AIBU to plan a domestic birthday flight for my seven-year-old?

[Edinburghwomenonamisso8n26]

My ds7 birthday is coming up in June. He has asked to go on a plane ( he's obsessed with them ) Due to his brothers severe disability he hasn't been overseas or on a plane. Life is hard and his brother unfortunately is at the centre of everything we do due to the needs and appointments etc
Despite this ds7 is such a lovely boy who understands more then he should at his age tbh.

Anyway I really want to take him on a plane for the day. I have made peace with the environmental impact as we use public transport and haven't flown in 10ish yrs and won't for a very long time after.

Any ideas where obviously he doesn't have a passport so has to be domestic only. tia

flying from Edinburgh

Have a look through Steve Marsh. He flies from Edinburgh and does a lot of local stuff. He includes his prices at the end of each episode.

https://www.youtube.com/@steve-marsh

They do, I am going to London in July and the cheaper flights are to Stanstead. We are just getting the train.

You can also fly to Cardiff. Lots to do there.

Say whaaaat?! Kids haven’t been on parents’ passports for 30 odd years!

If it's a sightseeing experience this company flies from Kirkliston/Carlisle (currently, small discount of £20 off pp)

The museum at East Fortune may also be of interest, you can even board a non-operational Concorde.

Loving all the Loganair suggestions from people that are either rich or have no idea how insanely expensive it is to fly to a Scottish island from Scotland -say me very bitterly!

Op go to Belfast, can do it in a day and can get a cheap flight.

Alternatively, if you want to spend a little more, go to London, natural history museum and then home.

Flight to Bristol? Although it’s a bit of trek from the airport, there is the Aerospace Museum the other side of the city where you can board Concorde.

How about a small airport that does hour charter flights type thing.

if time (and money) allows could you fly to London then get the sleeper train back to Edinburgh. My DC love the sleeper train.

Get him a passport and then it can be a yearly trip, a day out somewhere- Dublin, Paris etc for him and a parent

Your post has made me well up a bit OP, what a great idea.
I have a disabled daughter too. Life can be very different for their siblings can’t it.
I hope you can plan a wonderful day with him, I’m sure one he’ll never forget x

Flying to the Scottish islands will be expensive. You can get to the Canaries from Edinburgh for less than Stornaway, Kirkwall or Lerwick. The other place I'd suggest that doesn't seem to have been mentioned in Belfast. It's a much more compact city to explore than London, less expensive and you could take him to the Titanic museum to keep up the transport theme.

Edinburgh to Orkney and then onto some island hopping by plane

If he loves planes you could fly down to Heathrow and plane spot there.

Nevermind, being grouchy.

I was going to suggest Belfast! You’re very close to the dock and the two massive cranes!

Are you sure you want to get him a passport if you don't plan to fly again for a very long time? I think that would really upset him.

CrickeyJane, have you seen how much that costs? Do you think they've won the lottery?

I was going to say Bristol too due to its connections to the aviation history.
However to make it worthwhile I reckon you should make a weekend of it. The airport is a long way to the south of the city and the only ways back into the city are by car/taxis or by bus (which I think stops outside Temple Meads Station).
The Aerospace Museum is about 7 or 8 miles to the north of the city.

Belfast is a great idea. There are two airports - City and International. City is a 10 minute bus ride from the city centre and International is about 40 minutes. If he’s into sciency/discovery stuff there’s a brilliant place called W5 which is worth a day trip on its own and is perfect for a 7 year old.

https://w5online.co.uk/explore

Belfast is a really nice city and easily doable in a day. There's a bus from the airport into the city centre.

Belfast city airport. Then there are lots of good options for local activities for him from there.

Haha, sorry, just seen I'm not the first to suggest this, should have read the thread!

I second this - DS got to sit in the captain’s seat when we flew to Spain. He was thrilled and they were so lovely with him.

Just mention it to the crew

Why not look at local, private airports? Ours do ones where you fly for an hour, sit up front with the pilot etc. normally about £70.