EasyJet announces ‘grans go free’ deal on holidays to Europe

Photograph: Matt Alexander/PA

EasyJet’s holiday wing is offering “grans go free” places on trips to Europe, after research found half of families had never holidayed abroad with their grandparents.

Under the offer, one grandparent on the trip can travel free of charge to countries including Spain, Greece and Italy. The tour operator said it hoped the deal would encourage Britons to take a holiday with three generations of their family or more.

Matt Callaghan, the chief operating officer at easyJet Holidays, said it was proud to offer “thousands of free kids places” but also wanted “to recognise the grandparents”.

Travel trade publications are calling multigenerational holidays one of the industry’s biggest post-pandemic trends amid a renewed desire among younger generations to holiday with parents.

A poll of 2,000 British adults, found more than half of those surveyed (56%) said they regretted not spending more time with grandparents and 54% said they were hoping to bring them on future holidays.

More than half (59%) of those surveyed said they wanted to spend more time with the older generations in their family, with 57% saying they wanted to make holiday memories with grandparents.

Callaghan said: “This research shows how important grandparent and grandchild relationships are and how much can be learned from making time for them. We’ve launched our ‘grans go free’ offer to tighten these important family relationships.”

The polling also found that 77% of people agreed that the bond between grandparents and grandchildren was one of the most special relationships within a family – yet 27% said they spoke to their grandparents less than once a week.

The offer starts on 1 February and will be available for a limited number of customers. EasyJet Holidays said some additional spaces would also open on Monday. To qualify, the grandparent must be travelling as part of a family booking with at least one child. Proof of age and relation will be taken upon arrival at the destination hotel.

EasyJet Holidays says the most popular destinations for a multi

generational holiday abroad are Spain, Italy and France. More than half of those polled said they would probably let their grandparents pick the destination if they were planning a trip together.

For 45%, the grandparents in the family are the bigger earners, but despite this only 35% would expect a grandparent to contribute financially if they came on holiday with them, wanting to treat them instead. If they were to contribute, 39% of those surveyed would ask them to cover just their share of the holiday, while 21% would ask only that they pay for a meal or two on the trip.