Did you know there is a product called Plane Pal which is designed to help young children sleep on flights? I certainly didn’t, probably because I don’t have kids.
Long haul travel is difficult enough without throwing little humans into the mix. I imagine Plane Pal would be very handy on really long flights such as Australia to Europe. What is it though?
Plane Pal
The product is marketed to help keep babies, toddlers and kids more comfortable when flying. It is essentially an inflatable bag that sits in front of the seat on the floor, to extend the seat pan so a child can sleep better.
Once in flight, you inflate the thing with a pump and go ahead and use it. It’s not something I would have considered but apparently this is a thing.
How Do You Use It?
Interestingly, it is designed to be used in normal economy seats, bulkhead seats and even in premium economy. The bag is shaped so that turning it over or using it lengthwise allows it to adapt to the various pitches.
I think it’s quite clever. At this stage I must mention I am not being paid by Plane Pal, I just saw an article online about it and it intrigued me and so here we are.
Is It Approved By The Airlines?
According to the Plane Pal web site, it is approved for use by quite a decent number of airlines. Many of these are quite well known and you can see them below.
When you are on board the aircraft, you can only use the device when your child is seated in a window seat or in the middle seats. I am not sure how it works in a 3-4-3 configuration though.
Looking at the web site, it appears to be sold throughout the world. Not just the UK, but Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and of course the United States of America.
Overall Thoughts
Priced at around £50, it seems to be quite reasonable to give a little bit more comfort to your child. The fact it might help them sleep throughout the long flight is probably a bonus for everyone on board, especially the parents.
Have you used something like a Plane Pal before? I’d love to hear what you think. Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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All images via Plane Pal.
Doesn’t look to be approved by AA or Qantas.
Which makes you wonder whether they asked and were told no, or if they haven’t asked, or if the airlines are still making a decision. Time will tell. Thanks for the comment!
No longer approved on British Airways – Cabin Crew have a notification that it was NEVER approved, despite what it says on the plane pal website. Had one that had to be deflated on baord long halu flight, despite using it as per the instruction in window seat.
Thanks for the heads up, Judy! Interesting that they claimed it was approved when it wasn’t. There’d be grounds for money back in that case, you’d think. Appreciate the update there, thanks again!
HI there, Sam from Plane Pal here. I’d like to clarify that BA did advise initially that the product was allowed on board (we emailed their customer service several times) . When 6 months later we were advised they did not allow it we removed them from our approved list. It seems one arm doesn’t always talk to the other within these airlines. Considering we meet all IATA guidelines and requirements for Kids comfort items and are now approved by over 40 airlines the “suggested safety concerns” have clearly been resolved. We have ALWAYS said on our site that you… Read more »
Hi Sam, thanks for writing in about that to clarify the situation. You are correct, in a large organisation such as that, that sometimes happens where conflicting information is provided. Great to see that the product is still going strong. Really appreciate your input – people should check your web site for the up to date list. Once an article is posted, things usually become out of date fast enough, so it’s always best to go to the source. All the best!
Hi Samantha. What about Qantas?