7.6 Passenger-Type Fares: Infants, Children, Youth & Groups

Passenger-Type Fares: Infants, Children, Youth and Groups

The Passenger Type Code Drives the Price

Pricing begins with who is travelling. The passenger type code (PTC) is a three-character code recorded against the name in the PNR. It tells the system which discount to apply, which taxes to assess and which eligibility checks to run. Enter the wrong PTC and the fare is simply wrong - and an incorrect discount is a classic trigger for an Agency Debit Memo (see 7.4).

The Age Rules and Their Traps

Age is assessed on the date each sector is flown, never on the date of booking. That produces the two traps examiners love:

• The child who turns 12 mid-trip. An outbound flown on 10 August by an 11-year-old prices as CHD. If the 12th birthday falls on 22 August and the return is on 5 September, the return sector must be priced as an adult. The correct quotation is child outbound, adult inbound - not child throughout.
• The infant who turns 2 mid-trip. The outbound may be an INF on the lap, but the return requires a seat and a child fare. Never quote a whole return journey at 10% because the baby happened to be under 2 on the day you sold it.

A further hard rule: one lap infant per accompanying adult. Two adults may carry two infants; one adult may not.

The Discounts, and Who Actually Sets Them

The classic structure applies a percentage to the applicable adult fare for the same journey and fare basis:

• Infant without a seat: about 10% of the applicable adult fare. ANA, Air China, Air New Zealand, British Airways, Emirates and Singapore Airlines all publish roughly 10%, while Qatar Airways publishes around 15%.
• Child, and infant occupying a seat: commonly 75%, although 67% and 50% appear in some markets and fare families.

State this precisely, in the exam and to a client: the percentages are set by the fare rule, not by IATA. They vary by carrier, market and cabin, and most discounted or promotional fares carry no child discount at all. Air New Zealand, for instance, prices children at the adult fare on domestic and short-haul international routes and at 75% only on long-haul. European low-cost carriers usually charge a flat infant fee rather than a percentage.

The Exam Trap: Taxes Are Not Discounted

A 10% infant fare is 10% of the fare. The tax, fee and charge layer is generally assessed in full. The discount does not flow through to government taxes, airport charges or - unless the carrier says so - the YQ surcharge.

There are named statutory exceptions worth knowing. UK Air Passenger Duty exempts children under 2 without a seat in any class, and children under 16 travelling in the lowest class of travel; seat that same 10-year-old in premium economy and the duty becomes payable. The German aviation tax exempts children under two. These are specific reliefs; the default working assumption remains full taxes.

Worked Family Quotation

Two adults, one 7-year-old child and one lap infant, London to Bangkok and return, economy. The applicable adult round-trip fare is GBP 520.00. This fare rule gives CHD 75% and INF 10%; the carrier-imposed surcharge is GBP 160.00 per seated passenger and is waived for the lap infant; Bangkok passenger charges come to GBP 24.60 per seated passenger. Bangkok is over 5,500 miles from London, so UK Air Passenger Duty is Band C.

Check the arithmetic the way an examiner will: fares 1,482.00 + surcharges 480.00 + duty 212.00 + XT 73.80 = GBP 2,247.80. Had the family booked a promotional fare with no child discount, the child line alone would rise by GBP 130.00.

Infants, Bassinets and Unaccompanied Minors

Infant baggage is minimal and carrier-specific: typically one small checked allowance of about 10 kg (some carriers give none at all) plus free carriage of a collapsible stroller and a car seat or carrycot. A bassinet is not a baggage item - it is a cabin fitting requested in advance, limited in number and position, restricted to bulkhead seats, and normally capped at roughly 10-11 kg and 70-75 cm of infant size. Request it at booking, reconfirm before departure, and never promise it.

Unaccompanied minor (UMNR) handling is a chargeable, documented service that is added to the ticketed fare. Delta charges 150 USD, CAD or EUR each way, covering up to four children on the same itinerary; United charges USD 150 each way for up to two children; Alaska charges USD 100 each way. The mandatory age band is commonly 5-14, with 15-17 optional, and many carriers prohibit connections, red-eye flights and codeshare segments for unaccompanied minors. You must capture the escorting adult and the collecting adult with names, addresses and telephone numbers exactly matching the photo identity documents they will present.

Group Fares

A group is a separate contract, not a discount you apply in normal availability - which is why a group is never booked out of the ordinary availability display. Typical terms:

• Minimum size. Ten passengers travelling together on at least one common flight segment is the common threshold; American Airlines applies 10 in economy or mixed cabins and 7 where all passengers are in premium cabins.
• Group name record. Seats are held in a contracted block outside published inventory, so the block does not consume normal availability and the fare is not the published fare.
• Deposit and name-list deadlines. A deposit secures the block; the passenger name list and full ticketing fall due on contractual dates, commonly weeks before departure. Miss them and the block cancels and the deposit is forfeited.
• Utilisation requirement. Fail to fill the contracted percentage of held seats and a cancellation charge applies.
• Tour conductor (TC) or free-of-charge allocation. One complimentary seat per stated number of paying passengers. Ratios are contractual - one free per 15 paying is the classic ratio, with one per 10 and one per 16 also common. Taxes and charges normally remain payable on the free seat.