Children flying alone? How Air New Zealand is giving parents peace of mind

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later.

Advertisement

This was published 8 years ago

Children flying alone? How Air New Zealand is giving parents peace of mind

By Jamie Freed
Updated
Air New Zealand Airband will help keep track of unaccompanied kids on flights.

Air New Zealand Airband will help keep track of unaccompanied kids on flights.Credit: Gabriele Charotte

Putting your young child on a flight alone, whether to visit your ex or the grandparents is naturally a highly stressful experience as a parent. Even if your child has a mobile phone, he or she may get distracted and fail to check in with you throughout the journey.

Enter Air New Zealand's new "Airband". Children travelling alone on the airline will now receive one of the wrist bands at check-in as part of the service. It is embedded with a chip that is scanned at key stages of the journey to trigger text notifications to up to five nominated contacts.

"We believe this is the first time this type of technology has been used by an airline anywhere in the world for the purpose of providing caregivers greater peace of mind when their child is travelling alone," Air NZ general manager customer experience Carrie Hurihanganui said.

Children travelling alone on Air New Zealand will receive one of the wrist bands at check-in as part of the service.

Children travelling alone on Air New Zealand will receive one of the wrist bands at check-in as part of the service.

"We have been trialling it across our network over recent months and the feedback from parents and guardians has been very positive with many welcoming the additional reassurance of knowing where in the journey their child is."

The band will be scanned upon check-in to confirm registration, when the child boards the plane, when the flight has landed and the child is handed over to ground staff and when the child is picked up at the airport by a designated person.

"We know that having your child travel on their own can be a nervous time for both children and their guardians," Ms Hurihanganui said. "While our staff have always taken great care of children travelling solo, we identified that there was an opportunity to enhance the experience for kids while at the same time giving caregivers further peace of mind and visibility of their journey."

The new service applies to all children aged between five and 11 who are travelling alone, but those up to 16 years old can choose to opt in. It is being offered for free until February 3, but after that, there will be a charge of $NZ15 each way for domestic New Zealand flights and $NZ40 each way for international flights if the child has been booked as a child travelling alone prior to check-in at the airport. If the child hasn't been booked as travelling alone prior to check-in, the fees will double.

Domestic rival Jetstar New Zealand does not allow children below the age of 12 or who cannot prove they are enrolled in secondary school to travel alone. However, in Australia, Qantas allows children age five to 11 to travel on domestic flights for a $50 service fee and on international flights for a $90 fee. Virgin Australia has a similar policy to Qantas.

Most Viewed in Business

Loading