Originally Posted by
hopingtofly
Thanks so much for the insight everyone! Special thanks for letting me know about the play area It'sHip2B!
To answer cestmoi123's questions:
- Kids are 16, 14, 12, 5 and 2
- Only adult is me
- Expected gear would include carry-ons for everyone minus the two year old. Planning to check luggage so carry-ons will most likely be backpacks with snacks/stuff for the journey. We'll have a booster for at least the two year old, and I'm debating about bringing an umbrella stroller (leaning toward it for now).
I'm a widow, and my big kids are awesome about helping out with the little ones so I am not too worried about the kid to parent ratio here. We've traveled regionally before and everything has gone smoothly in terms of everyone stepping up to help out. But this is the first time flying with the kids and definitely the most ambitious trip I've planned for us.
I think at this point, I'll look for something that gives us at least two hours to connect.
While 50 mins is still pretty snug, the ages of your kids make it doable. You've got at least three that are functionally (in terms of being able to haul their stuff and understand "we gotta move") adults, and if they're happy to help with the younger two, then I'd go for it.
One other point - if you don't make the flight, AA will accommodate you on a later flight, but you probably won't all be sitting next to each other. They'll definitely get a pair so the 2 year old isn't sitting alone, and probably make sure that the 5 year old has someone with him/her, but the older kids are probably going to be scattered through the cabin. If that's a no-go for you, you should take it into account.
Bottom line, while the ages of the kids make this feasible, if there's an option to have 1.5-2 hours of connection time, would certainly be simpler.