- Autism Friendly Holidays
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- Posted: 02/07/2025
Airport Sensory Rooms: A Neurodiverse Family’s Guide
Chloe Gallagher
The Travel Mum | Neurodiverse
Airport Sensory Rooms: A Family Guide
If you’re looking for airport sensory rooms or sunflower rooms, this guide has you covered.
Traveling as a family can be an exciting adventure, but for neurodiverse families, airports often come with unique challenges. The hustle, bustle, and sensory overload can be overwhelming. Navigating unfamiliar spaces, large crowds, and the pressures of security can quickly become too much.
Thankfully, many UK airports are recognising these needs and have introduced sensory or sunflower rooms to provide a calming environment for those who need it.
What Are Airport Sensory Rooms?
Sensory Rooms: These are specially designed spaces equipped with calming lights, sounds, and tactile experiences to help individuals with sensory processing needs relax.
Sunflower Rooms: Named after the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Scheme, these rooms offer a quiet space for individuals with non-visible disabilities to decompress.
Our Family’s Experience Using Airport Sensory Rooms
As a neurodiverse family, we’ve found these rooms to be invaluable. I hadn’t even heard of them until last year. When travelling through Manchester Airport I just spotted a sunflower on a door in the terminal and decided to take a closer look. It completely changed our travel day, having a quiet space to be together as a family away from the hustle and bustle and to recover from a stressful security experience.
I’ve decided I’ll never travel again without knowing what facilities the airport has and how it will support our family. Earlier this year we travelled through Liverpool airport, and made use of their sensory room. This had to be pre-booked in advance via email and can only be used by one family at a time. Again, it completely transformed our travel day, and knowing we had a safe space to aim for gave us a plan for the airport and made preparing for our travel day so much easier.
After these positive experiences, I thought about how many other families could benefit from using these spaces. So I’ve done all of the research for you and put together this list of UK airport sensory rooms and sunflower rooms.
Complete List of UK Airports with Sensory or Sunflower Rooms (2025)
Here’s a list of UK airport sensory rooms and sunflower rooms:
| Airport | Facility Available |
|
Bristol Airport |
Sensory Room located in the Departure Lounge, designed for passengers with autism, dementia, cognitive impairments, or other special needs. Pre-bookable sessions (45 minutes long) are available daily between 4am and 9pm. |
| Gatwick Airport | Sensory Room in the North Terminal, free to use for passengers. It’s a calming environment designed for passengers with disabilities like autism, dementia, or learning disabilities. To use the sensory room, speak to staff at the Special Assistance reception on the day, just after security. |
| Heathrow Airport | Heathrow also support neurodiverse travellers with ‘sensory object packs’ which include a fidget toy and feelings cards. Unfortunately sensory room has closed in this airport. |
|
Manchester Airport |
Sunflower Room in Terminal 1, designed to aid Assisted Travel Guests who need a break from the main Departure Lounge. |
| Birmingham Airport |
Sunflower Room next to Gate 47, equipped with sofas, a bean bag, and a small selection of books. It’s an open-access space for customers who find the airport environment overwhelming. |
| Luton Airport | Quiet Room located next to Gate 17 in departures. |
|
Stansted Airport |
No dedicated sensory room, but there is a quiet seating area by the gates. |
|
Liverpool Airport |
Sensory space available to assist those travelling through airport with hidden disabilities. This space must be pre-booked via their website. |
|
East Midlands Airport |
Two Quiet Rooms offered: The first is before security next to the Jet2 ticket desk and the other is after security, opposite Gate 14. |
|
Belfast Airport |
No dedicated sensory, sensory rooms or quiet rooms. |
|
Cardiff Airport |
No dedicated sensory, sensory rooms or quiet rooms. |
|
Leeds Bradford Airport |
No sensory or quiet rooms but the airport offers an escorted quiet route through the terminal. |
|
London City Airport |
No dedicated sensory, sensory rooms or quiet rooms. |
|
Glasgow Prestwick Airport |
No sensory or quiet rooms available. |
| Newcastle Airport |
The custom-designed area is available in Gate 31 for departing passengers with hidden disabilities such as dementia, autism, sensory issues and mental health disorders to use when the experience of travelling through the airport becomes overwhelming.
It is not necessary to book to use the facility.
|
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The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Scheme
Many UK airports participate in the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Scheme. By wearing a sunflower lanyard, passengers can discreetly indicate that they have a non-visible disability and may require additional support. Staff trained in the scheme can offer assistance, ensuring a smoother travel experience.
Travelling as a neurodiverse family comes with its set of challenges, but with the increasing availability of sensory and sunflower rooms, airports are becoming more accommodating. These spaces provide much-needed respite, allowing families to navigate their journeys with greater ease and comfort.
Airports participating in the Sunflower Lanyard scheme have lanyards available within the airport for you to pick up at the special assistance desk. If you want a lanyard before you travel you can buy one here:
If you’ve tried any of these rooms during your travels, we’d love to hear about your experiences. Sharing stories helps raise awareness and encourages more airports to adopt such inclusive practices.
Happy travels,
Chloe
Written by: Chloe Gallagher
The Travel Mum | Neurodiverse
We are a neurodiverse family of five, passionate about making travel more accessible and inclusive for families with diverse needs. We understand that travel isn’t always easy, but believe everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy exploring the world in a way that works for them.
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