British Airways has always had a great reputation for outstanding customer experience. When it comes to travelling with the family, they take it very seriously. Infants not only have the same hand baggage allowance as an adult but they also allow you to take 2 additional items from the following list free of charge:
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fully-collapsible pushchair (stroller)
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car or booster seat
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travel cot
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baby back carrier
Young travellers can also join in the fun by downloading their own Skyflyer luggage tag which they can colour in and stick to their bags.
British Airways will always try and seat a family together, even if you have not pre-booked your seats. On long haul flights there is a great range of children’s inflight entertainment including movies, games and music. If you travel long haul you can pre-book a carry cot so you are not carrying your child for hours on end.
Virgin Atlantic offers outstanding service. Including offering extra blankets and pillows to make breast feeding on board more discreet, they will even offer you a seat in the Gallery if it's more comfortable for you there. Whilst they are unable to store expressed milk they will provide you with ice and ice buckets to keep the milk chilled.
Whilst not all inflight entertainment is suitable for children they will help you set up parental blocks on the inflight entertainment screens so you can sit back and relax and enjoy your flight whilst they enjoy theirs. And, if that is not enough, to keep the little ones busy at all UK departure airports all children get a KID pack at the gate, stocked with extra goodies to keep them entertained.
The Best of the Rest
Whilst most airlines do their best to accommodate children on board, the cost of air travel can be a deciding factor in whether you decide to fly or take another form of transport. However, some airlines offer great value fares and following the Covid-19 outbreak- many have great flexible policies.
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Easy Jet offers a huge amount of destination choices at really good prices and offer the best cancellation policy in the current environment.
If your flight is cancelled, you will be notified directly via email and informed of the options available to you, which include:
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Switch to another easyJet flight for free. This includes the option to select a different arrival and departure airport within the same country of the original booking if you wish.
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Choose a voucher for the full value of your ticket. The voucher is valid for 12 months from the date of issue and gives you the flexibility to book travel anywhere on their network when you're ready to fly.
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Request a refund. They will do their best to process refund requests in the shortest possible time.
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Once your flight is cancelled, you can request any of these options online via Manage Bookings at easyJet.com or the easyJet mobile app and you do not need to contact the Customer Services team.
If your flight has not been cancelled but you were due to fly to or from a destination during a period when the country or region is subject to a government lockdown travel ban, to provide you with some flexibility, they currently have these options available.
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Switch to another easyJet flight for free. This includes the option to select a different arrival and departure airport within the same country of the original booking if you wish.
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Choose a voucher for the full value of your ticket. The voucher is valid for 12 months from the date of issue and gives you the flexibility to book travel anywhere on their network when you're ready to fly.
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Request a refund. They will do their best to process refund requests in the shortest possible time.
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Wizz Air opens up Eastern Europe at affordable prices
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Ryan Air have some great low-cost flight fares and operate out of regional airports
Airport Car Parks
You must remember to build airport parking costs into your budget. Just remember to take into consideration what time of day you are travelling and how much baggage you are travelling with. Balancing a baby, 3 bags, a car seat and a travel cot can add stress that you don’t need at the start of your travels.
We recommend using Holiday Extras. They operate a slick website that will lay out all the options and costs. Once you have used them once they will continue to send you discounts which will always come in handy for your next adventure.
Car Hire
If you are not on a package holiday you will need to consider how you will be travelling from the airport to your final destination. Hiring a car makes good sense as it will provide you with flexibility throughout your trip. Most car hire companies provide baby and infant seats, so it’s one less thing to carry with you.
Discover Cars - Car hire is exceptionally cheap in most locations so it’s worth adding their insurance to the quote, just in case! They provide rental offers for over 2,000,000 cars in 150+ countries, and can find you a great car in the right location for the best price. It’s a very easy to use website.