BA changes child seating policy

British Airways has changed its seating policy of banning single male travellers from sitting next to unaccompanied children on flights.

The policy changes come after a business traveller complained of being “humiliated” and treated like a "child molester". Mirko Fischer was travelling from Luxembourg to London when he swapped places with his pregnant wife so she could have a window seat. The swap round meant he ended up sat next to a child he did not know.

Cabin crew asked Fischer to move seats but he protested, saying that the rule broke the sex discrimination laws. The airline admitted breach of the Sex Discrimination Act in the case of Mr Fischer and agreed to pay him £2,161 in costs and £750 in damages. Following the case BA has reviewed their policy and unaccompanied children will now be seated in a special area on planes.

Fischer said of the policy change: "This is a victory for common sense."

In a statement, BA said: ‘We have offered this service on all flights for many years for children aged between five and 11 years old, who are travelling alone.

‘Given that some of these flights last up to 13 hours and are overnight, we take the responsibility of caring for these children, whose safety and security has been entrusted to us, extremely seriously.

‘We have recently changed our internal advice to our seating and airport teams to ensure that the seating of unaccompanied minors is managed in a safe but non discriminatory manner.’

Mr Fischer donated the damages payout he received and £2,250 of his own money to child protection charities Kidscape and Orphans in the Wild.