British Airways is celebrating being named Best Family Friendly Airline* out of 20 international airlines, looking at how easy they make the travel experience for families.
As well as sitting families together for free, British Airways was praised for offering families pre-boarding, giving children their own free checked luggage allowance, plus a free allowance for a pushchair and car seat, complimentary special kids meals on longer flights, special children’s in-flight entertainment and free carrycots and baby seats onboard flights.
To help further ease the stress of family travel, this summer British Airways introduced a permanent family check-in zone and security lane at its hub at Heathrow Terminal 5, which has so far been enjoyed by 150,000 customers.
Tom Stevens, British Airways’ Head of Customer at Heathrow, said: “We know how daunting the experience of flying with children can be, and all the extra stress that comes with it. We’re delighted with the great feedback we’ve been hearing from families who are really pleased with the changes we’ve made to make their journeys more exciting and less stressful from start to finish.”
Throughout the season British Airways has been handing out water and ice-creams, storybooks and cartoon boarding passes to children in the family zone to get their holiday off to an extra special start.
Other perks for families travelling with British Airways include:
- Travelling with children under two-years-old? Reserve seats for the whole group for free, at the time of booking
- Travelling with children under 12-years old? British Airways guarantees children under 12 will always be seated with an adult from their group
- Cartoon boarding passes invite families to board their flight ahead of other customers, enabling them to settle into their seats and stow their luggage
- Children enjoy the same baggage allowance as adults
- It’s free to check-in a fully-collapsible pushchair and a car seat
- Carrycots and child seats are provided for infants, subject to availability
- Kids receive Skyflyer activity packs on long-haul flights and there’s a dedicated Skyflyer Kids’ Zone on the airline’s in-flight entertainment system
- Kids eat before adults with the airline’s Feed Kids First programme
- Pushchairs are now delivered back to the aircraft door at a number of airports
- Kids Fly Free – this summer the airline once again offered free flights for children under 12 travelling with a full paying adult on journeys between Heathrow and Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Leeds, Newcastle and Belfast.
- More information on family travel can be found here.