As the summer holidays are just around the corner, the idea of planning a family holiday to the UK or Europe is very appealing. However, travelling with young children can be challenging, especially on long-haul flights British Airways, serves over 1.5 million junior flyers every year. With this experience, it has put together a selection of top tips to help parents before and during the journey. Before Departure: Save Time – Families of up to nine people can check-in, choose seats and download the flight boarding passes at ba.com or use their mobile phones to receive the mobile boarding passes as early as 24 hours before departure. British Airways provides child seats and carrycots for infants up to two years. By reserving the seats in advance, families can make sure they are all sitting together during the flight. Pre-order special meals – Meals for children and babies must be pre-booked 24 hours before departure. For families with special dietary requirements, for example lactose-free or vegetarian, these can be pre-booked as well. All meal requests can be requested through “Manage My Booking” at ba.com. British Airways offers tinned baby food on its long-haul flights, but it is recommend that parents bring their own un-opened baby food, sterilised empty bottles and any other equipment they should need in their hand luggage. Prepare for the journey – Parents should have books, toys and games in their hand luggage, so these can be easily accessed during the flight. British Airways’ top ten toys to take on a plane are Loom Bands, Playdoh, Lego, Top Trumps, Uno, Usborne Activity Cards, magnetic travel games, Aquadoodle, finger puppets and sticker books At the Airport: Waiting - Keep children entertained before boarding the plane at the British Airways Kidszones. British Airways has partnered with Microsoft to provide children with access to games on the Xbox in the Kidszones and Xbox Kinect in the Skyflyer Solo lounges. The Kinect console’s motion sensors allow children to interact with the game using their bodies, without the use of handsets. Boarding – British Airways provides a shorter check-in time for families and will offer priority boarding for parents travelling with their children. The less time spend in an airport departure lounge the better! Pushchairs - To enable parents to take their child’s pushchair from check-in through to the door of the aircraft, British Airways recommends using a small folding type when travelling. On Board: Cabin Crew – Parents should ask a member of the cabin crew to point out the location for baby changing facilities on board and approach them for any general assistance. Entertainment – British Airways Skyflyer activity pack has an exciting flying theme to keep little ones amused during their flight. The in-flight entertainment has a dedicated children’s channel from Disney and Cartoon Network showing cartoons and popular shows. Family movies are also available and parents can use the parental lock which can block certain programmes. British Airways has extended inflight entertainment, which means children will be able to start enjoying their favourite films and TV programmes as soon as they board the plane and until they land. Meal time – British Airways has a ‘feed kids first’ policy and includes services such as bottle and food warming. If parents forget to pre-book their children’s meal, family friendly meals are also available. Jetlag – To reduce jetlag, British Airways suggests that children take regular naps according to the time zone of the destination they are flying. Ensure child drink plenty of water during the flight. The British Airways top tips allows families to start their journey feeling calm and ready to enjoy the holiday. Visit ba.com for more information. – Ends – About British Airways British Airways’ route network currently serves more than 179 destinations in 75 countries. The airline has been flying to mainland China for over 30 years and currently offers daily flights from Beijing and Shanghai to London, and five flights a week in summer schedule as well as three flights a week in winter schedule from Chengdu to London. Now travellers can also book flights on ba.com to travel to the UK and Europe from Chongqing, Changsha, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Nanjing, Sanya, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Xiamen via Beijing, Shanghai or Chengdu on Air China, China Eastern Airlines or Hainan Airlines or via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific or Dragonair. British Airways is investing £5 billion in new aircraft, smarter cabins, elegant lounges and new technologies to make life more comfortable in the air and on the ground. The airline operates from the state-of-the-art Terminal 5 at London Heathrow, which is exclusive to British Airways’ and Iberia Airlines’ customers and is capable of handling 31.6 million customers a year. In 2015, Terminal 5 was named by Skytrax as the World’s Best Airport Terminal for the fourth year running. London Heathrow Airport also won the Best Airport Shopping award for the sixth time. In October 2014, British Airways was awarded the Best Airline, Best Short-Haul Airline and Best Frequent Flyer Programme by Business Traveller for the second consecutive year. The oneworld alliance, of which British Airways was a founding airline, came first in the Best Alliance category. In March 2015, British Airways was also named the top Business and Consumer Superbrand at the Superbrands 2015 Awards, becoming the first travel brand to win both prestigious titles. For further information, please visit ba.com. British Airways press office contacts Paradigm Communications Beijing Office　　　　　　　　　　Shanghai Office T: (010) 8580 0783　　　　　　　　T: (021) 6360 5511 Cherry Zhang 　　　　　　　　　　　　Seara Zhong E: cherryzhang@paradigm.com.hk 　E: searazhong@paradigm.com.hk Zora Zhao　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Shaley Han E: zorazhao@paradigm.com.hk　　　　E: shaleyhan@paradigm.com.hk