Virgin Atlantic has teamed up with deaf Gladiators star, Jodie Ounsley, and deaf twin content creators, Hermon and Heroda Berhane, to help better understand the needs of its deaf and hard of hearing customers as part of the airline’s commitment to ensuring every customer has a positive and inclusive travel experience.
The airline, which is the only UK airline to offer British Sign Language (BSL) trained cabin crew, asked the trio to test its services on a flight from London Heathrow to Washington.
The experience was captured in a film released today to mark International Week of Deaf People, which sees Virgin Atlantic BSL trained crew providing the airline’s signature warm welcome in BSL, assisting with onboard navigation, alerting passengers to onboard announcements and offering assistance with accessible in-flight entertainment.
Jodie, who was born deaf and wears a cochlear implant, and Hermon and Heroda, who communicate in BSL, shared their feedback with Virgin Atlantic’s newly created Accessibility Advisory Board, which was developed to help enhance the airline’s accessibility offering. 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.
In addition to ongoing BSL training, Virgin Atlantic has also committed to increase the subtitled options available on in-flight entertainment from the current 80% of movies and 40% of TV, increase clarity of services and links to special assistance contact within Virgin Atlantic’s My Booking platform and the introduction of Sign Live; an on-demand BSL interpreter for customer service teams ensuring support at all points along the journey.
The commitments build on Virgin Atlantic’s existing inclusivity initiatives, which include bespoke BSL and Deaf Awareness training conducted by Remark!, the leading deaf-led organisation who provide BSL training and translation for the community, and is available to all colleagues and the availability of hearing loops onboard all flights. Virgin Atlantic’s team of BSL trained crew has more than doubled since the start of 2023 and are available to request on all flights.
Jodie commented, “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.
“It’s amazing to see the feedback myself, Hermon and Heroda provided is going to help make the experience of flying even better for deaf travellers in the future. I can’t hear without my cochlear implant, so things like increasing the availability of accessible movies and TV will mean I can enjoy even more entertainment onboard.”
While onboard, Hermon and Heroda shared that they found it ‘surreal’ to feel understood and commented that being able to communicate their requirements and needs made the world of difference.
While much of Virgin Atlantic cabin crew BSL training, which has been made possible through the partnership with Remark!, focuses on the travel experience, the Accessibility Advisory Board plans to explore broadening its training programme to expand learning to include more general conversation, based on their feedback.
Emma Flanagan, Virgin Atlantic BSL trained cabin crew, commented, “My goddaughter was born deaf, so I started learning BSL so I could communicate with her. I also have Tinnitus, so understand what the experience of flying can be like for someone with hearing loss.
“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, from ensuring everyone feels welcome, to assisting with announcements, to helping them to experience the full warmth and joy of a Virgin Atlantic journey.”
