Before kids, when I booked my travel itinerary I didn’t care what time the flight was, I just found the absolute cheapest ticket. Those days are long gone. I can’t stress enough at what a difference it makes when you try to purchase your air travel within your child’s schedule. Especially for the young ones. Avoid at all costs an overnight flight. You may say to yourself, ah overnight flight they will sleep. Sure they probably will, but will you? Imagine showing up to your different time zone location with a rested child and all you want to do is take a little nap. Not to mention the big possibility of arriving and them still wanting to sleep while you gather all your gear and have to go through long lines at customs. No fun my friends, I’ve done it. I try my best to avoid the super early morning flights as well since it means having to wake up at 3am to get ready and to make it to the airport on time. It can be very handy to be flying during nap time if you can get your little ones to comply. They stay rested and you get a little break. I realize that those ideal travel times really make a difference on your wallet, but there is a middle ground. Do your research and you will find it, I assure you. You can usually find them when you go directly to the specific airline site. I usually do an overall search first through a site like kayak or bestfares to find who flies and general prices, then I go to the airline. It will most likely be a little bit more expensive than the cheapest flight, but what you gain in your over all experience is well worth it.
