How Airport Special Assistance Helps Families Travelling with Autistic Kids: Our Parent Guide
- 3 days ago
- 8 min read
Without airport Special Assistance services our family would struggle to travel easily by plane - and we certainly we wouldn't have taken our two autistic boys on a dream holiday to the arctic circle!
If you are dreaming of a family trip abroad but feel overwhelmed by the prospect of airport terminal queues and sensory triggers, you are not alone. Airport special assistance schemes are designed to assist you, and for many neurodivergent families act as a travel lifeline.
What is Special Assistance for Autism?
Special Assistance is the official term for the free support available to travellers with unique needs. This includes physical mobility restrictions, as well as hidden disabilities like autism, ADHD, epilepsy and sensory processing differences.
There are no rigid universal rules setting out what these schemes must offer. However, transport companies are legally expected to abide by disability discrimination laws.
Airport, airlines and train operators vary significantly in how they handle and support hidden disabilities.
For a detailed breakdown of the types of support across the travel sector, check out our detailed special assistance guides:
🎒 Quick Links to Our Deep-Dive Special Assistance Guides:
🧳 Pack Your Own Sensory Survival Kit First
While special assistance staff are incredible at fast-tracking you through long queues, they cannot completely eliminate the sensory chaos of a busy terminal.
Before you even set off for the airport, we highly recommend assembling your own sensory support pack that meets the specific needs of your child.
Key items that we include in our own pack can be found below.
Remember to keep items handy at the top of day packs or in the outer pockets of your hand luggage and hand bags.
Official Hidden Disability Sunflower Lanyards
While you can collect free basic lanyards at most airport special assistance desks, including this item in your kit at home makes your arrival at the airport much calmer.
Showing it to your children as part of your travel prep and encouraging them to wear it before they leave the house makes a massive difference to your experience on travel day.
Younger kids like our boys particularly love wearing this official Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Lanyard with Cute kids plushie via Amazon*.
For older kids we recommend this version of the sunflower lanyard on amazon*. It comes with an optional autism awareness card that clearly states the wearer is autistic without them having to explain this out loud to strangers - particularly useful for autistic teenagers.
Noise-Cancelling Ear Defenders
Security halls and boarding gates are incredibly echoey and loud. And don't get me started on the sound of the plane's engines!
We always keep two pairs of Alpine Muffy Kids Ear Defenders via Amazon* easily available so the boys can pop them on when the airport noise threatens to overwhelm them. We've been using them for over 3 years and they are still going strong.
Tactile Fidget Tools
Moving through terminal areas or coping with flight delays involve a lot of unexpected standing around.
Keeping a few small items from this selection of Mini Fidget Sensory Toys via amazon* handy keeps anxious hands busy and helps ground a child's nervous system while you chat with airport staff.
Real Examples: How Special Assistance Helps Us in UK & Europe Airports
Our personal experiences of support have varied a lot across different airports. To help reduce confusion around what you can expect, we have included a summary of the special assistance we personally received at each of the airports we have travelled into or out of.
To help you plan your own journey, I have also included direct links to each airport's official accessibility pages. Use these to check each airport’s specific layout and/or visual guides before you fly.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick airport has designated seating areas for special assistance passengers once you have cleared security. You can either wait here (they are calm and quiet) or venture into the shops with a pager that buzzes when it is time to go to your gate.
In Gatwick we were met by the most wonderful woman from special assistance, who took care of everything - passports, security, collecting items and helped us with taking our liquid medicines through security. She was calm, kind and so understanding of hidden disabilities, proactively taking my son to quiet places with dim lighting to wait while she sorted things for us. Amazing.
On another trip we were collected in the passenger buggy, and after clearing passport control were taken to the luggage carousel. I was then allowed to sit in it with the boys as there was a lengthy delay on bag delivery. This kept the boys contained and reduced the amount of sensory feedback they were receiving - it absolutely prevented a meltdown from our youngest.
She also kept up a steady stream of chat with my eldest who was starting to get anxious and helped keep him relaxed during this unexpected delay. Once we had our bags she then took us through customs and out to meet the taxi driver who was waiting for us.
Work through your support needs using the London Gatwick Special Assistance Guide.
London Heathrow Airport
Like Gatwick, Heathrow also has dedicated lounge spaces for special assistance passengers.
In Heathrow we were transported from one of these departures lounge to our boarding gate on airport golf buggy. The boys thought this was wonderful, and so did we, it was an extremely long walk and it would have been too much for them. We would have ended up carrying them for much of the journey - they are over 26kg each!
We have also been offered seating in special waiting areas at the boarding gates - these are quieter and less stressful spaces for the boys.
View their sensory maps on the official Heathrow Airport Assistance Portal.
Glasgow Airport
When we arrived at Glasgow airport a lovely young man collected us from the plane door with a wheelchair for our youngest (although he can walk he struggles with transitions)
He helped us get our luggage off the baggage belt and then pushed me (holding our youngest son) in the wheelchair through the airport to the long stay carpark. All the while he kept up a friendly and low demand chat with our eldest son who was showing obvious signs of anxiety. Just awesome.
Check out their local facilities on the Glasgow Airport Special Assistance Hub.
🇳🇴 Norway
Oslo Airport
On arrival in Oslo we waited about 15 minutes to be collected by Special Assistance staff. We were then taken directly through passport control, avoiding a queue that was over 90 minutes long.
Plan your journey via the Oslo Airport Assisted Travel Page.
Bergen Airport
On arrival in Bergen we were able to wait for ground crew to find and bring up our son's buggy to the airplane door.
This made it so much easier moving through the airport on arrival.
Check arrival rules on the Bergen Airport Accessibility Portal.
Tromsø Airport
Our plane was delayed leaving Tromso. Having already been boarded first and allowed to settle the boys we were then faced with the disruption of taking them both back off the plane.
The crew saw our faces, and after a brief discussion allowed us to stay on board in order to keep the boys regulated.
They even provided free refreshments and took our eldest son up to the cockpit to have a look at the space and meet the pilots - in his words - BEST DAY EVER!
The Tromso delay meant we were late for our connecting flight in Oslo. Staff there were notified by the plane crew and we were put into a special minivan and driven quickly around the perimeter of the airport to the other gate.
We were brought up right next to passport control, where we were ushered through without queuing. We made our flight with 3 minutes to spare!
Prepare for the Arctic Circle via the Tromsø Airport Assisted Travel Desk.
🇮🇹 Italy
Milan Linate Airport
Our experience at the Milan Linate airport was absolutely phenomenal. On arrival, we were met immediately and escorted straight through the passport queue with very little waiting.
Two wonderful assistance staff then helped us handle our luggage and personally guided us all the way to our car hire desk.
On departure, Milan provided an entirely separate, quiet room exclusively for families using special assistance. Most importantly, the staff member looked after us with complete empathy—they totally understood boundaries and knew exactly how to support autistic children without invading their personal space or touching them unexpectedly.
They even let both of our boys sit together in the same assistance wheelchair because they wanted the comfort of being close.
Review the Italian airport support details via the Milan Airports Special Assistance Hub.
Catania Airport, Sicily
Flying home from Sicily our son was very ill, having had a seizure earlier in the trip. To help us they let us board first, well in advance of the other passengers and were given the time we needed to settle him properly.
We were also provided with seating in reserved seats at the departure gates and offered water. This was very welcome as it was extremely hot in the airport.
Review Italian assistance steps on the Catania Airport Special Assistance Page.
🇱🇻 Latvia
Riga Airport
Riga airport was surprisingly large and our departure gate was as far away as you can get from the check-in desk.
However, we were so impressed to see that the airport provides free pushchairs and buggies right there in the terminal for families who have already checked their toddler's main pram into the hold. It's a wonderful touch.
It made me wish I had taken them up on the offer of the wheelchair we had booked. Lesson learnt - never judge the distance you have to walk based on what you did on arrival!!
Having made our way over to the gate we were boarded first and had a few minutes to settle before the other passengers started coming on board.
View their terminal setup on the Riga Airport PRM Assistance Guide.
🇦🇹 Austria
Innsbruck Airport
Innsbruck airport is super small so we weren't sure about requesting special assistance. However they were absolutely fine with it and a young man wearing bright red medi-style overalls assisted us through security and declaring the medicines.
He showed us to a designated special assistance area with large screens which really reduced the noise and visual distractions.
When it was time to board he came back to collect us and after we'd cleared passport control walked us across the tarmac to the plane and helped us to board first.
Check this small terminal's rules on the Innsbruck Airport Barrier-Free Travel Page.
🌟 Final Thoughts: Finding Your Travel Confidence
If you are an autism mum, dad or grandparent parent sitting at home reading through our family’s experiences, please remember this: we did not build up our travel confidence overnight.
We started with a one hour hop from London to Edinburgh, when we didn't book special assistance and really wished we had! Our next few flights were packed with intense anxiety, and we only learned what worked by trial, error, and making a few mistakes along the way (like our long walk through Riga airport!).
Special assistance schemes are not perfect, and terminal teams vary significantly. But as you can see from our journeys through UK, Norway, and Italian airports, the support available can be a complete game-changer.
Bypassing a 90-minute border queue or having a calm staff member protect your child's personal space can mean the difference between a successful family break and a total sensory holiday meltdown.
You deserve to chase your travel dreams, and your children deserve to explore the world in a way that respects and supports their needs.
Take a deep breath, trust your instincts, and use the tools available to build your own family's safety net.
💬 Over to You: What are your best and worst airport experiences?
Have you travelled through any of these airports with your neurodivergent children? Or have you experienced incredible special assistance at an airport we haven't visited yet?
We are always looking to expand our community toolkit to help other autism and ADHD families travel smoothly.
Drop a comment down below to share your personal airport wins, warnings, or tips—let’s help support each other!
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