I am travelling alone, do I need a personal assistant?

You'll need a personal assistant to travel with you if you don't meet the UK Civil Aviation Authority's definition of being self-reliant. This means you need to be able to:

- Open your seat belt
- Leave your seat and reach an emergency exit without help
- Collect and fit a lifejacket
- Put on an oxygen mask without help
- Understand the safety briefing and instructions given by the crew in an emergency - including information provided in accessible formats

What's more you may want to think about travelling with a personal assistant if you need help with any of the following:

- Breathing - for example if you rely on supplementary oxygen
- Eating - although cabin crew can help you open containers
- Going to the toilet - cabin crew can help you move through the cabin in a wheelchair to reach the toilet, but you need to be able to use the facilities by yourself
- Taking medication - you'll need to be able to administer your own medication during the flight

Personal assistants:
If you need to travel with a personal assistant, you'll be sat in the seat next to them, as long as you have notified us in advance. Seats together in premium are more limited; please contact our Special Assistance team on 01 693 7700 to check availability before you book. That said, we can't guarantee that you'll be sat together with any other passengers you're travelling with. Personal assistants need to have their own ticket to travel, and unfortunately we can't offer discounted fares to them.
 
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