Parents are all too familiar with the challenges of keeping small children occupied on the plane – unless of course, airlines suddenly introduce playpens on board (wishful thinking, perhaps).
But for families travelling on flights in the States, help is now available.
‘Nanny in the Clouds’ is an online service that connects parents looking for childcare help to trained nannies who happen to be on the same flight and would like to earn some extra cash.
Parents register on the website for free and enter their flight information to see if any nannies have signed up for the service and are travelling on the same flight.
If there’s no match, parents can set up an alert which notifies them if a nanny registers and is on their flight.
If a nanny is available, the passenger pays $10 (£6.50) to the website for their contact details and to set up an interview. Rates are then negotiated privately with the nanny.
With the sheer number of flights in America however, the odds of being paired up with a nanny may not be high.
Nannies to the rescue
In the Middle East, Gulf Air has dedicated ‘Sky Nannies’ on long-haul flights, trained to look after babies and toddlers – from setting up bassinets to arranging meal times.
Lufthansa's first dedicated children's lounge at Frankfurt Airport. Source: Lufthansa
The service is offered free of charge and is available for children up to the age of 12.
Child friendly travel isn’t limited to the skies either.
On the ground, German airline, Lufthansa offers a dedicated children’s lounge at Frankfurt airport, but it is only available for business travellers or frequent flyers.
The airline’s “JetFriends” lounge has distractions for young ones including a play area, drawing tables, bean bags, cinema and a computer and game consoles for older children.
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