Red Eye Flight with Kids - What Was Your Experience

When our son turned 4, we started taking a red-eye flight for our yearly vacation (total of 3 times). We had a short flight first that put us into Denver around normal bedtime. We then get him to curl up on the floor at the airport with his blanket and fall asleep. We just carry him onto the plane, buckle him in and he sleeps the whole way. The flight out of Denver left at midnight and put us at our destination around 6:30am at which point we had to wake him for customs/immigration. He was groggy but in a good mood because we were at our destination.

DS was younger (18 months) when we took the red eye from Seattle to Pittsburgh. He was sleepy but not too bad in the airport (I think our flight was about 10-11 pm) and slept the whole flight. It was one of the easiest we have taken with him. We flew CA to PA last year (he was 4), both daytime flights and it is a long flight for a kid.

I guess it depends on your children. My kids DO sleep during travel (car, plane, whatever) so red eyes that last all night and we get up in the morning are the best for us! Especially if traveling overseas. But I don't know about interrupting their sleep a couple hours in for a short flight. That might be a mistake......my boys can settled down and go to sleep on a plane, but waking them in the middle of the night is not the easiest (or happiest) thing in the world to do. If it's not overseas or all night long, I'd prefer to take a flight that they may be awake part of the time on, and then they can get a proper, uninterrupted night's sleep when we get to the hotel.

We left at 1am something from San Francisco, to Houston at 6am ish, to Chicago at 10am. The kids were 10 months, 3, 6, and 12. I had the most difficulty with myself adjusting and my 12 yo. THe baby slept and was fine. THe girls slept after we got into the air. My 12 yo was too psyched on the plane at O-dark thirty to calm himself, but he had his Gameboy and books.

In Chicago, the girls were so busy and everything was so new they did't have time to get cranky. THe baby was fine, my oldest had Grandpa. But when we got home, they all fell apart. We had some major after Thanksgiving meltdowns. It was also for only 5 days that we were gone. When I go home and stay for most of the summer the kids can cope a bit better. Plus the vacation is not just one big party.

My son had his Gameboy and books.
The girls had books and crayons, coloring books and their little dolls.
The baby, his teething toys and such.
Now that I think about it, we may have given my 3 yo and the baby Benadryl.