Virgin Atlantic has upped its commitment to inclusivity by collaborating with disabled thought leaders to review and refine its accessible travel experience. Olivia Palamountain reports

Virgin Atlantic has taken significant steps to improve its services for deaf and hard of hearing passengers, collaborating with deaf celebrities and establishing an "Accessibility Advisory Board".

The board will include leaders from across the industry each with their own personal experiences of accessible travel, who will review processes and products and help shape the development of new offerings to ensure Virgin Atlantic continues to empower customers to travel the world.

The airline, which is the only UK carrier to offer British Sign Language (BSL) trained cabin crew, recently invited deaf Gladiators star Jodie Ounsley and deaf twin content creators Hermon and Heroda Berhane to evaluate its services on a flight from London Heathrow to Washington.

A film released by the airline in September 2024, depicts BSL-trained crew providing assistance with onboard navigation, alerting passengers to announcements, and offering help with accessible in-flight entertainment.

Jodie Ounsley, who was born deaf and wears a cochlear implant, shares her experience: "Until recently I didn't feel confident enough to fly on my own, but knowing that airlines like Virgin Atlantic can provide specially trained crew with the awareness and understanding to make me feel comfortable onboard is really empowering."

The airline has committed to several improvements based on feedback from these deaf travellers.These include increasing subtitled options on in-flight entertainment, improving clarity of services within Virgin Atlantic's booking platform, and introducing Sign Live, an on-demand BSL interpreter for customer service teams.

Emma Flanagan, a Virgin Atlantic BSL-trained cabin crew member, says: "Making all passengers feel included and empowered at every stage of the flight is a key part of our role as cabin crew. Being able to go that one step further and do this in BSL for passengers is hugely rewarding."

New research conducted in partnership with RNID, the national charity supporting people who are deaf or have hearing loss, reveals the significance of these efforts.

The study found that while 82% of people surveyed who are deaf or have hearing loss plan to travel abroad in the next year, 58% worry about communicating with cabin crew when flying, and 90% are concerned about missing announcements and key information.The research also indicated that 81% of respondents would welcome deaf awareness training as standard across the aviation industry. Moreover, 80% said such training would make them feel more confident when travelling.

Virgin Atlantic's BSL-trained crew has more than doubled since the start of 2023, and the airline plans to expand its training programme based on feedback from the Accessibility Advisory Board. Find further information about this initiative here.

This campaign is part of Virgin Atlantic's ongoing commitment to inclusive travel, which has also seen the airline partner with Channel 4 to feature a BSL-trained crew member in a series of on-screen idents and support the England Deaf Rugby team on their recent tour of South Africa.