Air New Zealand introduces ‘Airband’ for children travelling alone

Air New Zealand has come up with a simple way to give parents of children flying alone peace of mind – thanks to their new ‘Airband’ device.

Air New Zealand’w new ‘Airband’ helps parents feel less stressful if their child is travelling along on one of their planes Image by Aero Icarus / CC BY-SA 2.0

A child travelling alone on their flight is given a wristband as part of their new service at the check in. The unique band is embedded with a microscopic chip that is scanned during the journey. This sends back text notifications to up to five people, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The carrier’s general manager for customer service, Carrie Hurihanganui, said this use of groundbreaking technology reduced the stress for families of children alone. The airline had undertaken trials for a number of months and received positive feedback from guardians and parents who felt it provided additional reassurances for them.

The scanning occurs when the child checked in, again at plane boarding and  and again upon landing at their destination point. The last text arrives when the child meets up with the designated person at the airport.

While the service was for children aged from 5-11, there was the facility for those up to 16 years old to be included in it.

Currently free, there will be a charge from next February of Nz$15 each for domestic flights and NZ$40 each way for international flights.