Has anyone been on Easyjet with a child with ASD or similar?

[countdowntoxmas]

What are their policies on people with disabilities? I know that BA are meant to be great - letting you board late, letting you sit somewhere in the aircraft with no tables in front of you, otherwise it is open/shut/open/shut... throughout the flight.

I would like to know whether Easyjet does anything similar. Has anyone had any experience of how they are on disabilities?

I haven't yet, but will be in November. The travel agent called the airline and told them that DS2 has ASD, and they have arranged for us to go on first to get out seats so that he can be seated before the mad rush of people fighting for seats descends.

Also, I have some ear defenders for him and his DSi to keep him occupied while we are flying.

That sounds promising. And I take it you don't have to pay any extra for this?

hven't been on easyjet - our experiences with other airline have put us off too much...

I have found BA to be generally unhelpful, tbh. Qantas were good though (on a code share, oddly. but then i have always had crappy service from BA even pre-children)

we are just back form flying with Thompson - landed this morning! - and they were good in part, and hopeless in others. they got very short and snappy with dd1 at landing time - eg they asked her to put her table away (she was playing on her ipad, resting on the table). she was reacting, but not fast enough - not her problem, imo - they should have aske dher sooner (breakfast was very late in getting to her due to the stuff up on special meals) - stewardess leaned over, to prompt dd1 putting ipad away, and lifted it up, to fold her table - meltdown was predictable, tbh, after an 8 hour flight where dd1 had little to eat as no record could be found of the special meals ordered

I have found that often it dpeends on the staff on the day - even when things have been flagged up beforehand, it can all go wrong if staff have the wrong attitude.

No, don't pay extra.

Your best bet is to call the airport duty manager and see if they can arrange it, if they can't, then speak to Easyjet direct.

I got the travel agent to speak to Easyjet and it looks as though they are asking us to pay £40 per passenger in order to get guaranteed seats together. I have found absolutely no number to call at easyjet for special assistance and when I call their main number and speak to the call centre people (seems to be based in Spain at the moment) they say that they do not know what autism means and yet are incapable of putting me through to a supervisor.
Can anyone help as we really need to have seats without seats in front otherwise DS will go mad? Surely we don't have to pay - wouldn't that be discrimination against his disability?

does anyone have any tips?

My experience of BA has not been good and resulted in a complaint! Getting seats without tables in front sounds like it's going to be very difficult, other than on very large aircraft most of those seats are by the emergency exits and no airline can allow (CAA rules) any children or people with disabilities to sit in those. Do you know what aircraft you are flying on - you may be able to look at the seating layout online and see if there are any seats that meet your needs.

You may have already read this but if not

www.easyjet.com/EN/Book/regulations.html#specialneeds

easyjet

Agree with cwtch4967. I think it is unlikely that you will be able to have the bulk head seats:
"When onboard the aircraft, certain safety regulations need to be met. If your mobility, or your ability to communicate with the crew, either verbally or visually is significantly reduced, or if you have requested any assistance to reach your aircraft, you will not be allowed to sit in a seat near or adjacent to, an emergency exit. easyJet is also unable to guarantee that groups of passengers will be seated together. Priority will be given to the needs of individual disabled and PRM passengers."

This how you contact them
"HOW TO REQUEST ASSISTANCE

Once you have made your booking you can request different types of assistance via the confirmation page of your booking if you booked online, or with your telephone agent if you are booking by telephone. If you need to add a request for assistance at a later date, this can be done either via the "My easyJet.com" section of our website or by telephoning our customer service teams.

You can select from the following statements. Please pick the one that is closest to your requirements. You may select more than one option to cover your needs.
I do need a wheelchair. I CAN walk up and down stairs but I can?t walk long distances unaided. I require assistance to get me through the terminal and to my boarding gate. I can make my own way onto the aircraft or bus
I do need a wheelchair. I CANNOT walk up and down stairs or walk long distances but I can move about the cabin unaided. I require assistance to get me to and from the aircraft door
I do need a wheelchair. I CANNOT walk, stand or move about the cabin unaided and I need to be lifted into and out of my aircraft seat. I will be travelling with an adult companion who can look after my requirements
I am deaf
I am blind or significantly sight impaired
I do not need a wheelchair. I am travelling alone and I confirm I meet the criteria for travelling alone. I do need someone to help me get to and from the aircraft door
I do not need a wheelchair. I am travelling alone and I confirm I meet the criteria for travelling alone. I do need help getting through the terminal and to my departure gate. I can make my own way onto the aircraft or bus

If you are unsure which assistance level suits your needs, please contact us for advice."

Seating plans for easyjet planes
www.seatplans.com/airlines/Easyjet/seatplans

We flew with them once with ds2. Never again.

The crush was hideous. We were initially separated and eventually I managed to get a seat with ds2 who was stressed and upset for the whole flight.

We usually fly to Spain with monarch and book our seats. It is a bit more but they have more room and the whole experience us stress free, almost enjoyable. Virgin are very very good for longhaul

Sounds like an utter nightmare. Is it worth paying to sit near one another? Dreading the flight already

How old is your DC?

I dunno. We get on late and ds just screams until we get what we want

Ryan are are diabolical. They seemed to think it was okay to let a Mother, a 2yr old that can't walk far with a confiscated buggy and a 4yr old with ASD board last (due to queuing issues) and then sit in completely seperate parts of the plane .

Of course this couldn't happen, despite the boarding people telling us it was tough, so not only were we the last on the plane but we all actually had to stand for ages even when the plane had started taxiing until the staff could actually bribe some people, who no doubt competed for their seats, out of them.

Even worse, the air stewardess expected me to pay for the bribe (a free drink).

I have flown with Easyjet with a (grownup) friend in a wheelchair, and Ryanair with my dd in her wheelchair. On both occasions they had us down as "needing special assistance" on the booking, and the airport people were also involved in (quite unnecessarily) wheeling the wheelchair for us. Both time the required number of seats was saved for us, no extra payment, and they offered this, i.e. without us having to check that seats together would be available. (With dd it was Stansted, with friend Luton) I would just notify them that you need special assistance. (I have to say, Starlight that I was expecting it to be like your experience, so I was pleasantly surprised)

DS was screaming in a queue once with me repeatedly trying to keep him quiet and after 30mins I went to an official member of staff and begged to queue jump. He agreed, saying his cousin has autism, which was great, - however, as we started moving from the queue to the front, ds stopped screaming (As it was more interesting all of a sudden) and so I had to keep saying to him in a low voice 'keep screaming or you won't get a lollipop'!

Ben10, DS is 5. Wentshopping, do you know which number you/r friend called at Easyjet for special assistance? The only number I can get is the call centre. Sounds as though the experience was a good one

bump

Hi Countdown - I'm not sure as she had booked the tickets, but they had told her to arrive an extra 30 mins early, and we had to explain it all over again at the check-in desk...even though my friend was sitting there in her w/chair. What was a little bit freaky was that the airport special assistance people were to come and find us, and wheel us to a special motorized lift, and we could see the plane boarding but noone had come for us. They did finally, and the front row had been saved for us. Is there anything on the website to click to request special assistance? (oops, I think Ben10 has it covered see above). On the ryanair website, I called their call centre and they just said to click on "needs xxx assistance" in the confirmation page of the booking, so I imagine easyjet is very similar. My suggestion would be to try and get "needs some assistance" noted on booking, reiterate it at check-in , and then go and introduce yourself at the gate "Hi, I'm count with the child needing assistance", so that at every opportunity the airline has the chance to say "yes, we'll board you first/last, at the front/back etc", just don't let them forget you are there.

AH see easyjet wont let me fly with them unless I have a carer with them for me .Im like erm why I can wheel myself around thank you it is only my legs that don`t work and i dont need to use the loo so no one has to wheel me down plane to toilet in flight ( self cath so am ok ) and hell in even tof emergency friend hardly going be able to lift me .So if me and ds3 fly according to them we both need carers !!!
I know they limit how many certainly with mobility issues

Am flying VA next year and they are not worried at all

Countdown

As your child is 5 or under you automatically get Special Assistance when you check in. However it would be worth booking it through my link - however I still think that you will struggle to get bulkhead or emergency exit seats......

Thanks. Will try to go on the link Ben10. When you say my child 5 or under will get special assistance, does that apply to ALL children under the age of 5 or those with SN?

All children under 5 get SA. We travel every year with DS who is nearly 6 and we have always had SA from EJ

Went on the link but as I booked through a travel agent, my reference number does not work on the Easyjet site. I tried the number as well which no longer works but gave me the call centre number. Called them and it appears to be in India today, unlike Spain during the week, and of course the employee did not have a clue as to what I was talking about when I mentioned autism. Again told me to pay the extra charge.

EJ's head office is based at Luton Airport ... Andy Harrison is the CEO. The customer suport email is [email protected] You could drop him a line (in the post) if no joy from SA customer services. I'd mark it private & confidential so it lands on his desk - tell him you're not getting any joy Spain/India communication issues etc etc ... seriously, you've got nothing to lose. 1st class letter would be there by Tuesday