Virgin voted most child-friendly airline

The Branson-owned airline came top in a poll carried out by guidebook publishers Rough Guides with over a third of respondents (36%) voting Virgin the most child-friendly airline. British Airways came a close second with 32 %. Budget airlines however fared miserably with Easyjet and Ryanair picking up just 8% of the vote between them (6% and 2% respectively).

It’s no real surprise that the budget airlines are not seen as child-friendly. The Rough Guide survey, conducted to coincide with the publication of The Rough Guide to Travel with Babies and Young Children, also revealed that parents greatest worry when travelling with children was packing and carrying everything they need.

With both Ryanair and Easyjet charging passengers per item of luggage with strict weight limits, travelling on them with kids can be far less of a ‘budget’ option.

Fawzia Rasheed de Francisco, author of the book, suggests the airline families choose can make all the difference to the journey:

“Aside from baggage restrictions, budget airlines tend to be allocated inconvenient gates in airports, involving walking long distances, negotiating stairs and buses etc - tough going with small children. There's also the fact that budget airlines make it hard, if not impossible, to change plans without buying new tickets; when you factor the cost implications for a whole family, the so-called budget tickets can work out to be more expensive in the long run."

Nearly half of respondents said their children have travelled far more extensively than they had at the same age, though 22% consider travelling with children ‘Hell on Earth’!