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

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

  • 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.

  • 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.

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