tcook052

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/air-can...140000535.html

MONTREAL , Nov. 23, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Air Canada has introduced a brand new kids' club called Air Canada Altitude Skyriders™ designed to make flights even more exciting and enjoyable for children between the ages of two and 12 years old. Once parents register their children for free online at Air Canada Altitude Skyriders, children will receive a kit containing a welcome letter, an exclusive Skyriders luggage tag and a logbook to chart their flights. Every time the child travels, he or she will also earn printable badges online to commemorate special milestones or achievements. First flights, new regions or destinations explored all have special meaning, and will be commemorated online. E-mail notifications will be sent once new badges are earned.

"The Air Canada Altitude Skyriders club will introduce kids to the exciting world of travel making their journey with Air Canada a memorable experience," said Benjamin Smith , Air Canada President, Passenger Airlines. "It's not about points or rewards, it's about making their trip as fun as possible and we hope to nurture and encourage childhood curiosity and create lifelong memories."

Each flight that a Skyrider takes will be an opportunity to collect stickers to fill their logbooks. Additionally, all children on board will receive, activity books, headphones, backpacks and puzzles, depending on their destination.

traacs

Air Canada launches Altitude Skyriders program for kids

2016-11-23 10:01 ET - News Release

Mr. Benjamin Smith reports

AIR CANADA LAUNCHES ALTITUDE SKYRIDERS KIDS' CLUB; MAKES FLYING AN ADVENTURE FOR CHILDREN AGED 2-12

Air Canada has introduced a brand new kids club called Air Canada Altitude Skyriders, designed to make flights even more exciting and enjoyable for children between the ages of two and 12 years old. Once parents register their children for free on-line at Air Canada Altitude Skyriders, children will receive a kit containing a welcome letter, an exclusive Skyriders luggage tag and a log book to chart their flights. Every time the child travels, he or she will also earn printable badges on-line to commemorate special milestones or achievements. First flights, new regions or destinations explored all have special meaning, and will be commemorated on-line. E-mail notifications will be sent once new badges are earned.

"The Air Canada Altitude Skyriders club will introduce kids to the exciting world of travel making their journey with Air Canada a memorable experience," said Benjamin Smith, Air Canada president, passenger airlines. "It's not about points or rewards, it's about making their trip as fun as possible, and we hope to nurture and encourage childhood curiosity and create lifelong memories."

Each flight that a Skyrider takes will be an opportunity to collect stickers to fill his or her log book. Additionally, all children on board will receive activity books, headphones, backpacks and puzzles, depending on their destination.

Air Canada has a broad range of initiatives in place to meet the needs of families and the hundreds of thousands of children who fly with the airline each year, including:

Altitude status extension for parental leave -- Air Canada recognizes that life changes, and with it, so do travel patterns. Air Canada now offers the Altitude status extension for parental leave, a North American first. This unique privilege for new parents is one or the many special ways the airline accommodates parents and families. When expecting a baby or welcoming a new child and planning on taking a parental leave, Altitude members can request a parental extension in order to continue enjoying the privileges of their Altitude status when resuming flying more frequently;
Complimentary seat assignment for parents/guardians and children under the age of 12 who are travelling together -- Air Canada assigns seating without an advance seat selection fee soon after the booking has been made, either directly through Air Canada or through a travel agency, for parents and guardians who have indicated they are travelling with children;
Free travel for children under two sitting on their parents' lap -- Air Canada welcomes babies as young as seven days on board, and each bundle of joy has to be accompanied by a passenger aged 16 or older;

Air Canada Rouge crew are trained at Disney Institute to create memorable moments for customers and a relaxed atmosphere onboard Air Canada's vacation carrier, Air Canada Rouge. The Rouge crew have also painted children's faces, created puppets and distributed signature buttons commemorating "happy birthday" and "first flight;"

Enjoy family-friendly inflight entertainment like complimentary movies, TV shows, kids' programming, music playlists and more on Air Canada's personal seatback inflight entertainment system available when flying on Air Canada aircraft (except Bombardier Dash 8 and Q400 aircraft). Its inflight entertainment system on Rouge has seen upgrades across the entire fleet, with new iPads available for rent or streamed directly to your personal device during your Air Canada Rouge flights, just make sure to download the Air Canada app before you board and you will be good to go;

More than 10,000 young travelers fly unaccompanied with Air Canada each year. And regardless of whether they are travelling on a short flight or are embarking on a longer journey, Air Canada's unaccompanied minor service ensures that children travelling alone receive the best of care and are escorted by our highly trained staff from the moment they arrive at airport check-in until they reach their destination;
Other travelling information:

Formula, breast milk, juice and baby food (in small containers) are permitted in carry-on baggage. Because onboard refrigeration may not always be available on all aircraft types, please bring these items in a small cooler bag to keep them at the desired temperature. If available, extra ice may be provided as needed;

Special infants' and children's meals are available on international flights and in business class within North America. For more information and to order an infant/child meal, please call Air Canada Reservations at least 18 hours prior to departure.

All of Air Canada's aircraft (with the exception of our Bombardier Dash 8-300 (DH3) and Dash-8 100 (DH1) aircraft) have diaper-changing tables located in either the front or back lavatories.

© 2016 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Publishing the official release with all the perks that Air Canada has for traveling parents.

Diabeetus

Here's what the Skyriders goodies looked like in February 2017.

Bag


Activity book and headset


Puzzle


Not shown: crayons

quantumofforce

I will sign up on my daughter's second birthday!

ffsim

Interesting, I received a luggage tag instead of headphones.

ACYYZ/SD

Kids packs including headphones are distributed on board International flights.

ffsim

Convenient, thanks ^

quantumofforce

So, apparently you can only sign up a child who resides in Canada or the United States.

Fiordland

Weird, would have thought Air Canada was trying to be a world class airlines. Apparently just a North American class airlines for the 2-12 year old demographic.

Still looks like a nice program.

KathrynInCanada

Back in the 90s we flew a lot with the kids. They were both Elites (because there was a special promotion of points after a strike and we had an RTW and two trans Atlantic trips that year.)

There was a Skyriders program back then as well; pretty sure it was for any kid on a long haul. IIRC we got them on the Vancouver to Tokyo segment (they also got a trip to the cockpit and after the pilot gave them a chart as we deplaned.) The kids each got a shoulder bag with a water bottle pocket and zippered compartment about 5"x7"x2". It was great for holding their maps, cameras and snack along with a water bottle. The strap was long enough they could wear it cross body. Those came on a lot of trips with us until they wore out.

Over the years there were also little jigsaw puzzles, binocular/compass combination and other little things.

quantumofforce

Asiana still hands out puzzles
Singapore Airlines hands out decks of cards (Finding Dory), and ANA gave my daughter an inflatable plane.

I know each item was under a dollar, but if it keeps a child quiet for even 30 minutes, that makes a massive difference for the other passengers on the plane seated near the child.

global happy traveller

GHT Jr has one. Comprised of a cute luggage tag, log book and regular Aeroplan card. Not bad, but the CX Kids club back in the 90s was better with magazines and a hardback logbook!

Diabeetus

Signed up the little one for Skyriders.

We flew RT to YVR recently, however no badges or flight data have shown up on the Skyriders page, despite the Aeroplan points already being credited to the account.

Does the info on Skyriders usually show up at the same time as the Aeroplan crediting (like with the Altitude website)?

expert7700

unsure but I can keep an eye on my son's flight today and tmrw and report back posting times.

He has a whole bunch of badges so far, he just requested and got 5 more books since the first filled up so fast

Diabeetus

Thanks.

Do they actually hand out stickers for badges when he is on the flight, or do they get mailed to him?

We didn't receive anything on our last flight.

And I also presume that badges are only given for revenue flights (rather than Aeroplan Reward).