Holiday Advice Please

Hi, we have two sons, the youngest of whom has athetoid cp and like your son he doesn't sit unsupported. We have done afew holidays abroad with them. Our advice is:
-get insurance just incase. There are afew companies who will provide cover such as All clear - if poss all get insurance with same company as if any thing did happen they pay for your return flights so one of you at least can stay out there if needed.
- ask for assistance onto the flight as they let u board first giving you abit extra time and an extra pair of hands, and means you can take your special buggy right to the plane
- re buggy I won't lie we did have one flight where it was broken. Best to take off any pieces that come off, print off some wheelchair signs and stick them onto the base and the seat and then if you can cling film the two together. The flight assistance will tell the other end it is a wheelchair and they should bring it to the plane door- dont think it's okay I'll carry them as some terminals can be huge and a killer with kids and bags
- the DDA doesn't cover planes, ships or trains!!! However, monarch are excellent and Thomas cook are good the latter has one special needs seat and monarch have several, you need to contact the airline before you fly and complete a form and it will all be ready fixed in for you. If you aren't flying with these you can purchase your own flight seat but these aren't cheap approx

HI Liv,
I can't help with a lot of the questions you raise, but I have experience of air travel with poeple with a range of physical disabilities, all I can say is, whenever we have put wheelchairs in the hold, they have never been damaged, and ideed, the baggage handlers do seem to take extra care with wheelchairs. AS for your other queries, can your travel agent help with that kind of info, or if you haven't booked yet, why not get in touch with one of the specialist companies like Access Travel (no, I don't work for them) but they seem to be pretty good at what they do, so they might know if specialist equipment can be hired in Mallorca, it is one of their destinations I think.
Good luck and happy holidays,
Monk

Hi,
I have taken my little girl on holiday and found it to be a really positive experience. We didn't have any trouble getting travel insurance, although we did had to pay a little more than usual,but not considerably more. Monarch airline were great, I spoke to them in advance and they e-mailed me diagrams of the seating they were able to offer so I could look at it with our OT and then just returned a short booking form for the seat via e-mail. We were able to take the wheelchair to the plane and it was waiting for us when we disembarked. We were also given the seats with extra legroom so we had room to 'manual handle,' all we needed was a letter from the GP confirming this space was needed for medical reasons and there was no charge.
I used her wheelchair as a feeding chair, which although not ideal worked fine for holiday.
When I was making enquiries for this holiday the travel agents said some airlines will let you use your carseat on the plane, but again you need to phone the airlines themselves to find out what their policies are, most are really helpful.
With a little planning most issues can be resolved.
Hope you have a really great holiday.

Hi Liv,

I am not in a position to offer the advice you are looking for, but hope what I have to say will be of interest. I am an adult with CP and although I don't have a lot of experience with airlines, I have travelled with EasyJet and Monarch on a couple of occasions and cannot fault either company. They carried my electric wheelchair without any problem what so ever. I rang the airline and made sure they were expecting me, and they dealt with it all from there. On Monarch I paid extra to book the front seats with extra legroom and although I had to pay