Two airlines are bringing in a luggage allowance for infants, which will bring down the cost of travelling for young families.

Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways have announced that from May 1, 2009, infants (classified as children under the age of two) will be given a baggage allowance of 10kg in addition to the airlines’ policy of carrying a folding pushchair free-of-charge.

The announcements come in the week that Co-operative Travel has launched a campaign for a change in airline baggage policy for infants. The agency says that infant luggage can weigh up to 15kg for a week’s holiday because of necessary items such as nappies, baby wipes, food, milk and medicine.

That’s in addition to bulky equipment such as booster seats and travel cots.

Infants will continue to incur air fares of £30 on short-haul flights and £60 on long-haul flights. All other passengers travelling with the Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways will continue to have an allowance of 25kg for hand and hold luggage, although the carriers, owned by Tui, warn that there are instances when flights sold by Tui are operated by different airlines.

In these instances, the limit for checked baggage may be down to 15kg, with no baggage allowance for infants.

Other airlines that offer an infant baggage allowance are British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. For BA it is the same as other passengers – up to 23kg plus one pushchair and one car seat.

In addition, one hand luggage bag is allowed per infant, although an air fare charge of 10 per cent of the adult fare plus reduced taxes and charges is made per infant.

Virgin allows infants checked baggage weighing up to 10kg and hand luggage up to 6kg plus carriage of a pushchair and car seat. It charges 10 per cent of the full adult fare per infant.

The airline scalded by The Co-operative Travel as being least infant-friendly is Ryanair. Although the airline will carry one folding pushchair free-of-charge, it has no infant baggage allowance and limits passengers to 15kg each, with an excess charge of £12 per kilogram.

Infant equipment, such as booster seats and travel cots, are charged at £8 per item per flight if booked in advance, or £16 if paid for over the phone or at the airport. In addition, there is a charge of £16 per infant per flight.

EasyJet also has no allowance for infants, but its policy is marginally more generous, at 20kg per passenger. Infants are charged at £10 per flight.

Times recommends

• Oasis of the Seas: the Times review
• The 20 best new year party places to stay
• Green Spaces 2009: are you the winning writer?