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Autism friendly Airlines

The Riddler

I really want to start traveling again. It bugs me that I used to be able to fly (sadly not literally), but after my breakdown, it's one thing that I just can't re-engage with. I have heard/read that airlines offer support to ASD sufferers to assist with getting through the airport. However, I've also read some pretty horrendous stories about flight experiences.

What are other people's experiences of this? Any airlines you can recommend or ones to avoid?

Parents

  • Virgin Atlantic make a very big deal about supporting passengers with hidden disabilities, including a symbol you can print off to discreetly show a member of staff at the airport if you need any help and haven’t been in touch with them.

    The reality when I tried to get assistance recently was that it took them 6 weeks to respond at all, they sent me a form to fill in that was in a format that meant I could only fill in part of it, they completely ignored all of the assistance I had asked about except a specific seat location but I didn’t hear back from them about it at all so I had to pay for an upgrade to make sure I could cope.

    My flights ended being operated by KLM who offer no assistance at all; I struggled on the flight with being crammed in as the seats were very close together and there was very little room overall. I found trying to navigate through the various airports horrendous as well - none of the enquiry desks were staffed (you had to phone someone which I couldn’t make myself do) and they were so busy. 
    The only thing that helped was wearing my sunflower lanyard through Heathrow that meant I could use the assistance lane and didn’t have to get trapped in the crush of people going through passport control.

    I’ll really have to think hard about whether I want to fly anywhere again.

Reply

  • Virgin Atlantic make a very big deal about supporting passengers with hidden disabilities, including a symbol you can print off to discreetly show a member of staff at the airport if you need any help and haven’t been in touch with them.

    The reality when I tried to get assistance recently was that it took them 6 weeks to respond at all, they sent me a form to fill in that was in a format that meant I could only fill in part of it, they completely ignored all of the assistance I had asked about except a specific seat location but I didn’t hear back from them about it at all so I had to pay for an upgrade to make sure I could cope.

    My flights ended being operated by KLM who offer no assistance at all; I struggled on the flight with being crammed in as the seats were very close together and there was very little room overall. I found trying to navigate through the various airports horrendous as well - none of the enquiry desks were staffed (you had to phone someone which I couldn’t make myself do) and they were so busy. 
    The only thing that helped was wearing my sunflower lanyard through Heathrow that meant I could use the assistance lane and didn’t have to get trapped in the crush of people going through passport control.

    I’ll really have to think hard about whether I want to fly anywhere again.

Children
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