- The airline has partnered with Learning Rose to make travel
easier for customers with autism
- The easy-to-use guide, which has been endorsed by the
National Autistic Society, can be downloaded from ba.com
- It’s the first initiative to be launched as part of the
partnership
- British Airways was the first UK airline to be awarded the
renowned Autism Friendly Award by the National Autistic Society
To mark World Autism Acceptance Week, British Airways has
announced a partnership with Learning Rose, an organisation that
develops support material for people with autism.
Through the partnership, British Airways has become the first
airline in the UK to produce a Visual Guide to Flying. The
Visual Guide is endorsed by
the National Autistic Society and is designed to help customers
prepare for their trip and make them feel as comfortable as
possible during their journey. Each section of the guide, which
can be downloaded from ba.com, describes a different part of the
flying experience, using simple icons and text to describe the
sights, sounds and smells passengers can expect. The Visual Guide
is the first initiative as part of the airline’s partnership with
Learning Rose.
In addition to the Visual Guide, the partnership also includes
colleague training and support and bespoke colleague consultation
sessions to ensure the airline’s staff have help on hand to
always ensure best practice.
Learning Rose was founded by , whose son has autism,
mitigated echolalia and sensory modulation dysfunction. Rebecca
previously worked at British Airways as cabin crew, before
founding Learning Rose to help others gain a better understanding
of autism through designing support materials to enhance the
lives of those with autism and other disabilities.
, Founder of Learning Rose,
said: “I am really proud to partner with British Airways
to create a newly updated and expanded Visual Guide and provide
additional training and support for the airline’s colleagues. I
know from both my experience working as cabin crew and from
travelling with my son that flying can sometimes be overwhelming
for people with autism, so I am delighted to be working with
British Airways to help ease any travel anxieties that people
with autism may face.”
Calum Laming, Chief Customer Officer at British Airways
said: “At British Airways we welcome more than half a
million customers who require special assistance each year and
we’re fully committed to making sure our service is accessible to
all. We’re always looking for ways to improve the experience for
customers with visible and non-visible disabilities. Our
partnership with Learning Rose is just one of the many
initiatives we have in place to make flying as stress-free as
possible and we’re looking forward to further strengthening and
enhancing our partnership going forward.”
British Airways was the first UK airline to be awarded the
renowned Autism Friendly Award by the National Autistic Society
and the first to formally recognise the sunflower lanyard scheme,
partnering with Hidden Disabilities Sunflower.
Customers are able to liaise with the airline’s specialist
accessibility team to ensure every journey taken is as
straightforward and stress-free as possible. The dedicated
customer care team can discuss and arrange appropriate assistance
for each individual, whether this be assistance through the
airport and on board, pre-allocation of seats or updating a
booking to ensure cabin and ground crew are aware of any support
that customers may require.
Customers also have the option to add any requirements to their
booking in advance of travelling through the 'Manage My Booking'
tool on ba.com and there are dedicated check-in areas at London
Heathrow Airport for those requiring additional assistance.
ENDS
Notes to editors
British Airways was the first UK carrier to embed British Sign
Language (BSL) in its customer engagement centres by partnering
with Sign Live and most recently, it started working with Queen
Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People to further enhance the
accessibility support for its customers.
The airline has empowered all airport colleagues to help
customers with additional accessibility requirements through its
‘Beyond Accessibility’ training programme and digital learning
resources, providing information about non-visible disabilities
and practical advice on how to support customers at each stage of
their journey*. It also provides a dedicated team of
accessibility experts to assist with customer enquiries **.
More information on all of these initiatives can be found
here
*British Airways colleagues have access to a digital learning
library on accessibility. This content has been produced in
partnership with the customer experience and employee experience
experts Ethos Farm ltd and Open Doors Organization and the
training videos help raise awareness amongst our colleagues on
several disability types, such as deaf or hard of hearing, blind
or visual impairments or non-visible disabilities like autism.
**Each member of the customer care team has passed an intensive
specialist training course.
