Unaccompanied child

The airline is responsible for children who travel alone (Unaccompanied Minors, UM) throughout their entire journey, from the departure airport to their final destination.

NOTE! It is not possible to buy a ticket to unaccompanied minors (UM) from our web sales. Our web customers can contact our web sales service, tel. +358 9 42432003. Customers buying their tickets from travel agencies or Finnair sales service, please contact your travel agent or Finnair Contact Center +358 600 140 140 (1,64 euro / call + local net charge).

• Children who are 5-11 years old may travel as unaccompanied minors. An appropriate UM reservation must be made for each child at the time of flight reservation.
• The UM service is not offered for children under 5 years of age. Children under 5 years of age are accepted for travel only if they travel with a family member who is at least 16 years of age (if the person concerned is not the parent) or with an assigned non-family member who is at least 18 years of age.
• Young persons of 12-17 years of age who are travelling alone can also be offered the same UM service as that provided for 5-11-year-olds.
• The number of unaccompanied minors is limited (to five on Finncomm Airlines' flights and to four on Golden Air's flights), so it is recommended to book the trip in good time before the planned date of travel.
• Reservations for routes requiring overnight stops during the trip and for the last late evening flight within Finland, are not accepted for unaccompanied minors.
• On flights within Finland, a child over 5 years of age is allowed to travel with a family member who is at least 12 years of age without being considered an unaccompanied minor. A non-family member as an escort has to be at least 16 year old.
• On international flights a child over 5 years travelling with a family member of at least 16 years of age is not considered an unaccompanied minor. An non-family member as an escort has to be at least 18 years old.

Before the flight

• It is a good idea to redeem the flight ticket in advance and not to wait until arrival at the airport. The contact information (address and telephone number) of both the person seeing off the child and the person meeting the child, has to be given already at the time of flight reservation. Moreover, the transportation agreement, named the UM Handling Advice, should be completed calmly well in advance of travelling. The person seeing off the child agrees to the terms and conditions of the handling advice for the whole journey by signing the contract. This person is also asked to show identification at the airport.
• It is recommended that you arrive at the airport well before the flight departure, so that all of the details in the documents can be checked and any omissions rectified.
  The UM Handling form is obtainable from many travel agents and Finnair offices. Fill in the form before arriving to the check-in.
• Unaccompanied minors must register at check-in, even if they have only carry-on baggage.
• At the check-in desk, the child will be given a neck pouch, into which all the documents needed by the child during the trip, such as the UM Handling Advice, flight tickets, passport, visa, vaccination certificate, should be placed.
• At the check-in desk, the assistant will check whether the flight is on schedule and, in the case of any irregularities, provide assistance in rearranging travel plans.
• If the person seeing off the child at the airport wishes to accompany the child all the way to the departure gate at Helsinki-Vantaa, he or she must obtain permission to do so from check-in or from the ticket office. Unaccompanied minors must be at the departure gate at least 25 minutes before the departure of the aircraft, because child passengers are taken on to the aircraft before the other passengers.
• The person seeing off the child at the airport must wait until the aircraft has departed (in practice, until the flight information is removed from the monitors and information boards).

During the flight

The cabin crew will attend to child passengers throughout the flight.

After the flight

• The adult stated in the UM Handling Advice must meet the unaccompanied minor at the airport.
• The ground handling personnel handing over the child, will identity the recipient and make a note of the identification on the UM Handling Advice.