Oryx Kids Club by Qatar Airways

Oryx Kids Club by Qatar Airways

In February, a so-called “demonic child” went viral when a passenger on a Lufthansa flight to Newark captured footage of a small boy screaming and shouting more or less non-stop over the Atlantic.

Media outlets worldwide ended up covering the incident including the Daily Mail, Metro, Fox News, the South China Morning Post and the International Business Times (which questioned whether it was the ‘worst flight ever.’).

Though the passenger who filmed the episode was later criticised for ‘lacking empathy’ and though the boy was reported to have a disability, this extreme episode does illustrate a few issues when small children travel long-haul.

From the parents’ side, entertaining kids is tough, especially if they are toddlers and maybe have some kind of disability. From the airline’s side, stories like this resonate because “children from hell” has become a regular talking point in travel publications. With every passenger having a smartphone, these incidents can be captured shared, can get a million YouTube views like this did, and receive global media pick-up.

As a result, most airlines which fly long-haul now have some kind of kids’ programme above and beyond the cartoons and kids’ shows shown on the in-flight entertainment system.

One airline which has been looking at the issue of entertaining kids, and also winning over parents, is Qatar Airways, which earlier this month launched the Oryx Kids’ Club and Loyalty Programme.

The club offers much of what you’d expect including special new children’s in-flight meal boxes and plush toys on board.

Qatar Airways has also unveiled two “fun new hero mascots”, called Orry and Orah, who will feature on the airline’s website, in marketing material and in all the literature and activity packs given to children when they fly long-haul, as well as at special appearances at Hamad International Airport (HIA).

However, the loyalty programme allows children as young as two to gather QMiles and QPoints.

A special section on the Privilege Club website gives children their own dashboard on which to interact with the airline, and view their Qmiles balance and travel history.

According to the airline, “parents will play a key role in managing their children’s Oryx Kids Club accounts, giving parents and kids travelling together the opportunity to enjoy mutual benefits offered by the Privilege Club.”

The thinking behind the initiative is clear, peak holiday periods are key times when families travel, and by allowing kids to earn points towards a family account, they are trying to get parents to spend their money with QR.

Even before the launch, Qatar Airways was on the list of the most family friendly airlines from the ‘Flying with a baby’ guide, alongside Air New Zealand, Asiana, Etihad, Emirates, Eva Air, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

Other family friendly initiatives from airlines include the Sky Couch from Air New Zealand, the ‘Happy Mom’ service from Asiana and the Etihad ‘Flying Nannies.’

Key Take-Away

The subject of parents travelling with small kids’ provokes strong reactions among travellers. Many will get annoyed if seated near or around children especially if they are seen to ‘act up.’ Some might even be prompted, as happened to Lufthansa, to share their experience on social media.

However the simple reality is that families are a large part of the leisure market, so it makes good commercial sense to cater for them. And while Qatar Airways and the other airlines we’ve mentioned have rolled out good, solid services for parents and kids, there is no reason why you can’t get creative.

For example, take a look a what easyJet did.

They launched an on-board book club or “Flybrary” (which we featured in August) for kids.

This was a good idea as it was different, reasonably low-tech and easy to introduce, and it positioned easyJet as both family friendly as well as supporting the idea of kids’ reading.