New Delhi: In a major development on Monday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) via a notification mandated the airlines to allocate seats for children of up to 12 years of age with at least one of their parents or guardian travelling on the same PNR without being required to pay any extra amount.

This happened after the aviation watchdog received multiple complaints from passengers travelling in groups or with family about being seated separately — especially from their children — if they choose not to pay extra for seat selection.

Accordingly to the DGCA's amended rule, “Airlines shall ensure that children upto the age of 12 years are allocated seats with atleast one of their parents/guardians, who are travelling on the same PNR and a record of the same shall be maintained.”

The regulator’s Air Transport Circular (ATC)-01 of 2024 titled “unbundle of services and fees by scheduled airlines” allows airlines to charge extra for services like zero baggage, preferential seating, meals, snacks, beverages, and carriage of musical instruments. On an opt-in basis, passengers can choose to pay for these extra services if they desire to do so.

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.

It is pertinent to note here that the issue of not sitting together while boarding a flight with a group or family members has become a matter of contention between the passengers and the airlines.

Airlines across the world offer pre-seat selection for a charge and those who do not wish to pay this get allocated whatever seats are not pre-booked and hence, this separates them from their family members or friends during their traveling.