Airport travel can be a sensory hell and a routine-shattering nightmare. No matter how excited I am about the trip I'm taking, this part always fills me with dread. I'm gradually building up my strategies, including a communication card, which I'll talk about in another article. One of those strategies has been to start booking Special Assistance when I book my tickets. With... let's say "mixed" results so far.
Before I tried this, I didn't know what to expect. So, I wanted to share some tips based on my experiences, for others in that situation. And I'll probably be referring back to this myself the next time I fly! It seems to vary a lot by location, and the below is a mixture of experiences from: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Geneva, and Southampton.
Tip 1. Contact airports in advance
When booking and arranging special assistance, I was told to inform the airline and that they would take care of everything. There was a box to tick when booking plane tickets to say that's what I wanted. However, most of what I need is based within the airport, and nothing to do with the airline... so, if you are the same: contact the airports directly, well in advance, to ask questions about what is available.
Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports were responsive and provided a breakdown of what they could offer, such as priority through security and access to a quieter waiting area. Geneva never replied, leaving me uncertain. Southampton had such detailed information on their website that I didn't bother to email... but when I got there, it didn't seem like the information was accurate, so I wished I had asked!
When I arrived at Edinburgh, the special assistance desk wasn’t very informative and completely threw me off with odd questions. I felt frozen and couldn't ask for more information or options in the moment. They didn't give me most of the information I had received over email, so it's a good job I'd asked in advance.
Advice:
Contact the airport in advance via email or a contact form to try and confirm what assistance is available.
Ask for clear details on what to expect at each stage (e.g. faster or quieter routes through security, quiet waiting spaces in departures, early boarding, speedy lanes through passport control, etc.) This will vary between airports.
Tip 2. Be clear on your needs
Assistance staff may not always ask the right questions, so it helps to be specific about your needs. For me, this was wanting a quieter route through security and passport control, and a quiet place to wait in departures.
At Southampton, because I was wearing sunglasses when I went to the assistance desk, they mistook me for needing visual assistance, which added unnecessary and entirely baffling steps to the process (we only found out at the end why this had happened!) At Geneva, the whole process seemed to rely on a helpful member of staff spotting my sunflower lanyard, but that was inconsistent. If I were to do it again I would have been more direct with asking for help.
Advice:
Be clear about your preferences and limits. Think ahead about what you'd like, and write it down if that would help to remember it in the moment.
Advocate for yourself if the assistance being provided doesn’t match what you need, or if something feels overwhelming. Most people won't intuitively "get it".
Tip 3. Wear a Hidden Disabilities Sunflower lanyard
Wearing a sunflower lanyard helped me bypass some longer lines and gain quicker access through busy areas, but it wasn’t consistently recognised at every step. In Geneva, the lanyard led a staff member to guide me through a faster passport control lane, saving a huge amount of time and stress. However, in Edinburgh, signage acknowledging the lanyard didn’t translate into practical assistance.
Advice:
Wear the lanyard for easier recognition of hidden disabilities, staff are generally trained to notice it, and this should be mentioned on the airport's website.
Ask for available options when the lanyard isn’t automatically noticed; staff may be able to provide guidance or help you skip busy queues.
Tip 4. Reduce busy queues
If crowded areas are a challenge, ask if priority or assistance lane is available. In Glasgow and Southampton, the special assistance desk offered me a priority security route. Edinburgh had a special assistance / family lane for security, which was much quieter. And Glasgow has a special assistance lane through passport control. They also offered to have someone accompany me, but personally, I felt like that would be more stressful...
When boarding, EasyJet seemed to combine "speedy boarding" with special assistance, which made it much more stressful as we were lumped in with people twitching to be at the front of the line... Now, we choose to sit and wait until most people have boarded before getting on the plane, to avoid the queues. Much calmer!
Advice:
Request priority options for security and boarding if available.
Consider waiting to board last if early boarding means being among a larger group, as it can often avoid crowding.
Tip 5. Aim for quiet spaces, but don't count on it
Many airports have designated quiet or special assistance areas, but the quality and location of these vary. Edinburgh has a "quiet" waiting area that wasn’t exactly quiet, as it was close to an active gate. Sometimes just finding an empty corner helped more than the designated quiet spaces.
At Southampton, I read about a quiet route through the airport on their website but found no clear signage for it. This lack of clarity, combined with a very chaotic boarding experience in which it transpired that they had assumed I was blind, left me wishing I hadn’t opted for assistance there at all.
Advice:
Scope out quiet areas ahead of time, if possible, and don’t hesitate to ask for help finding them.
Be flexible and aware that "quiet" areas may still be noisy, so you may need to adjust your plan or expectations. Make sure to pack headphones, earplugs, sunglasses... whatever you need to make your own little "cocoon" if there isn't something ideal available.
And finally, a plea to all airports...
Special assistance has led to some of the best and worst moments in my recent journies. With so much variation between airports, and between staff within those airports, it can be extremely unpredictable and stressful to navigate.
Most of this would be solved by having a clearly outlined set of options available, which could be indicated in advance or at the airport and carried with you. That would remove the need for a passenger to guess or be able to articulate their needs in the moment. And lessens the impact of happening upon a member of staff who is less understanding.
Lauren x