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FrDoes TAP Air Portugal offer special services for children traveling alone?
Acceptance of children under 12 years traveling alone on TAP Air Portugal flights implies certain rules and conditions. For children traveling alone, TAP Air Portugal offers two services:
- Unaccompanied Minor Service.
- Additional Assistant Service.
What age restrictions apply to children traveling on TAP Air Portugal flights?
Children must travel accompanied by an adult passenger. A passenger of at least 16 years of age may accompany a child on condition that he/she is capable of looking after the child during the entire journey, including check-in formalities, passport control, customs, etc. For children under 5 years of age, the accompanying adult must be at least 18 years of age. When there is no adult to accompany the child in the same cabin*, TAP Air Portugal will offer its special services depending on the child’s age:
| Child’s Age | Unaccompanied Minor Service | Escort Person Service |
| Under 3 months old | Not accepted. | Not accepted. |
| From 3 months up to 2 years old | Not accepted. | An escort person may take care of maximum one infant. |
| From 2 years up to 5 years old | May be accompanied by a passenger aged 12 to 15 years provided the Unaccompanied Minor procedure is applied for both. | An escort person may take care of more than one child. |
| From 5 years up to 12 years old | Accepted only as Unaccompanied Minors. | Not accepted. |
| From 12 years up to 18 years old | Exceptionally, may be registered as Unaccompanied Minors at the request of their parents or legal guardians. | Not accepted. |
*It is also considered an Unaccompanied Minor, a child occupying a seat in a different cabin from that of the adult, in flights operated with more than one class of service.
Additional Assistant Service
When traveling alone and at the request of the child’s parents or legal guardians, TAP Air Portugal can provide a companion for children aged between 3 months and 5 years (exclusively). The following conditions apply for this service:
- When booking, you must mention which language the child speaks.
- Parents (legal guardians or someone authorized by them) must accompany the child to the airport, assist with the check-in and customs formalities and remain at the airport until the flight departs.
- Parents (legal guardians) are responsible for obtaining the necessary documentation for the child’s journey. They must fill in and sign a handling advice for the minor.
- The flight attendant acting as the Additional Assistant will occupy a seat, for which you will be charged.
- Children must be met at the destination airport by someone authorized by their parents or legal guardians.
Service Charges
The child or infant will pay the applicable adult fare (not the child or infant fare). The normal adult economy class fare must be paid for the Additional Assistant (only certain fares without restrictions will apply). Airport charges will not be included for the Additional Assistant. The parents (legal guardians) will be charged for any expenses at point of stopover or overnight stop.
The fare is charged one-way, based on the place of departure and arrival of the flight. For example, on a Funchal – Lisbon – London flight, if the Additional Assistant service is required only for the Funchal – Lisbon leg, the fare charged for the Additional Assistant will be that for Funchal – London, even though the flight attendant does not travel the Lisbon – London leg.
If the child is a no-show, or the Additional Assistant service is cancelled less than 4 days from departure, there will be no reimbursement.
Unaccompanied Minor Service
There is a limit of 11 Unaccompanied Minors in Economy Class and 2 Unaccompanied Minors in Executive Class. Unaccompanied Minors are accepted to travel under the following conditions:
- Travel arrangements must be made in advance by parents (legal guardians or their authorized representative). When making or confirming an Unaccompanied Minor request, TAP Air Portugal requires you to give the name and contact details (phone number and address) of the persons who will be taking the child to the airport and picking him/her up on arrival.
- The parent accompanying the child to the airport must fill in and sign handling advice for the Unaccompanied Minor and remain in the airport until the aircraft has taken off.
- The entire journey must be confirmed at the time of ticket issuance.
- Stopovers and/or overnight stops are not allowed unless parents (legal guardians) have made arrangements for the minor at the layover airport to be met on arrival and escorted on departure by an adult.
- Whenever TAP acts as receiving carrier, the issuance of the handling advice for the Unaccompanied Minor can be replaced by an identical form presented by the delivering carrier as a guarantee.
Service Charges
For the Unaccompanied Minor service, TAP Air Portugal will charge a fee of:
- 50 EUR – on European (including Morocco) and domestic flights.
- 100 EUR – on intercontinental flights.
The fee applies per one-way (per through flight in the case of online travel with TAP Air Portugal). The fee is charged per Unaccompanied Minor.
