https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 12 Apr 2026 06:44:00 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729940 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 13:29:19 +0000 78h2o 2729940@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I also really like flying Southwest with kids. I don't consider it a lesser airline. In fact, it's easier to get an extra seat for a lap child on SW than on an airline with predetermined seating. So maybe since you are flying with a little one I'd go with the direct flight. With toddlers, I think a break is better. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729939 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 13:27:42 +0000 78h2o 2729939@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I have done this a bunch of times and I actually really prefer a stop somewhere in the middle. Otherwise, it's 4.5-6 hrs to fly coast to coast and I generally want to shoot myself. I do fly alone with two under 4 though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729924 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 13:05:24 +0000 agold 2729924@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@littlejoy: @youboots: @LindsayInNY: Let's all plan a trip to hawaii! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729922 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 13:00:31 +0000 LindsayInNY 2729922@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@agold: YES!! Please! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729918 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:55:42 +0000 littlejoy 2729918@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@youboots: Haha. I always say "probably not", but then we end up going. Also, A told me that oceans only exist in Hawaii, and she really wants to do a waterslide with T. :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729915 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:54:45 +0000 youboots 2729915@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@littlejoy: 🌴✈️☀️ 2019? 😂 That's going to be our next HI trip. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729913 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:52:18 +0000 littlejoy 2729913@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@agold: Yes!! @youboots: and I (and our families) have gone twice together in the last two years. The flight attendants are always amazing ... I'm pretty sure they've given us free booze each time, and lots of "Oh my goodness, we understand it can be hard to travel with babies!" :) </p> <p>I love the SW staff too, and am totally weirded out when we get an un-fun crew (rare). One time, we had an all female crew (pilots too), and people clapped when they landed. Like, did they think a plane run by women would crash? Hahaha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729912 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:51:24 +0000 Iced Tea 2729912@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>As a perk of my business credit card, I have access to airport lounges, which makes me more likely to choose two hour layovers. But I think a one hour layover is meaningless since switching planes takes most of that time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729910 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:49:19 +0000 agold 2729910@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@littlejoy: I like Alaska for flights to Hawaii! </p> <p>@LindsayInNY: Just PIT this trip. Next time, we plan to leave baby in PIT and go to new york for a couple of nights! :grin: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729908 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:47:47 +0000 agold 2729908@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@maddyz: @Foodnerd81: @MrsSCB: @peachykeen: @rattles: @MrsKoala: @MrsBeluga: @dolphin: @erinbaderin: @Finfan: @winniebee: @youboots: @travellingbee: @Mrsbells: @littlejoy: Thank you, ALL OF YOU(!!!), for sharing your thoughts on this!! I love that you all seem to love Southwest!! </p> <p>@Foodnerd81: @erinbaderin: The flight times are interesting and I can't even think yet if they are bad or what. Going there - drive to complicated airport 45 minutes away. 5 pm take off and 1245 am arrival. Coming home - 715 am take off and 925 am arrival. What do you think? That is the direct southwest flight. </p> <p>@MrsKoala: What do you mean by mobile? Haha. My LO wants to be mobile. I think her poor little leggies are so chubby that she's not yet crawling. But good point about the layover - maybe a little longer lay over is better than a short one during which we would have to rush!</p> <p>@MrsBeluga: I am wishing us BOTH the best of luck flying with our precious August babies!! Thanks for telling me about what I can bring on to the plane! I might direct message you later about flying with the playpen!</p> <p>@youboots: @Mrsbells: @littlejoy: I have almost always flown Southwest, too. (Sometime Delta because uncle is an airline pilot.) I always feel like cattle on Southwest, though, and wondered how that would be with a baby, but you have all made great great points and tips about flying with a baby on SW. I was thinking that going business class on a Delta flight might be more comfortable. But its just a guess! I don't at all think SW has a bad reputation. I love the SW pilots. And I love when the SW pilots are funny people! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729899 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:36:13 +0000 LindsayInNY 2729899@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I've done both... Having a layover gives you a break, which is nice, but only an hour is tough. What if there's a delay or something? You don't want to be running in the terminal to connect. Is there a big price difference? And where cross country?!? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729811 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 10:53:05 +0000 littlejoy 2729811@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We fly exclusively with Southwest and Alaska ... both are amazing airlines. I love Southwest's staff, boarding process (you board early with kids), on-flight entertainment, and their snack/drink options. Also, I've lost a bag (for 2 days), and they more than compensated me for the inconvenience. Not sure why they would have a bad reputation?? They are awesome. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729794 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 10:33:30 +0000 Mrsbells 2729794@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@agold: what would you consider a better airline? I love southwest they have the most comfortable seats too and you get a checked bag for free </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729771 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 10:02:46 +0000 travellingbee 2729771@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I prefer SW flying with kids over any other airline. I also will only fly direct with my kids unless it is absolutely impossible. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729760 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 09:48:41 +0000 youboots 2729760@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@agold: I really don't think there are many airlines that are significantly 'better' than SW. I've had great experiences with them especially with a kid so we can do early boarding. </p> <p>Direct flight all the way. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729731 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 09:05:57 +0000 winniebee 2729731@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@peachykeen: completely agree! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729729 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 09:05:19 +0000 winniebee 2729729@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Direct - we also always had really good luck on Southwest scoring an extra seat for our kiddo. You can board after A (family boarding). Just head straight to the back of the plane and take 3 seats in a row. You'll be the last person to have someone take that third seat if the plane is full! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729720 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 08:52:33 +0000 Finfan 2729720@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Direct. An hour layover can be really stressful if your first plane takes off late or if the gates are far apart. Not worth it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729693 Thu, 27 Apr 2017 07:57:28 +0000 erinbaderin 2729693@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Definitely direct on a 5 hour flight. Also the upside about a crappy flight time (at least at night) is that the odds are decent that your baby will sleep for a lot of the flight. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729633 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 21:13:27 +0000 MrsBeluga 2729633@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Also as someone mentioned Southwest is open seating and no one will elect to sit with you unless the flight is sold out. We usually end up with a free seat, which, makes me 💜 Southwest even more. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729632 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 21:11:45 +0000 dolphin 2729632@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I prefer direct nonstop always no matter how long the flight is. Too much hassle getting on and off the plane with kids. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729631 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 21:11:22 +0000 MrsBeluga 2729631@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@agold: Hi there! We are flying with our August 2016 baby in June too. Southwest is amazing with babies, you get to bring all your luggage, stroller, car seat, and a playpen for free. Nonstop for sure, it's rough, but IMO it's easier than a layover. Having to go through takeoff/landing and the crying from change in pressure two times sounds miserable for them and for you. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729630 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 21:05:55 +0000 MrsKoala 2729630@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Layover especially if your kid is mobile. I think it gives you a chance to have your kid crawl around and get a bit more tired and then maybe she can nap on the next flight. I'm doing a similar flight with a 3 year old and 8 month old next month and we opted for the 2 hour layover. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729629 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 21:00:10 +0000 rattles 2729629@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I prefer to fly SW with kids, and I think takeoff and landing is the hardest part of flying with them. For me, the direct SW flight would be a no brained. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729628 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 20:58:27 +0000 peachykeen 2729628@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Southwest has been the best to fly with baby for me. I've pretty much always had an entire row to myself. I sit towards the back and pretty much no one is going to deliberately sit next to a baby (even a cute, well-behaved one) :wink: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729619 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 20:36:14 +0000 MrsSCB 2729619@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nonstop for sure! I almost exclusively fly SW anyway, though :-) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729594 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 18:41:40 +0000 Foodnerd81 2729594@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I could be wrong but I though southwest will let babies board early anyway? If you and your SO took a window and an aisle, the odds of someone sitting in that middle seat between you would be almost zero unless it's completely booked. So yeah personally I would go with the direct flight- bonus that it's cheaper!! But the actual flight times might sway me. </p> <p>That said I've only flown SW once so I can't compare the seats. I don't remember them being any worse than other airlines besides jet blue. And I was very pregnant at the time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729586 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 18:20:45 +0000 maddyz 2729586@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For the stop over to not just be crazy with getting everything off the plane and onto another it would make the whole trip so much longer. It's great you have a second set of hands I just did NYC to Seattle with my 5 month old and he was already a handful. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729584 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 18:18:56 +0000 agold 2729584@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PinkElephant: Nope, no status with any other airlines. We would just fork over money for business class (but not first class, darn it.) And I don't really want to pay that amount, but we can if we determine we *need* to. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/cross-country-flight-with-a-baby-direct-or-one-stop#post-2729583 Wed, 26 Apr 2017 18:16:22 +0000 PinkElephant 2729583@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'd say direct, unless you have major status on the other airline and you're likely to get upgraded, a seat blocked for the baby, etc. besides the hassle of changing flights, there's the increased potential for delays/list baggage/etc. with a second flight. </p>