Children under 12 should be seated adjacent to their parents: DGCA

On Tuesday, the nation’s civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), ordered airlines to assign children under the age of twelve a seat next one of their parents.

The Air Transport Circular (ATC)-01 of 2024, headed “Unbundle of Services and fees by scheduled airlines,” has been changed by the DGCA. According to this new version, some services, such as free baggage, preferred seats, meal, snack, and drink charges, and fees for the transport of musical instruments, are now permitted. The airlines provide these unbundled services on a “opt-in” basis; they are not required.

Additionally, if a passenger has not chosen a seat for online check-in before to the planned departure, an automatic seat assignment feature is available to them. “With the intention of preventing future occurrences of the numerous incidents that the DGCA became aware of, involving children under the age of twelve not being seated with their parent or guardian, the current Air Transport Circular 01 of 2021 has been appropriately amended to include the following clause.According to the DGCA notice, airlines must make sure that children under the age of 12 are seated next to one of their parents or guardians when they fly on the same PNR, and a record of this must be kept.

At the moment, travelers must pay an airline anywhere from ~300 to ~600 to choose their desired seat. Seats that were not reserved in advance are allocated to those who choose not to pay for this service. Those traveling in groups who have not purchased tickets are thus placed apart from one another. This is true for kids who are traveling with their parents as well.

This problem affects tourists from all around the globe, not only in India. The administration of US President Joe Biden requested last year that Congress enact laws outlawing airlines from charging more for families traveling with children under 14 to seat together.