Unaccompanied minors

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If your child is at least five years old but less than 12 years old and intends to travel alone, you may request Unaccompanied Minor Services.

 

Age requirements

We offer the “Unaccompanied Minor Services” to children who are at least five years old but less than 12 years old, who are traveling without an accompanying adult over the age of 18.

To ensure that unaccompanied minors board the aircraft in a safe and smooth manner, children who are between the ages of five and 12 years old and traveling alone will be accepted for carriage only after completing relevant unaccompanied minor service procedures.

Children under five years old or children under 16 years old with hearing or speech impairments or blindness cannot be accepted for travel alone.

If you intend to request Unaccompanied Minor Service for your child whose itinerary involves flights operated exclusively by Air China with Air China’s flight codes, including a connecting flight through Beijing, your child must meet the stated age requirements while taking each flight in the itinerary.

If your child is at least 12 years old but under 18 years of age, or at least 16 years old but under 18 and has a hearing or speech impairment or loss of vision, and intends to travel alone, you may request Unaccompanied Minor Services.

 

Applicable flights

We offer Unaccompanied Minor Services to children whose itinerary involves domestic, international or regional non-stop flights operated exclusively by Air China with Air China flight codes, including a connecting flight via Beijing.

If your connecting flight or return flight involves airlines other than Air China, please contact the other carriers to request services for those segments of the trip.

 

Where to request Unaccompanied Minor Services

To ensure that your child will have a smooth Unaccompanied Minor experience, please request the service well in advance of your child’s trip.  You may request Unaccompanied Minor Services and complete the relevant procedures when you book your child’s seat at a designated Air China direct sales office at your child’s first point of departure.

For round-trip tickets, you or a family member must request Unaccompanied Minor Services for the return trip at a designated Air China direct sales office located at the first point of departure for your child’s return trip.

 

When to request Unaccompanied Minor services

For domestic flights, please make a request before 15:00 (inclusive) one day prior to flight departure.
For international or regional flights, please make a request at least 48 hours prior to flight departure.

 

Carriage quantity restrictions

As the carrier is responsible for unaccompanied minors and needs to provide special services and care for them throughout their entire itinerary, there is a limit to the number of unaccompanied minors on each flight. Each Air China flight can accommodate no more than five unaccompanied minors who are at least five years old but less than eight years old. There is no limit to the number of unaccompanied minors over the age of eight.

 

Parent or custodian contact information

To ensure that your child has a smooth trip, please make sure you complete an Unaccompanied Minors Travel Request when requesting Unaccompanied Minor Services.

Unaccompanied minors must be accompanied by their parents or custodians to the boarding location at the departure airport and a friend or relative must pick them up and assume responsibility for them when they arrive at the destination airport. To ensure your child’s safety, please provide the names, ID document numbers, addresses and contact phone numbers for the people who will see your child off and pick your child up, and state their relationship to your child.

For the travel safety of your child, if you request Unaccompanied Minor services for your child whose itinerary involves flights operated exclusively by Air China with Air China flight numbers and includes a connecting flight via Beijing, your child's trip may involve an overnight stopover or a layover in Beijing. If the unaccompanied minor has a relative in Beijing, please provide the name, ID document number and contact number of the relative and his or her relationship to the child to ensure that we will be able to reach him or her under special circumstances including flight irregularities.

If a parent or custodian who intends to request Unaccompanied Minor Services for his or her child who is transiting through Beijing fails to assign a relative or friend to meet the child in the transit city, Beijing, and wants us or our local staff to take care of the child during the layover, he or she should make a prior request and obtain our approval before we can accept the child for carriage.

 

Unaccompanied Minors’ fares

• Domestic flight tickets:
  Unaccompanied minors who are at least five years old but less than 12 years old are charged 50% of the applicable normal adult fare.
  Children who are at least 12 years old but less than 18 years old who request Unaccompanied Minor Services are charged 100% of the applicable normal adult fare.
  
  
• International and regional flight tickets:
  The applicable normal adult fare applies.
  You may call 95583 or contact Air China's direct sales office for information about fares for unaccompanied minors on domestic, international and regional flights.

 

Service fees for unaccompanied minors

• Non-stop flights:
  On domestic non-stop flights, we offer services to unaccompanied minors who are at least five years old but less than 12 years old free of charge; for children who are at least 12 years old but less than 18 years old who request Unaccompanied Minor Services, the service fee for a one-way non-stop flight is RMB 200.
  On international and regional non-stop flights, we charge a fee for the cost of services provided to your child by the ground agent at the overseas airport. If you request Unaccompanied Minor Services for your child on an international or regional non-stop flight, you must pay a fee for the Unaccompanied Minor Services.  The service fee for a one-way non-stop flight is RMB 260 which is approximately USD 50 or the equivalent in other currencies.
  
  
• Flights transiting through Beijing:
  We may offer Unaccompanied Minor Services on flights operated exclusively by Air China with Air China flight codes including a connecting flight through Beijing.  For domestic, international and regional one-way connecting flights via Beijing, the service fee for unaccompanied minors is RMB 520 which is approximately USD100 or the equivalent in other currencies.

 

Our service offerings

• We will offer each unaccompanied minor a small travel ID pouch to wear around their neck that displays your child’s name tag and holds all their travel documents, boarding passes and other important items to keep them safe, accessible and well organized.
• Your child is required to bring a valid ID document that is identical to the one provided at the time the ticket was purchased, together with the completed Unaccompanied Minor Travel Request and his/her travel ID pouch, and arrive at the special passenger counter no later than 120 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time to complete check-in procedures. To ensure that your child boards the aircraft smoothly, the person who sees your child off should remain at the airport until after the flight departs.
• We have dedicated ground service staff who will be assigned to help your child complete all procedures including check-in, baggage check-in, security clearance and customs clearance, and to accompany your child to the boarding gate.  They will be responsible for retaining all of your child’s travel documents and vouchers. 
• When your child boards the aircraft, the ground service staff will hand over the travel documents to a cabin attendant, who will take care of your child during the flight and ensure that your child has a pleasant air trip.
• In case of flight delays, we will have dedicated staff to take care of your child and we will inform you immediately.  In case of flight cancellations, we will immediately contact you and notify you to pick up your child.
• When the flight arrives at the destination, our ground service staff will greet your child and accompany him or her to the arrivals area where they will conscientiously check and verify the identity information presented by the person who picks up your child.