All the joy has gone from air travel nowadays, with charges for everything, including checking in luggage or wanting to sit together as a family, which used to be fundamental rights of the air traveller. Airport parking site www.aph.com has done a useful comparison of just what you get with nine supposedly family-friendly airlines, including checking in, entertainment, baggage allowance and children's food.

British Airways proved itself to be particularly child-friendly, offering a new family online check-in as well as no charge to travel with a pushchair and car seat. In addition, the airline offers infants a baggage allowance of 23kg. Ryanair, on the other hand, is the only airline to charge an additional £4 per person to check-in at the airport along with an extra £6 to check-in a car seat.

Research also found that all the airlines, with the exception of Ryanair and Easyjet, can provide children's meals at no additional cost, but I'd question this as it depends on the route. On short haul BA flights, for example, you only get a sandwich nowadays, and on First Choice, for one, you have to pay for a hot meal and therefore a children's meal. It may not be an additional cost, but it's still a cost. My advice on all of them is to take a picnic!

Another thing the research doesn't mention is that if you don't pay for a meal in advance on some of the charter airlines, you become a second-class citizen and are made to sit at the very back of the aircraft by the loos, ‛for the convenience' of the cabin crew, so they don't have to walk up and down the aircraft serving meals. This means you get the snack trolley last, and off the plane last.

The full chart is available at www.aph.com. While you're visiting the site, you can book airport parking, too!