The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked airlines to ensure children below the age of 12 are seated with at least one of their parents or parents/guardians who are travelling on the same PNR.’
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 this regard, the DGCA has revised the Air Transport Circular titled, ‘unbundle of services and fees by scheduled airlines’ as per which, some services like zero baggage, preferential seating, meals/snack/drink charges, charges for carriage of musical instruments etc. have been allowed.
“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.
“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,” it said.
Technically, if you buy an air ticket, you are assured a seat and you pay a selection fee only if you want a window or aisle seat, or exit row seat with extra legroom. In reality though, if you are a parent or travelling with a minor, the selection fee is not really an optional choice. For, the only way to ensure your kid is not seated next to strangers is to pay for seats including a middle seat.
The issue of people travelling in groups being seated separately if they do not pay extra for seat selection has been irking travellers across the world and not just in India.
Recently, a man had booked an IndiGo flight from Chennai to Mumbai for his family of four. However, upon boarding the flight, he was shocked to find that the airline had allocated seats to his children away from him. Though the passengers on board were kind enough to exchange seats with the man’s family, he took to social media to highlight the issue, stating that it is “basic human decency” for airlines to assign adjacent seats to families with children.
This new regulation addresses a common concern for parents flying with young children - the possibility of being separated during seating allocation. Having a young child seated alone on a plane can be stressful for both the child and the parent.
This is the second order received by the airline within a month. Earlier, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) had stated that when the airlines in the first week of this month received an order to deboard the passengers and take them back directly to the boarding area instead of making them go through the entire check-in procedure again.
