHR with any of FRA/CDG/AMS for similar scenario]
or (˜7hr) SIN to DXB then (˜7hr) to GLA?
All other things being equal, which is best - if they sleep on first flight we'd rather not wake them until London but if they go crazy a stop would be good?

NB not keen on any medication - but welcome the discussion for benefit of others.

Specifics:
EDI/GLA and ABX are all much the same if it means flight convenience/price/sanity.
Dates proposed are Fri 21 Dec (after 5pm, got to work) and depart Sat 5th Jan (to be back at work on Monday 9am), again flexible

My current status:
BA - Blue member, 100000 points (I used to do travel from LHR)
Qantas - Silver 316000 points ( I used to do travel from MEL)
Emirates - Blue 20000 points (I'm now in SIN and when it's personal they're usually cheapest by far)

 

[medhead]

I did SYD -LHR-GLA in May with Qantas/BA. I'd recommend avoiding LHR. I found the transfer bus queue to be long and packed. Do-able, but not pleasant with young children IMO. Of course, if you have lounge access with a particular airline or group of airlines it would be worthwhile sticking with that, as the benefits would outweigh a dodgy transfer experience in LHR.


Sent from the Throne

 

[TheScotsman]

I did SYD -LHR-GLA in May with Qantas/BA. I'd recommend avoiding LHR. ...


Sent from the Throne

That's what I said to the wife - I'll tell her you said so too. My parents went T5 recently and said it wasn't too bad but that you could easily miss the bus amidst the chaos.

 

[medhead]

I had to wait for 3 buses before I got onto one.The line for buses T3 to T5 was snaking around and also up to the top of the stairs. It wasn't disorderly, but I wouldn't want to deal with it with young children and all the associated gear.

 

[Moody]

I haven't had a bad experience at LHR transit wise (lounge dragons and terminal closures are another matter) but have heard some horror stories. If you are on the one PNR and presumably flying BA to the north then I would just meet the MCT and see what happens. In any case I think one long and one short flight will be easier then 2 medium ones, as far as getting the kids to have some rest. In a 7 hour flight you would be lucky to get 4 hours sleep, and trying to do that twice is a long-shot.

Will miss/master 1 have a seat? If so I would investigate bringing your car seat for them, and if they are travelling as an infant then perhaps bring it for the 3 year-old. I found that the first time we took our kids long haul (SYD - LHR) having miss 2 in her normal car seat was a god-send.

 

[docjames]

Tackling this from "what would we do travelling with minidoc" angle

- the transit at LHR is less important than the flight timings.

An 11pm departure is after minidocs bedtime - presumably he'll be asleep in the lounge beforehand. Carry onto the plane, and then try and get him re-settled. Expected "normal" sleep for him is until 5-6am, expect a "discount" on an aircraft. So actually the 7hr flight works well - arrival is ~ his wake up time (body clock wise). He then gets 1-2hrs in DXB to go nuts / eat / burn off energy / be non-restrained. I dont really fancy that halfway to the UK whilst contrained in an aircraft. The second leg will then be timed so he will probably achieve his "midday naP" - a couple of hours sleep (again, probably discounted to ~1-1.5hrs). Without the run around / energy expenditure, he wont be great, and then we risk him falling asleep just as we arrive in LHR, then we score another flight, again simialr restraint issues.


Funny, thinking it out. We'd go for the 7+7 all else being equal, but before I worked out the timings, I would have gone for the one long flight. You could consider a stopover in DXB too - but may not be worht it.

So I think factor in how well your children sleep, what your expectations are of how they will cope, and how the flights fit with their normal routine.