That's a little steep!

Carol Woodward protested to British Airways after the airline said she would have to pay the fee for poorly son Jack to use an oxygen cylinder during flight.

After she branded the £100 each way charge as "discriminatory and disgusting", BA appear close to performing a u-turn and allowing 18-month-old Jack to use his own canister.

The news has brought some cheer to mum Carol who wants to take Jack to visit relatives in the Orkney Isles, Scotland.

Little Jack was born eight weeks prematurely and, after contracting septicaemia, was given only a five per cent chance of survival. Remarkably the

little battler pulled through, but he has been left with chronic lung disease and needs to be hooked up to an oxygen bottle 24 hours a day.

Despite his illness, Carol feels Jack is fit to travel on a plane and wants to take him to visit relatives.

Carol, 30, who lives with Jack's father, Karl Hopkins, in Newton-le-Willows, said: "Jack has been through an awful lot and now we just want to do normal things like go on holidays.

"But driving is just not on option it would be 500 miles in the car and then on the ferry.

"At the moment he is on the oxygen 24 hours day and to have to pay to use someone else's equipment is ridiculous.

"BA have now cleared that we don't have to pay, and while this is great for me it is not so good for other people."

British Airways, initially, said Jack must use a cylinder provided by the airline at a cost of £200 for a return flight. However, after Carol's story appeared in a Scottish Sunday newspaper they began to examine the charge.

The airline's spokesman said: "We have made contact with Miss Woodward and are awaiting some medical details regarding the oxygen cylinder used by Jack. We are confident the matter will be resolved."

It is now understood BA will allow Jack to use his own cylinder because the flow of oxygen it produces is far less then the cylinders provided by the airline.