New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), on Tuesday instructed to all the airlines to adhere to instructions allowing children below the age of 12 to travel with at least one of the parents or guardians under the same booking reference without any additional cost.
The move came after passengers complained about having being forced to sit away from their children because they chose not to pay extra charges for the seats. Recently, children aged eight and three were made to sit nine rows away from their parents. The issue came forward as they took the issue on the social media platform, X.
Under DCGA's Air Transport Circular (ATC)-01 of 2024 titled 'Unbundle of services and fees by scheduled airlines', airlines are allowed to charge passengers extra for services like zero baggage, preferential seatings, meals, snacks, beverages, and carriage of musical instruments. On an opt-in basis, passengers can also choose to pay for these extra services if they desire to.
“Such unbundled services are provided on ‘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,” a senior official said, according to the Times of India.
The newly amended rule states, “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 traveling on the same PNR and a record of the same shall be maintained."
Similar problem persists foreign airlines
Airlines all over the world provide the option of pre-booking the desired seats and services days before the day of boarding, some prefer not to pay extra fees for pre-booking are allotted seats that were not selected thus causing separation of groups traveling together. The US is currently facing related to this on a large number.
This problem is not limited only to parents or in India but people traveling in groups by airways all around the world face the same issue of been allotted seats away from one another and the expense of extra fee for preferential seat services.
US President Joe Biden took a stance on Twitter (now X) expressing his views concerning the issue of children being made to sit away from their parents while traveling airways.
