Air Travel 2

Hi all

I thought I would start a second thread to report on my most recent journey by air since my diagnosis. This time it was from Birmingham to Brussels and back, with Air Brussels. Unlike last time, I got great communication from the airline from the start and had terrific help in the airports. I have to fight myself all the time, because I feel like I am wasting people's time. But I know that I've done the right thing in accepting the assistance when I arrive at my destination feeling reasonably calm instead of having to spend a day or two recovering from the horrors of the experience. The last time I went to Brussels I had a kind of meltdown and ended up in a terrible state.

Anyway, for those not familiar with it, I am using the Sunflower Lanyard scheme. It's available at most UK airports. Birmingham is no exception: the information is all HERE. For Brussels airlines I had to fill in a special assistance form and send it to them (I guess it's the same for all the airlines) and I wrote AUTISM in the disability listing (as well as hearing loss, in my case). 

I am fine once I am seated on the plane, so I got assistance through security and duty free (in fact, we took a back entrance and avoided duty free altogether) and was escorted to the front of the queue for boarding. In security I was given time and space, and also reassurance when it emerged that I'd got a stray tube of toothpaste in my suitcase. I was sure I had removed all my toothpaste, but somehow there was a tube lurking in my wash bag. I was quite perturbed by that, but they were very good about making light of it. When I arrived at Brussels airport I was met off the plane and driven in a van to the arrivals lounge, rather than having to get the bus with the other passengers. That was just great. 

The return journey was also great and a nice woman named Gori looked after me and was very understanding. The best moment though was when I couldn't find my way on arrival and a member of staff, obviously spotting my lanyard, came and offered guidance. That really helped a lot and made me feel reassured. I've filled in their questionnaire to reflect all this good stuff, and sent them an email to thank them too. 

Hugers

  • Excellent! It's so good to hear about positive progress.

    I'm off to Brussels again in a couple of weeks and, while I would not say I'm looking forward to the flight, I am at least not worried about it...

  • Great stuff. They really do seem to be getting the hang of the sunflower lanyard scheme. 

  • Isn't it! Eurostar was fine at charing cross but a nightmare at st pancras - I had a meltdown last time I took it. Wonder if lanyard might work there?

  • So glad to hear this, I'm going to use the sunflower lanyard at Heathrow for the first time today. I get really awful meltdowns every time I fly - it takes me two days to recover and my head is so shuffled at the airport I've lost two laptops last year - and once landed in Switzerland in the snow just as shops were shutting to realise I'd left my coat at Heathrow. I loved flying when I was young but now the airports are agonizingly overstimulating and security is unbearable. This time I've got blue filter glasses and the lanyard as well as noise cancelling headphones. Once more into the breach!

    ...... hours later ....... just got through checkin and security with no drama, lovely women at Virgin Atlantic escorted me through, the first time I've got on a plane without a meltdown for 20 years! So grateful for lanyard scheme.

  • Just got back from sunny Florida.

    I used the sunflower lanyard - worked brilliantly - got fast-tracked all the way through security, the lounge, the boarding, getting off the plane, passport control, baggage and to the hire car in Orlando.

    The flight was nice - the plane was almost empty so we had plenty of space to spread out and the crew were pre-alerted to me so they knew about my health problems and they did everything they could to make me comfortable.

    The lanyard works at Orlando too so 'Johnny from The Bronx' took us all the way from the check-in to the gate. Very civilised.

  • I just had an email from them thanking me for my comments and saying that they would ensure that Gori would be commended. That is great. You are quite right! 

  • It's a lot better than walking and swimming all that way tho.

  • Can't say I'm a big fan of air travel myself. Lot of waiting around and sitting in a tube with nothing to look at bar clouds.

  • It's nice that you have thanked them. They must get a lot of criticism from angry / delayed people. You have probably made someone's day, as they did with you. I haven't gone on many holidays, particularly lately, but before I suspected I may be on the spectrum, I used to feel overwhelmed and tearful when entering an airport - I couldn't explain it - I wasn't afraid of flying / crashes, just hated the whole experience. Perhaps next time I might too use this service. 

  • I'm on Virgin - they're normally really good.

  • PS the person-first language is theirs, not mine. I prefer "autistic people".

  • Many thanks, and bon voyage! I'll be flying stateside in January too, so maybe we can compare notes.

  • Thank you! Yes, I hope the feedback will also make them appreciate how good this service is.

  • Hi,

    Many thanks for the suggestion. I used to prefer Eurostar for my Brussels and Paris trips, but I'm afraid the experience got much worse for me when they replaced those nice soft brown seats and relatively low lighting with the new hard blue plastic seats and very bright lights!

    The last time I went through the St Pancras terminal was a nightmare and I ended up shutting down in the security area while people jostled and complained at me. Then there's the horrid crowd surge to get on and off the train. 

    I see from their website that they do offer to guide people with autism, though, so probably I should give it a try. I do generally like train travel. The reason I switched to flying was because I heard a presentation by someone from OmniServ and was impressed by what the airlines/airports are offering nowadays.

  • Have you considered using Eurostar at all? It might be a nicer experience and doesn't take much longer than flying.

  • I'm glad it went so well for you, and the feedback to the airline staff will be greatly appreciated, I'm sure. 

  • Brilliant - nice to see it all worked well for you. I'm flying trans-Atlantic soon and I hope it all goes exactly as planned too.