sesley Report post Posted April 27, 2009 <'> brilliant. we got special assistance ,by checkin in at least 90 mins before,they then let us on with the under 5 children and people with special assistance. He loved the whole experience,the boosters were on and we took off he had his hand on my oh arm for landing though he loved the travelodge,and watching bro parade out in the Navy ,he got lost in Plymouth shopping centre, me and dad and bros in flat panic, he has Autism we wailed,he does not react like ususal children,he probably does not think he is lost, Devon police were brilliant,he was found in a shop fasninated by the esculator going up and down . just before that ,he would not go on escualtor properly,so i pulled him away and tried talking to him,thenwhen i treid to make him go on,he pulled away and i was going down in a panic and he was up playing with the rubber handles as they went round,so in a panic i went up going down esculators, to tutt and haven't seen anything so stupid,but i could not just leave him,in case he went off,so when he did get lost i was already up tight.but againwhen he went missing the Devon police were brilliant Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vicbee Report post Posted April 28, 2009 I use special assistance all the time now for my daughter. She is very anxious getting on the plane and takes medication just before we go to board which makes her drowsy - she gets especially anxious when queuing up and also because of her eating problems she has very little energy. It was very handy for us when we went to Amsterdam at Easter. Schipol Airport is massive and it takes around 20-25 mins to get to baggage. My daughter didnt mind going in a wheelchair as they didnt have a buggy and it saved her energy for the onward journey. You get to get on the plane with speedy boarders. And its free! use it!!! The Easyjet staff at Liverpool Airport are renowned for their unfriendly approach and poe faces when checking in but my daughter managed to get a smile out of one of them when she realised she needed special assistance!! Worth it just to get a smile from one of the orange ladies!! (and I dont mean their uniform!!) I jest of course! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Emum Report post Posted April 28, 2009 (edited) Easyjet keep changing their policy though and its really annoying. My parents live in N Ireland so we regularly fly backwards and forwards using them. They used to let all parents travelling with children preboard which was fine, then they changed it to only those travelling with children under the age of 2. IMO that is absurd as what parent would let a 3,4 or 5 year old sit apart from them whether or not they had a disability. It meant we always had to explain at check in that DD has special needs and could we preboard even though she was 7 and now 8. Sometimes they say yes, and sometimes no, and DD has very obvious learning difficulties which are obvious on even a cursory glance! The only way to be absolutely sure is to pay for speeding boarding, but that is hugely expensive. It already costs us about £750 as a family to make a 1 hour domestic flight and frankly I resent having to go to 4 figures just to make sure my disabled child doesn't have to sit beside a weirdo and not be looked after during the flight! What is interesting is that I find the check in staff in Belfast to be much more accomodating than the staff in Stansted for her special needs. I book my flights online btw (didn't know there was any other way) and there are only a very few reasons why you can request special assistance and a learning difficulty or autism didn't fall into any of the available categories last time I checked. Edited April 28, 2009 by Emum Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sesley Report post Posted April 29, 2009 We also found the staff at Dalcross Inverness,where a little more easy going to match the Easyjet name,but in Bristol,they were foreign and a bit more up tight. We thought we had paid for speedy boarding, and the Bristol lady said it was not marked on the ticket slip,so we went to speak to their PR desk and they gave us SA, because i said he was unpredictable and they had English accents were more understanding,so i suppose it depends on the attitude of the checkin person.( Inverness,Belfast People seem to be completely different to people in bigger parts of England. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
