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Going on holiday with babies and toddlers can be expensive and stressful, so Airport Parking and Hotels (APH) has put together a table highlighting the airline costs of infant tickets, their hand and check-in luggage allowances, as well as which airlines offer infant meals and family priority
boarding.
The research found that most airlines offer an infant seat at a reduced rate or even free of charge, with Air France, Qantas and South African Airways offering a 90% discount for infants under two travelling on a parents lap. Budget airlines Bmibaby, easyJet, Flybe, Monarch Airlines and Ryanair charge a full adult fare for infants who have their own seat and a fixed fee for infants travelling on an adults’ lap.
In terms of carrying extras, such as car seats and pushchairs, Flybe were found to be the most generous, allowing passengers to carry two extra items in addition to the checked luggage allowance. Most of the airlines offer infants sitting on an adults’ lap, a restricted hold baggage allowance of only one suitcase weighing 10kg, whereas American Airlines allows one piece of hold luggage at 23kg as well as a nappy-bag as hand luggage. Continental Airlines also offers a higher hold-luggage allowance but does not offer any hand luggage allowance, which is fairly important when travelling with young babies.
With regards to child meals, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific, KLM and Lufthansa all offer specialised baby and toddler foods onboard. American Airlines, on the other hand, do not offer any meal alternatives for children but do allow passengers to bring baby food and bottles, whereas Ryanair do not offer infant meals and also will not heat-up food or bottles brought onto the plane. Another feature to make travelling with infants easier is priority boarding for families, with British Airways allowing priority boarding for all families and also the option of pre-assigning seats to guarantee families sit together. Ryanair, on the other hand, only offer this service at a cost of £4 per passenger, per one way journey.
Nick Caunter, Managing Director of APH says: “It’s no secret that travelling as a young family can be both stressful and costly, so APH has put together this table to help savvy families plan ahead and try to avoid the extra costs associated when travelling with infants. The full guide is available to download in the Know Before You Go section of the website”.
Airport Parking and Hotels Ltd is one of the UK’s leading booking agencies and this year celebrates its 30th year as a retailer and operator of pre-booked airport parking and travel extras. APH offers parking at all major UK airports, ports and Eurotunnel terminals plus airport hotels packaged with parking and airport lounges. APH is also a carbon balanced company and has, through the World Land Trust, helped purchase more than 1,000 acres of endangered rainforest.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
