Airport Guardians

A key component of our service is the presence of a team at Heathrow and Birmingham Airports throughout the school travel day to attend to any students needing assistance.

On departure days, the locally-based Airport Guardians staff are on hand from before the first students depart until after the last flight has cleared UK airspace. On arrival days, they are in the airport from before the first flight arrival until after the last student is safely en route back to school.

The team has dealt with many issues on behalf of parents and schools, including

• Forgotten passports
• Overweight luggage
• Unaccompanied Minors
• Services booked but not paid for
• Missed flights
• Immigration issues
• Documentation issues
• Lost property and lost luggage
• Student in Heathrow Police station
• Disoriented students

Airport Guardians staff all live close to the airport and can be on site within 40 minutes, so even on non-school travel days we are able to put a member of staff on standby should you require.

There are additional fees payable for some Airport Guardians services, notably Unaccompanied Minors. This is because a UM requires one-to-one attention and takes the member of staff away from general duties.

OUTBOUND SERVICES

Unaccompanied Minor (UM): Where the student is officially booked as a UM with an airline. The chaperone or driver must help with check-in, stay with student until handover to airline staff, usually within 2 hours of check-in, then wait until 30 mins after flight has departed UK airspace. Cost is £42 per hour (min. two hours, plus any parking if applicable). On a school travel day, we have airport guardians based at Heathrow and Birmingham who will track the flight to make sure it has left UK airspace. This eliminates the cost of the driver staying until the flight has cleared UK airspace.

Walk to Check-In: Where the driver or chaperone walks the student to the check-in desk to make sure they are orientated and know what they are doing. If they have any issues they will assist and walk to the international departures gate, providing as much guidance as needed. Cost £42 per hour, plus any parking if applicable. Usual time taken: One hour.

INBOUND SERVICE (Start of Term/Half term/Exeat)

An Unaccompanied Minor (UM) service: Where the student is officially booked as a UM with an airline. The Chaperone or driver must be reserved and allocated and their details given to the airline, or to the person who made the booking, to pass on accordingly. The chaperone or driver is then known as a ‘Named Person’ and the airline will only hand the student over to that named person once ID has been provided. Cost £42 per hour, plus any parking if applicable. Usual time taken: One hour.

When a UM service is booked you will be informed of the chaperone’s details 48 hours prior to the travel date. No chaperone details are provided or required for a walk-in service.

Any extra administrative calls required by GTM to an airline are charged at £25.