Ensure children up to 12 years are allocated seats with their parents in flight: DGCA tells airlines

DGCA mandates airlines to seat children under 12 with parents, revises air transport circular for unbundled services

Updated - April 23, 2024 05:28 pm IST - New Delhi

Representative image.

Representative image. | Photo Credit: G.P. Sampath Kumar

Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked airlines to ensure that children up to the age of 12 years are allocated seats with at least one of their parents or guardians in a flight.

The directive comes against the backdrop of instances of children below the age of 12 years were not seated along with their parents or guardians during flights.

"Airlines shall ensure that children up to the age of 12 years are allocated seats with at least one of their parents/guardians, who are travelling on the same PNR and a record of the same shall be maintained," the DGCA said in a statement on April 23.

In this regard, the regulator has revised the Air Transport Circular titled, 'unbundle of services and fees by scheduled airlines'.

As per the norms, some services like zero baggage, preferential seating, meals/ snack/ drink charges and charges for carriage of musical instruments are permitted.

The DGCA said that such unbundled services are provided on an "opt-in" basis by airlines and are not mandatory in nature.

"There is also a provision for auto seat assignment to the passengers who have not selected any seat for web check-in before scheduled departure," the statement said.

India is one of the world's fastest growing civil aviation markets and domestic air traffic is on the rise.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.