Planning a last minute family holiday? You might be interested to discover the most family-friendly airlines which could make your trip as stress-free as possible!
When you fly as a family the criteria you're looking for can be completely different to when flying solo or with friends.
If your baby is really tiny you need to find out if there is a lap fee as not all airlines offer this for free. And, you don't want to be stung by high in-flight food costs when your toddler is demanding a snack and you've already run out, do you?
Thankfully Play Like Mum, a spin off from Silver Cross prams that create products for children's toy babies, has conducted some research to look into the most family-friendly airlines so you have one less thing to worry about when planning your trip.
They looked at all the major airlines including British Airways, EasyJet, Thomas Cook and Jet2, plus lots of others.
To assess how family-friendly the airlines were Play Like Mum looked at whether free seat reservations were offered alongside free checked luggage and if on-board cots were provided. They also took into consideration if there was a lap fee, kids' meals, free kids' entertainment, pre-boarding for families and the ability to take on a pushchair for free.
Out of 20 airlines only two offered all of the factors Play Like Mum were looking for.
British Airways and Emirates topped the list and are definitely worth looking into when planning long haul flights like trips to Walt Disney World, Florida.
Closely behind the top two were Virgin Atlantic, Air France and Lufthansa who were all missing just one thing from Play Like Mum's criteria.
You cannot reserve seats in advance without facing a charge with Lufthansa and the other two don't offer priority boarding for families.
The worst rated airline for families was Flybe which offered non of these factors, apart from allowing families to take on a push chair free of charge.
For short haul flights you might want to consider some of the other airlines in the list, as they may cheaper than the top two.
It's also worth considering that British Airways, Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, air France, Qatar Aiways, KLM, Quantas, Singapore Airlines, Thomas Cook, Norwegian Air, AER Lingus, Turkish Airlines, American Airlines and TUI all offer free kids entertainment and kids meals.
Which airline do you normally choose to fly with and which do you avoid? We'd love to hear your opinions so head over to our Facebook page to get involved!
