Airlines can force children and parents to sit next to each other

The State Duma has drawn up a bill obliging airlines to seat children and parents in adjacent seats on the plane. The author of this initiative, First Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on Family Protection, Paternity, Maternity and Childhood Issues, Tatyana Butskaya, told the Parliamentary Newspaper that the bill is currently being prepared for presentation to the State Duma.

According to Butskaya, current federal aviation regulations stipulate that children, if possible, should sit on the plane with their parents. “There's a word in there called 'opportunity' that the airlines are manipulating. In fact, it turns out that they make decisions of their own accord, because it is beneficial for them,” the deputy minister said. Children can sit not in adjacent seats but on the other side of the aisle, or in seats in front and behind their parents, or even across a row of seats.

At the same time, no liability has been introduced for violations of aviation regulations, Butskaya emphasized. There are no fines or other penalties for this.