jsnearline

Given how long the flights are to HKG, are there any real differences when it comes to flying with kids? One thing I think of is that they might end up missing dinner on a late evening departure if they fall asleep too quickly.

The other issue I have with a nighttime departure is that if we have to check out of our hotel in LA by noon and our hotel in HKG is not ready until two in the afternoon, that's a long time to be out and about in both cities with no place to rest.

From my other post, you can probably tell I already bought our tickets. I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth paying the change fee to get the daytime flight.

hiima

What class are you flying? I'm gonna guess Y. If you miss meal service, you can ask if they have any left over when you wake up and eat it then or eat the snacks they have on offer, the snacks are usually decent, something like noodles. As for arriving in HK at what I'm pretty sure is the butt crack of dawn, it'll take you an hour or 2 to get your bags and get into the city and did I forget to mention CX is notorious for delays from LAX to HK. I'll say you'll arrive in the city at around 9 or 10 in the morning at the earliest. If there are no rooms ready at your hotel, you can certainly leave your bags with the bellhop and venture a little or relax on a lobby couch. Certainly won't be able to get a lot of sleep, but it's doable.

lionelhutz

In my experience (many trips with 3 kids from ages 2-6 from HKG to Australia and Europe) night is definitely the way to go when on long haul with children. Being small, they generally have no trouble sleeping in airline seats and if you're lucky they'll sleep the whole way (after the initial excitement of being on a plane subsides). You may not sleep a wink, but you being tired at your destination is preferable to your kids being tired.

By contrast, day flights are hour after endless hour of the kids needing to be entertained, fed, watered, wanting to run up the aisle to business class, annoying other passengers, etc. Doubly so if your kids are too young to be interested in the in-flight entertainment system (about 2 years old). Your sleep cycles may be less interrupted but you'll be psychologically scarred.

Of course, depending on your kids, your mileage may vary!

jsnearline

We did a night flight once before. We flew to YVR in the morning, got a room at the Fairmont YVR for the afternoon, ate dinner and got our flight to MNL that night. That worked out OK because once we got to the Philippines, there were relatives there to entertain our son while mommy and I caught up on rest.

My concern this time is what to do after checking out of our hotel in LA and before we check in to our hotel in Hong Kong. It will be almost a day and a half between showers and a change of clothes. I pity the reception staff at our hotel in HKG.

cxfan1960

I and my family like night flights because we can make full use of day hours on both sides, but your situation is different. We have homes on both sides of the ocean. You may consider asking for late checkout or pay half-day for a room (if possible) instead of paying change fees for everybody in your group.

For dinner, if you like, you can wake them up. Not too many people like to eat "dinner" at 1:30-2:00 am anyway. I skip dinner 80% of the time (only have ice cream ) and eat snacks during the flight instead.

cxfan1960

I don't know if the FAs are allowed to serve meals later as they have been heated up already, but snacks are usually OK, and you can have snacks until about 3 hours before landing.

jsnearline

Does CX still offer noodles as an option for in flight snacks? If so, that could be quite helpful.

hiima

I remember they did before but not completely sure about anymore.

JohnGreat

My two cents.... I must stress I have no kids experience but these are based on what I obvious and heard...

Definitely night flight. CX will not serve food again if you missed the 'standard' distribution, even in Business class. There are snacks or cup noodles, of course better snacks if you fly Business and if not too much trouble bring your own food that we will eat. If the kids can sleep during the flight or at least half the flight, excellent as it is their bedtime anyway. If they wake up, they can play games or watch movies for a few hours.

If day flight, they are fully awake and hard for them to fall asleep for a good half of the flight. And they will keep asking you... "Are we there yet?" like every 30 mins. Before landing they will be so exhausted and sleeping that you need to drag them off the plane

Honkygal

I'm with cxfan1960, change the hotel arrangements not the flights.