Barcelona: booking with Easyjet

Freddie and I are off to Barcelona in March, in search of child friendly properties in the Costa Dorada area, and I have just finished booking our flights. This time we are flying with Easyjet. For those of you flying for the first time with youngster’s, children under 2 have to sit on an accompanying adults lap and babies under 14 days are not allowed to fly. Flight time: just over 2 hours from Stansted.

Why do we pay for a child if sitting on our lap?
The cost of our flights weren’t bad but I have to question the price charged for Freddie to sit on my lap! £12.50 each way, my return flight was only £19.87! The official response on this charge was: ‘Each passengers (and luggage item, by the way) weight affects fuel consumption, hence the fees’

Luggage allowance
As we will be looking for child friendly properties we cannot travel light which means very large suitcases… for which we were charged £16 each.
Official response when I asked about baby items on flights:
‘You can carry up to two mobility items for children free of charge (a pushchair, a buggy, a car seat, or a travel cot), provided that the child is travelling as well. They are treated separately from your baggage allowance. Yet, please remember that infants do not have any baggage allowance.’

And below are details directly from Easyjet's website regarding pushchairs, car seats and baby milk being taken to the gate:

Can I take a pushchair with me?

Yes, easyJet allows you to take your pushchairs, buggies, travel cots right up to the aircraft steps and/or door, where they will be taken by cabin crew and stored in the hold. This is free of charge.
We do not deliver buggies at aircraft side on arrival. They will normally be delivered with baggage on the baggage carousel.

Can I take a car seat with me?

Yes, you can take a car seat onboard providing these conditions are met:
· The car seat must have a rigid metal or plastic frame;
· It cannot be wider than 42cm;
· It must include lap, shoulder and crotch straps.
Booster seats are not accepted, they must be checked in.
Car seats are accepted for any child between the age of six months and 3 years for whom a full fare seat has been purchased.

Can I take baby milk or food onboard?

Yes, you are able to take baby milk onboard; you will be required to taste the milk while passing through security. Liquids must be held in bottles containing less than 100ml. As baby bottles are generally smaller than that you should not encounter problems at security but you are advised to check the size of the container.

We are more than happy to supply hot water onboard to heat food and milk.

And the other add ons...

You can obviously add all the extras:
· Speedy boarding @ £15.50 (however unless you really want a special seat it’s not worth paying for as you are allowed onto the flight before all other travellers if you have small children.
· The other option is travel insurance; I would never travel without it, especially with young children. Easyjet offered it @ £9.75 but as we travel quite a bit we will be renewing our yearly policy (currently with Norwich Union – but we are going to shop around and I will post our findings).

Today we are enjoying the snow and everything else that the English weather can throw at us before we set of on our journey for 2010.
Watch this space for some sunnier news soon!

Snow in the UK! We were not alone...

As we are all well aware the UK was gripped by snow and ice last week (and some parts still this week!) We were not alone...

And so we thought you might like to see a couple of the Holiday Tots properties in snow!


In Bavaria, Germany they were glad of the snowy conditions as come winter it is a haven for skiers where lessons are given from the age of 3!

In contrast there was no swimming in the Dordogne!