INFANTS AND CHILDREN

At Turkish Airlines we take care to ensure that children and infants enjoy as comfortable a journey as our adult passengers. We provide a number of special services, such as dedicated check-in counters, which take into account all the needs of our younger passengers. On this page, you’ find all the information necessary to ensure you experience a pleasant, trouble-free flight with your children.

Traveling with your infant

With Turkish Airlines, you can enjoy discounted ticket offers for infant passengers when you travel with infants aged 8 days and over who have not yet reached their 2nd birthday. We also allow infants who are between 2 and 7 days old to travel if parents can present a doctor’s note stating: ‘There is no particular reason for the patient not to fly.’  

Infant travel

Infant passengers can only travel accompanied by a guardian. The guardian must be at least 18 years old and each guardian can only accompany 1 infant passenger.

Infant passengers travel on the lap of their guardian, with a special infant safety belt. Guardians can also request a seat for infant passengers. In this case, infants must have their own baby baby car seat-style carrier which will be placed on the aircraft seat. The dimensions of the carrier must be 40x40 cm. If a seat is requested, a discounted child ticket will be issued for the infant and there will be no additional charge for the baby carrier. Baby carriers must be provided by the guardian.

A mother, father or adult aged 18 or over can accompany up to one infant on a single flight. If traveling with more than one infant, an infant ticket (sitting on the companion’s lap) will be issued for the first infant, and a child ticket (paid, in a separate seat) will be issued for additional infants. Infants sitting in seats must be in a carrier in order for their seatbelt to be fastened.

Strollers for infant passengers can only be transported in the cargo hold. However, infants in their strollers can be brought as far as the plane entrance, where guardians can hand over the stroller to staff. At the end of the flight, the stroller will be unloaded by our staff and given back to the guardian.

WARNING: On all flights to Germany (except Frankfurt Airport), in accordance with airport rules, baby strollers cannot be delivered to the passenger at aircraft doors. The strollers must be picked up by the passengers from the baggage claim area.

Baby food

On Turkish Airlines flights, you can choose from 2 types of fruit and vegetable baby foods, both of which are served in glass jars. These must be requested during the reservation process or at least 24 hours before the flight. We also carry additional baby food in the cabin for passengers who have not made a special meal request before the flight. Please note that our additional baby food service is limited.

You may bring enough liquid or solid baby food with you to meet your child’s needs during the flight. Take care to ensure that liquid baby food is carried in containers with a volume no greater than 100 ml.

Traveling with your child

All our child passengers who reached 2nd birthday but not 12th birthday on the beginning date of travel can fly with their mothers, fathers or or an adult companion aged 18 or above. Our child passengers traveling discounted on our flights will have the same baggage allowance provided to our adult passengers. In our international flights, you can make special meal request for your children at least 24 hours before flight.

Children traveling alone

All child passengers aged 2 and over who have not yet reached their 12th birthday can travel with a guardian, but they are also able to travel unaccompanied. However, unaccompanied child passengers who are aged 2 and over and have not yet reached their 7th birthday must be under the supervision of one of our cabin staff.

Traveling with a companion

If you are unable to travel with your child and do not have a guardian to travel with them, Turkish Airlines can assign a travel companion for your child as long as you meet their full flight costs.

Our assigned in-flight companion, along with members of ground staff, will ensure your child has a safe flight.Your child’s needs during the journey will be dealt with by our assigned staff member who will deliver your child to a nominated adult waiting at the arrival destination at the end of the journey.

You must make your request for a companion at least 48 hours before the flight. A request for a companion can only be made by the child passenger’s parent or someone authorized by the parent. The person bringing the child passenger to the airport and handing them over to staff must be the child’s parent or a legal guardian, and must be carrying a notarized document indicating they have the authority to hand over the child passenger.

Traveling without a guardian

Children aged 7 and over who have not yet reached their 12th birthday can travel without a companion. The procedure for unaccompanied child passengers is as follows:

1. Please ensure that children traveling without a guardian arrive at the airport at least 2 hours before the flight. At airports, priority is given to children who are traveling unaccompanied. Furthermore, please bear in mind that there is a special counter for our child passengers at Istanbul Airport.
2. During the check-in process, the member of staff responsible will ask you to sign the necessary documentation and will provide you with information about the procedure.
3. Once check-in and other official processes have been completed, child passengers are escorted on to the aircraft by a member of staff. Please do not leave the airport until your child’s flight has taken off.
4. Child passengers are allocated seats closest to the senior cabin steward.
5. On arrival, cabin crew hand over child passengers to staff waiting at the airport. Once customs and baggage procedures have been completed, our staff will deliver your child to a person you have specified, who will be required to sign a note of confirmation.