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British Airways and ASD

2 replies

Rizzlekicks · 06/03/2013 10:05

We are going on a 10-hour flight with Easter, flying with British Airways. DS, aged 7, has ASD and as well as sensory issues, has difficulty with standing in lines.
Has anyone had experience of flying with British Airways with SN children? Will they give assistance with booking seats in advance and generally making the trip bearable for everyone involved?

OP posts:
silverfrog · 06/03/2013 10:12

I wish I had better news, but the last time we flew longhaul with BA it was a bit of a shambles, tbh.

THere was no way to enter dd1 (then 3) on the system as ASD - she could be disabled or not disabled. SO we opted for disabled, to flag up we might need extra help.

This then meant that she was moved away from our pre-booked seats, to sit on her own, by the computer system, as she was unable to be booked into the seats we had aloocated if she was marked on the system as disabled. They only moved her. to sit in a differnet part of the cabin entirely. on her own. at 3.

I had to call every day to make sure she was still seated with us (staff could override the system when I called, but not put a block on her being moved again).

Security at the airport is what it is. We have a letter form our gp, and take along dd1's statement too, in case we need to talk to someone about needing extra space/time whatever. on the whole we have found security to be ok, but obviously there are queues to contend with.

on the plane, staff were good - helpful and tried to ensure we had as good a flight as possible. it was the lead up that was so stressful. nothing could be done about check in, or any of the details we might have needed - the system seemed to be set up to help with physical disabilities only. maybe it has changed in the 5 years since.

other airlines have not necessarily been much better, btw, but I am better prepared, and dd1 is more used ot flying, and so our trips now are relatively smooth.

SallyBear · 06/03/2013 16:58

From memory we booked our seats on BA to Florida but informed that we would need assistance due to DS ASD. They were fine about it and we were on first do got him settled before the rest of the passengers. Unfortunately he kicked the seat back all the way there....... But thankfully it was empty in front.

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