Everyone loves a long-haul flight… right? Well, not really. But flying is a necessary evil of the travelling family. If you’re tackling the globe on a budget like we do, those flights are often unavoidably long, usually packed with a few cheap-flight stopovers!
One of our longest flights was during our early days of family travel—a trip to Bali when Will was just 5 months old. Despite our absolute trepidation (which was matched by the anxious faces of our fellow passengers), the flight went like clockwork. Our only real issue? Getting Ben to sleep because he was just too excited!
As the boys have grown, our travel style has changed, but the goal remains the same: getting to the other side with our sanity intact. Whether you are flying with a toddler or a tech-obsessed young teen, preparation is everything.
Here is our ultimate guide to surviving a long-haul flight for every stage of your next family adventure.
Part 1: The Booking & Airport Strategy (All Ages)
Call the Airline Ahead of Time
Before you fly, contact the airline to let them know you’re travelling with kids and ask what assistance they offer. Because this is long-haul, you’re less likely to be on a bare-bones budget airline, meaning they often have great perks. On our flight to Bali, it was only because we called ahead that the airline offered us a free hotel for our stopover in Brunei!
The Best Seating Setup
While more airlines are starting to charge to select seats, we find a bit of polite insistence with customer service pre-flight goes a long way.
For a family of four, our absolute favourite setup is three seats on the window side and one seat directly across the aisle (e.g., seats A, B, C, and D). This gives you a self-contained row to handle the chaos, but also lets one parent take a breather to watch a movie while the other keeps an eye on the kids. Alternatively, taking a middle row of four gives you plenty of space, easy toilet access, and means you disturb fewer passengers.
The Pre-Flight Airport Burnout
Never head straight to the boarding gate the second it’s announced. Find an empty gate or a quiet corner of the terminal with a bit of space about an hour before boarding. For the under 10s, let them literally run around, do jumping jacks, and burn off physical energy. For the teenagers, make them walk laps of the terminal with you. The more energy they expand before sitting in a tight metal tube for 10 hours, the easier they will settle when the seatbelt sign goes on.
The Pre-Passport Toilet Stop
You never know how long the immigration queue is going to be, and some airports don’t have toilets before the passport desks. Make the whole family do a quick toilet stop the moment you step off the plane to avoid being caught short.
Take a Breath on the Other Side
Once you clear customs, don’t rush straight out into the arrivals hall. Step to the side in the calm of the terminal, put your bags down, take a breath, and get yourself organized. Depending on where your family adventure has taken you, the exit doors can be a chaotic free-for-all of taxi touts and crowds. Keeping your wits about you in a calm headspace ensures you won’t get ripped off or pickpocketed.
Part 2: Flying with Under 10s (The High-Maintenance Years)
When the kids are small, survival is all about distraction, containment, and military-grade organization.
Request a Bassinet & Pre-Book Kid Meals
If your child is under one and under the weight limit, request a bassinet seat. Your baby can sleep in a dedicated cot at the front of the section, giving you extra legroom and no passengers in front of you to annoy.
Also, make sure to pre-book child-friendly meals online (normally at no extra cost). We’ve walked away with high-quality cuddly toys, lunch boxes, and colouring books. Plus, the food is incredibly kid-friendly—usually pasta or chicken nuggets and chips (which always go down well, especially if Dad gets the leftovers).
Streamline Your Hand Luggage
Avoid the airport security stress of digging through five different bags for liquids while the kids pull on your legs. Put all liquids (including milk and Calpol) into clear plastic bags before you leave for the airport and keep them at the very top of your main carry-on.
Let the kids pack a small bag under your supervision (include coloring books and sticker books), but do not let them open their bags until they are physically on the flight. Best-case scenario if you do? A mad scramble to repack at the gate. Worst-case scenario? A lost teddy, and absolutely no one wants that.Secret Weapon: The “Wrap Game”
Secret Weapon: The “Wrap Game”
If you want to keep a toddler or young child quiet for hours, go to a discount shop before your trip and buy 4 or 5 cheap, simple toys (think a new matchbox car, a tiny pack of Duplo, or a fresh notebook). Wrap each one up in multiple layers of cheap wrapping paper. Kids love unwrapping things! The sheer process of tearing the paper takes time, and the novelty of a brand-new toy keeps them engaged way longer than the old toys they brought from home. Hand them one every few hours as a reward for good behaviour.
Don’t Rely Solely on the Plane TVs
While long-haul flights have great onboard entertainment, young kids have short attention spans. The screens can be a fiddle to navigate, meaning they’ll constantly ask you to change the show, only to get bored a few hours in. Ben didn’t start using the onboard TV properly until he was seven! Our saving grace has always been cheap tablets loaded with their favourites from Netflix and Amazon Prime, plus a few simple offline games.
Tiny Details That Save Your Lap
- Empty Drinks Bottles: Take empty Sippy cups through customs, then ask the flight attendants to fill them with juice on board. This keeps them hydrated and prevents a full cup of juice from flying onto your lap when a tiny foot kicks the tray table.
- Baby Wipes: Even if your kids are fully out of nappies, these are non-negotiable. John constantly calls them the best invention ever.
- The “Ziploc Compression” Hack: When you pack those emergency spare clothes, put each person’s complete change of clothes (shirt, trousers, underwear, socks) into a large, clear gallon Ziploc bag, squeeze the air out, and seal it. If a spill happens at 30,000 feet, you grab the one bag with their name on it, head to the toilet, change them, and use that airtight Ziploc to seal away the wet, dirty clothes so they don’t smell up your carry-on!
Part 3: Flying with 10 to 14-Year-Olds (The Tween & Teen Era)
As they cross into the double digits and head towards 14, the physical demands of flying decrease, but the mental battle begins. They don’t need you to wipe their noses anymore, but they do need a different kind of management.
The Great Tech Audit
By this age, tablets and smartphones are life. But don’t assume they’ve prepared properly. A day before the flight, enforce a “Tech Audit.” Make sure they have actually downloaded their Spotify playlists, podcasts, and offline episodes of their favourite shows.
- The Ultimate Upgrade: Invest in a decent pair of noise-cancelling headphones for them. It helps them block out the plane noise to sleep, and honestly, it stops you from having to listen to the tinny audio of whatever game they are playing.
- Power is Currency: A flat battery equals a grumpy teenager. Make sure they are responsible for bringing their own fully charged power bank in their carry-on.
Force the “Jet Lag Adjustment”
Teenagers are notorious for sleeping at weird hours anyway, but bad jet lag can completely ruin the first few days of a family adventure. The second you step onto the plane, change the clocks on their phones to the destination time zone. If it’s night time where you are heading, force them to put an eye mask on and turn off the screens, even if they aren’t tired yet. If it’s daytime at the destination, they must stay awake. Managing their sleep schedule on the flight saves you days of grumpy mornings later.
Snack Packs (Teenage Appetites are Real)
Airlines are getting stingier with snacks, and a growing 13-year-old boy can clear an airline meal in about thirty seconds flat and still claim he’s starving. Give them their own stash of more substantial snacks—protein bars, beef jerky, or dried fruit. Keep the chewy sweets for take-off and landing to help their ears pop.
Screen Breaks & Leg Stretching
Tweens and teens will happily stare at a screen for 11 hours straight, get off the plane with a massive screen headache, and be completely miserable. Enforce a rule: after every movie or couple of hours of gaming, the screens go off. Make them stand up, walk the aisles, stretch their legs, and drink a proper bottle of water.
Give Them a Job & Respect Their Space
The best way to keep older kids engaged is to give them some responsibility. Let them be in charge of navigating the airport signs to find the correct gate, or have them handle the digital boarding passes on their phones.
And finally, if they want to just put their headphones on and ignore the rest of the family for a few hours, let them. A long-haul flight is a test of patience for everyone, and a little bit of teenage independence on board makes for a much smoother flight overall.
Relax, You’re on Holiday!
Whether you’re dealing with a toddler blowout or a teenage eye-roll, things can and will go a bit wrong on a long-haul flight. The best thing you can do is accept it, stay calm, and remember: this is just the journey to the start of an awesome family holiday!
