Planeload of passengers votes on name for little girl’s teddy bear

Young passenger whittled down stuffed animal’s name from more than 100 suggestions

Taylor and Bailey visit the cockpit (Southwest Airlines/Twitter)

Cockles have been warmed by the story of a little girl naming her teddy bear on a US flight - with the help of her fellow passengers.

A child named Taylor took a flight with SouthwestAirlines on Saturday, bringing a very large cuddly teddy bear along for the ride.

On chatting to the girl about the stuffed animal, the flight’s cabin crew realised it was new and as yet unnamed - and decided to have a little fun to pass the flight time.

“When young Taylor boarded with a very large teddy bear, our flight attendant, Esther, asked the bear’s name. Taylor shrugged and said the new bear didn’t have a name yet. That gave Esther a fun idea…” tweeted Southwest staff from the airline’s account.

Esther thought it would be nice if the other passengers gave their suggestions for the bear’s name, and helped Taylor get everyone on board.

“After getting Taylor’s permission, Esther announced there would be a teddy bear naming contest! Once the seatbelt sign was off, Taylor & the bear walked down the aisle to give all the passengers a good look as the crew passed out napkins & pens,” the thread continued.

“Taylor looked through more than 100 submissions, but finally decided on a new name... Bailey!

“Everyone onboard cheered and celebrated Taylor and her now extra special new friend, Bailey.”

Passengers on the Southwest flight with their votes (Southwest Airlines/Twitter)

Though customers and followers were cheered by the airline’s special efforts to make flying fun for kids, not every airline is so warm and cuddly.

In September, Japan Airlines divided opinion with its seat-booking maps, which show customers where a baby or infant is going to be sitting on their flight.

This gives JAL passengers the option to sit as far away as possible from the youngest passengers on their flight.

Though Japan Airlines is the only carrier to adopt this tool at present, seat planning website SeatGuru also displays a cot icon to show where babies are likely to be placed on flights - most often at the bulkhead area at the front of each cabin.