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best airport to stop over for a few hours with children?


sevenseas

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Hi, I'm trying to decide which airline to go with. Will be flying with a 9 and 7-year old so ideally would like somewhere they could run around/play for a bit. Pricewise, we are probably looking at Malaysia Airlines or BA/Quantas, though Singapore might be an option. Also, not sure if the timing would work out - best not to arrive there middle of the night or we will be irritating lots of sleepy travellers :biggrin: (will probably depart Heathrow at 9-10pm).

 

Does anyone know these airports well enough to tell me which might be the best one to go through?

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Singapore is a much nicer airport and less hassle then Bangkok. Can't help with KL as I've never been through it - but Singapore is a pretty safe bet

 

Don't worry about timing. These airports are major hubs and are busy at all times with people travelling, planes in and out all the time and so on. You won't be disturbuing anyone

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Guest Shell15

We love Singapore air, we pack our swimmers and make full use of the roof top swimming pool; Very refreshing and the kids love it!

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I would say Singapore we did man-Dubai-Singapore last month, Dubai was to busy & offered nothing for the kids where as singapore had playarea & outside garden where you can get drinks & ice creams.

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Sounds like Singapore is favourite but prices for their flights tend to be higher. Have you considered Hong Kong? Has very large open spaces, lots of shops, food, some things to see but admitedly not much for kids. You'll arrive early evening, then take a late evening/night flight to Aus. If all else fails, go for a ride up and down the length of the terminal via the internal train a few times :smile:

http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/passenger/attractions-at-hkia/attractions-at-hkia.html

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sevenseas, where are you flying to? getting a direct flight (only the one stop - no domestic flight on the end of it) is probably more important than which airport you fly through (though singapore wins hands down for me, especially as the flight times to/from adelaide generally mean I have to spend several hours in the transit airport)

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Hi, thank you for all *your responses. We will be flying to Sydney. I'm thinking of just stopping off for a few hours rather than a whole day as I generally prefer to get the flight over and done with but it has been a few years since I last did a long-haul flight and the girls are bigger now.

 

An outdoor garden/play area would probably be ideal - I will have a look at the website for Singapore airport. The BA/Quantas flight stops there for just under 3 hours so probably not long enough to go swimming.

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Singapore gets my vote every time for a few hours stopover with kids. They have everything, cinema, pool, play areas, showers and massage, outdoor areas and so on. We only ever go through there when we travel to Aus now.

 

We take the night flight from Heathrow, land in Singapore around their tea time, have a few hours on the ground to let son run riot and for us to shower, use the internet and relax. Then back on board for the next leg to Aus, landing around 7am :) Works for us.

 

And you'd be surprised how long 3 hours is in transit ;) You should have time to go take a dip if you want it. IIRC they provide towels so you'll only need swimsuits. Check the Singapore airport website as it has all the info you could want on the place.

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I'd suggest as short of a layover as possible. We flew with a 2, 4 and 9 year old. Went from San Antonio, TX to Los Angeles, CA....one hour layover...which was about right to switch terminals. On to Sydney from there. Kids never knew what hit them...no down time to realize they had to get back on a 16 hour flight and they crashed pretty much as soon as we got in the air.

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Hi there, I'm with AaronS on this. I've travelled with the kids 5 times to Perth and back, and the way I see it is as long as we're on the plane we're getting closer to our destination. I pay what I have to pay to get the best flight times for us, including as little layover as possible. I leave Dublin mid afternoon, then leave the next european destination around 10pm... this ensures that the kids sleep the longest part of the journey. My exerience (and mine are 5 & 3) is less time in airports the better, they have very little patience for walking around when they want to be asleep (again this could be just the ages of mine).

 

However, KL is very small, great to change gates as its in the shape of a cross (can't get lost), a few shops, but nothing to go crazy over, there's a toy shop the kids have killed a couple of hours in there, gets very boring very quickly there though, so have a short change over at KL! Singapore is great, but huge, defo my favourite, loads of play areas for the kids, loads of shops etc. I flew Cathay pacific, once and never again, the plane was so old, and service very poor, and I cant remember the airport!

 

Anyhow, good luck!

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Hi, I'm trying to decide which airline to go with. Will be flying with a 9 and 7-year old so ideally would like somewhere they could run around/play for a bit. Pricewise, we are probably looking at Malaysia Airlines or BA/Quantas, though Singapore might be an option. Also, not sure if the timing would work out - best not to arrive there middle of the night or we will be irritating lots of sleepy travellers :biggrin: (will probably depart Heathrow at 9-10pm).

 

Does anyone know these airports well enough to tell me which might be the best one to go through?

 

 

Hi, haven't done the flight yet but just booked ours from Heathrow to Sydney. We have 3 kids 10,7 & 3. We have gone for the 3.5 hr layover. Leaving lhr ar 20.25. My hopes are that they will be knackered and sleep a good 8 hrs on the flight ( they did last year on a long haul flight) .....Wake up have some food watch a DVD. When we get to Singapore I'm hoping to take them for a swim get a shower then back on the flight. Fingers crossed it will all go to plan!! And with any luck they will sleep a bit on the 2nd leg and land early morning in Sydney.

Looking at Singapore airport it looks fab on the net

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We went to KL NEVER AGAIN! we have 4 kids 2 to 11 and there is nothing to do there at all. Lots of shops and that is it. Did not think much of Malaysia Airline. They was going to sit us all over the plane and we had pre booked sits. We are going BA next time in to Singapore ( four weeks )

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I'd suggest as short of a layover as possible. We flew with a 2, 4 and 9 year old. Went from San Antonio, TX to Los Angeles, CA....one hour layover...which was about right to switch terminals. On to Sydney from there. Kids never knew what hit them...no down time to realize they had to get back on a 16 hour flight and they crashed pretty much as soon as we got in the air.

 

That`s what we are planning to do. There are direct flights now from Dallas to Brisbane, it`s an overnight flight so I hope kids are gonna be OK :err:.

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