Unaccompanied Minors Travelling with Thai Airways

Though, letting a child travel alone is a troublesome affair, people often face such situations. Watching a son or daughter walk alone to the boarding area at the airport is bound to worry any parent. If you are allowing your child or a young relative to travel alone, you must be in great stress and wondering if it is worth it.

Flights are now the most used mode of transport and a lot many children fly safely alone every year. This has only been possible because of the pro-activeness of carriers towards providing the most required services.

Thai Airways, the flag carrier of Thailand, is not lagging behind other carriers in terms of child travel. With in-flight and on-ground services, this carrier helps in making minor travelling a hassle-free affair. This jetliner allows unaccompanied minors to fly alone giving all the needed assistance. If your child is travelling alone in Thai Airways flights in near future, then you should be familiar with the related policies of this airline.  

Important Things to Know

While an accompanied minor could travel with a family member or guardian, the unaccompanied minor service can only be applied by the parents of the child. Thai Airways offers this facility to children between the age of 5 and 17 and a parent has to contact the local Thai Airways office to make the reservations. Here, you can get the special assistance and handling form for unaccompanied minors that is required to avail this service.

You are required to fill in the age and date of birth of the child, along with the contact number of an appointed guardian who can be contacted anytime between the take-off and landing of the aircraft.

Besides this, you are required to fill in some more information that helps Thai Airways to make all the necessary arrangements and assist the child in the best possible way.    

Conditions of Carriage for Unaccompanied Minors in Thai Airways

Thai Airways does not accept unaccompanied minors for flights that involve transfers, overnight stops or stopovers longer than six hours. However, if you can arrange or provide assistance for the child at the transfer point, you can avail the service of this carrier. It is also important to know that an unaccompanied minor cannot fly with a pet. You must also consider that, apart from the requisite forms of Thai Airways, additional documentation may be required for certain countries.

It is mandatory for parents to be present at the departure airport and to remain there until the flight departs. Upon arrival of the flight at the destination, the ground staff of Thai Airways will accompany the child and make sure that he/she comfortably completes all the post-flight requirements. You do not have to worry about the safety of your child here, as the airline representative accompanies your child till you, or an appointed person takes responsibility of the kid. 

Conditions Regarding Airfares and Other Charges

For a minor travelling on international routes, a regular fare, that of an adult, is charged. Besides the airfare, a charge of USD 60 is chargeable for this facility.

However, for domestic routes in Thailand, parents only have to pay the 75 per cent of the regular airfare for children between 5 to 12 years of age. However, this carrier does not charge any extra fees for the unaccompanied minor service on domestic routes. 

The best thing about the unaccompanied minor service of this carrier is the age limit of children. While most of the other carriers provide this facility for kids of 5 to 14 years, Thai Airways offers it for children of up to 17 years.

Using this service of Thai Airways will ensure that your child reaches the designated destination safely.