Travel News

'Double check ticket price on budget holidays'

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has recommended that families looking to plan a budget holiday should be careful about how they make their decision.

A Rough Guides survey found that Virgin was the most child-friendly airline with 36 per cent of the vote, while British Airways came in second place with 32 per cent. Ryanair and easyJet received two per cent and six per cent, respectively.

Sean Tipton, press officer at ABTA, said: "Bear in mind that when you're booking with [budget] airlines because quite apart from standards of service, once your child stops being a babe in arms you'll have to pay a full adult fare for them because they don't have child fares.

"It might look very cheap," he said, "but once you add on the fact that, if you're travelling with small children, you're going to need a heavier baggage allowance which is very limited on the no-frills carriers."

While he said that so-called budget airlines could be a good deal, it is important for families to not just look at the "headline price" of the flight itself.