MattEvan

Does anyone have recent experience with Singapore on the ULR flights NYC <—> SIN with young children (5-7) in J?

We usually route to SE Asia with ANA or JL and they take amazing care our little one. JPN fares are insane right now, but there are some interesting SQ flight deals for discounted business.

Keen to hear any tips or advice. Cheers.

NetJets Germany

Have flown this route several times with my young daughters (younger than yours), both in PE and J.

in short, it’s been delightful. Cabin crew have always been very nice and supportive. The length of the flight does not feel longer to us than a 12h flight, and they normally do catch at least 8-10 hours of sleep during the flight, too.

While normally we try to depart in the evening on shorter flights (10-14h) so that they are tired and sleep during most of the flight, in the case of the SIN-NYC we found that due to the longer length it makes no real difference. If anything, the daytime departures are less disruptive to the normal sleep schedule than the evening ones.

MattEvan

Thank you kindly NetJets Germany

jagmeets

Just did SQ21 in J with not quite 4yo twins - without mommy’s expert handling.

A last minute rebooking had us in seats 11D (me) & 26DF (kids). Thankfully there was an open seat near the kids for me to occupy (I did go back to 11D, which the crew kept for me, to nap given that’s one of the only 8 seats where a back sleeper taller than ~170cm can fit- although that cabin was noisier than the one with more kids!).

Fabulous crew who more than made up for a clueless dad! Just brilliant, well above & beyond- and this, coming from someone who finds fault with anything SQ at the slightest opportunity (yes of course, a note is being sent!). They even graciously offered to have a harried looking me, stay put in 11D & not have to deal with the kids till we got to SIN.

Rebooking meant no child meals were loaded, but the regular meals worked very fine (ours are fine if there’s rice/noodles and some protein). I ate after the kids/main service were done.

Kids’ regular schedule in NY has a 630ish wake up, ~90mins nap mid afternoon and lights out ~2030.
Worked with that and flipped to a longer than NY nap length at SG night hours and a shorter than night sleep during NY night hours.

Had them a bit more tired than usual (buildup via airport/plane talk- something they like , +kept engaged excitedly plane spotting from EWR B etc). This, coupled with a heavy first meal (post take off) made for a solid 3.5hr nap around SG night time (~1400ET/~2-545 SG time).

Way more than (otherwise) healthy screen time and a steady stream of snacks, juices & Milo (thankfully they eat ok) kept them reasonably engaged till the second meal, which got us till a bit after their NY night sleep time (~11).

The only real ‘extra’ I did was to wake them up a bit more than 3hrs out of SG, when most of the cabin was asleep. Took a bit of work, but ended up all ok and by the look of it, helped with the jetlag.

They slept well through the night post arrival in SG, save for 1 chatty wake up (but slept back easily enough). Plan had been to keep them up and about during the day today, but the weather’s put paid to that.

Do think that 21’s schedule works better in helping manage jetlag (& 24’s on the way back, which we did last year, following a roughly similar plan). We’re back on travelling CX for the way back- so have to figure that one out (they were clueless infants the last time they did a transit at HKG).



To the extent possible, be on the same aisle- significantly lesser work…

MattEvan

Tremendous advice jagmeets

We will depart EWR and return JFK.

KOTAR1988

Flew SIN - JFK last week. Mother and father had 4 children, one who was an infant in Premium Economy. I don't know why people insist on bringing children on such long flights. The entire 18 hours and 30 minute flight, the 3 older children were running up and down the aisles of the plane continuously with no chagrin from the parents and the parents walked the infant back to the rear of the aircraft every 30 minutes or so, even during turbulence. Needless to say, couldn't sleep one wink because the kids were continually bumping into everyone and using the armrest as a "quasi" jungle jim. Although, the flight attendants were aware, they were helpless to not offend the family. I just don't get the lack of respect for others anymore. I know, I'm a BAD person for bringing this up.

jagmeets

You’re not a bad person, let alone a BAD one.

Can’t excuse the parents- so you should write in..or possibly, cut the parents some slack…

Perhaps, life situations lead to a place where the parents have no choice but to travel, let alone ‘insist’? Or maybe not- kids were paid for, adults were paid for..hey ho- you got noisy energetic kids rather than noisy adults..tough luck! and I’ve seen more than my fair share of noisy adults..

And when with kids, a bias towards nonstops tends to build in. Like,I flew SQ when I could have taken the (for me, much preferred) CX option that I had a ticket on.

On my flight, the 3 kids in the larger J cabin were a lot quieter than some of other passengers (and definitely quieter than the smaller cabin infront). My boys’ very loud (yeah, they are), 2 sentence chat, during descent, seemingly about what they could see or not from DF (I could not see them), was at a lower decibel than what 25A’s phone conversation was at. Yes, phone conversation, just before touchdown.

(funny how times change and I find myself on the other side of the argument! )

Cambo

I wasn't there, though, let me guess: The parents did guardian their kids perfectly when leaving home, during the trip to the airport, at the airport, during boarding and take-off. And after a couple of hours of nannying, the parents started losing control, simply because their kids accumulated energy and gave up. The energy you watched the kids dissipating, playing monkey, hide-and-seek, etc, on the airplane.

Difficult to comprehend, parents don't wear out their children, all the way until on the airplane. and from then on, the kids will be tired and quiet. Let the kids play hide-and-seek at the airport, let them run around at the airport, etc. And then, on the airplane, they are tired and quiet.

NetJets Germany

Speak for yourself.

i have seen plenty of parents who cared enough to at least try to keep their children under control on an aircraft.

The worst cases of children onboard are not when the children are noisy or unruly, it is when the parents don’t care enough to at least try and comfort, soothe or distract them. And I say this as a father of two young children who fly with me and my wife long-haul in Y, PE and J.

hardworking21

Perhaps I'm old school (though only early 30s, so not terribly old) ... but if I was running around screaming, treating the plane like a jungle gym, etc., my parents would've given me a good spankin' after, as they were big "spare the rod, spoil the child" people.

Not saying physical punishments are the answer per se, but I think parents have to do a much better job at teaching their children there are consequences for behaving like this, and not letting them disrespect others - whether that's Y, PE, or J. Too many just give a half-hearted attempt and then shrug their shoulders with a "we tried" look on their face.

Cambo

I do, my kids are ADHD types, though perfectly behaving when needed (and they listen when I tell them to be quiet). I give them all opportunities to let them steam off before they need to be quiet for a long time.

Yep, a lot of kids are able to do so (be quiet for a long time), though there are situations this is not in the kid(s), simply due to their chemical/brain situation (and I speak from experience).

Yep, not all kids are equal and sometimes the parents just gave up controlling the kids, simply because they lack the knowledge/capabilities to manage their kids' behavior over the whole trip.

Oh, I never (physically) punish my kids. When they don't listen, I withhold from them the nice/extra things they want to have (in a fair way) and I compliment them when they do well. Works perfectly. Though, that's maybe because I am a little older than most parents ......

Cambo

No need for spanking, this is just psychology. And, indeed, that's something many parents don't have in their bag of capabilities. Only, once they raised the kids, they know how to do......