No-frills carriers ‘least child friendly’
Virgin Atlantic has been voted as the top child-friendly airline, closely followed by rival British Airways.
The airline came top in a poll carried out by guidebook publishers Rough Guides with 36% voting Virgin the most child-friendly airline, followed by BA with 32%
But budget airlines fared miserably with easyJet and Ryanair picking up just 8% of the vote between them (6% and 2% respectively).
The survey, conducted to coincide with the publication of The Rough Guide to Travel with Babies and Young Children, also revealed that parents greatest worry when travelling with children was packing and carrying everything they need.
With both no-frills carriers charging passengers per item of luggage with strict weight limits, travelling on them with children can be far less of a ‘budget’ option.
Fawzia Rasheed de Francisco, author of the book, suggests the airline families choose can make all the difference to the journey.
She said: “Aside from baggage restrictions, budget airlines tend to be allocated inconvenient gates in airports, involving walking long distances, negotiating stairs and buses etc – tough going with small children.
“There’s also the fact that budget airlines make it hard, if not impossible, to change plans without buying new tickets; when you factor the cost implications for a whole family, the so-called budget tickets can work out to be more expensive in the long run.”
Nearly half of respondents said their children have travelled far more extensively than they had at the same age, though 22% consider travelling with children ‘Hell on Earth’.
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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