Autistic son and flying??

[spestell]

Hi, I hope this is the right place for this question!!?? We are flying in 12 days with My Travel - Gatwick to Sandford. We have spoken with the special needs customer services today and they have told us that there are no seats with extra legroom other than premiar gold (we normally travel with virgin and get bulkhead seats). They also said that only 2/3 of their planes have the seat back tvs. This is a major worry.:confused2 Before we booked they told us 4 times that all their A330s had seat back tvs on the orlando routes and the only reason we would not have them is if they had to substitute a plane. :angry: Has anyone got any experience or advice about travelling with my autistic children on My travel??? My son is 16 now but I still class him as a child:D

[stevered1]

Im sure others will post with more specifics but its worthwhile taking lots of things he likes to keep him entertained in case they dont have seat back tvs.

Ie game boys and maybe a new game or books, as it is a long flight and you want to be prepared.

[spider]

Sorry, I don't have any direct experience of My Travel flights, have only flown Virgin and BA when we've gone. We also, like you get bulkhead seats as he has a tendancy to fidget continuously during the 9 hours and this would be a pain for anyone sitting infront of him:(

Though my son is younger (nearly 11) we take lots of books, comics and this year some little presents for him to unwrap (its his birthday while we are away) so hoping that will distract him.

It's a long old flight, so you have my sympathies, but I just keep telling myself that it's worth it in the long run, and on the way back he mostly sleeps.

I hope you get some better news from My Travel soon.

[spestell]

Thanks for the replies, we have armed ourselves with DVD players, gameboy and psp, and a couple of comics for good measure. Hopefully we will be able to keep him amused. He is worried himself now as I have only just told him we are not going with virgin and he won't get the same seat. (we have travelled three times with virgin and each time he has got the exact same seat on the plane and this has become something he just has added to his "must have" list!) My travel say they will give him and aisle seat so he can put his legs out into the aisle, this worries me as he won't move them for anyone if he does and he will trip everyone up! Once he has his headphones on he is oblivious to anyone or anything!! Oh well, I keep my fingers crossed for the journey but at least I know that holiday at disney will be great - travelling is always the worst part of going anywhere.