Indonesia's Unaccompanied Minor Service for Children Flying Alone

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation provides an Unaccompanied Minor service to assist children flying alone. This service guarantees the safety of child passengers during air travel until they arrive safely at their destination. Based on Ministerial Regulation No. 30 of 2021, Unaccompanied Minor (UM) is a service offered by airlines for children aged 6-12 years who are travelling without a parent or guardian. The Unaccompanied Minor service includes accompaniment by airline staff throughout the journey, special assistance from the check-in and boarding process through to handover at the destination, and the child being handed over directly to the designated greeter. The Unaccompanied Minor service is free of charge. Parents wishing to send their child as an Unaccompanied Minor must apply for the UM service with the airline at the time of ticket booking or before departure. On the day of departure, the parent or guardian must accompany the child to the airport for the check-in process, complete the necessary documents and forms, and provide the identity of the greeter at the destination airport. The airline will then accompany the child from boarding, during the flight, until they are handed over to the registered greeter. Regarding lost or damaged passports, the official Immigration website states that a replacement for a regular passport can be applied for under the following circumstances: the passport validity is about to expire (less than six months), the passport validity has expired, the passport is lost, the passport is damaged during the issuance process (in which case the issuing immigration office will immediately cancel it), or the passport is damaged outside the issuance process (torn, wet, burnt, scribbled on, etc.), rendering the information unclear or giving an impression no longer appropriate as an official document. In the latter case, an Immigration Officer will revoke the passport after an examination report is made. It should be noted that specifically for lost or damaged passports, a fine will be imposed in addition to the passport fee. The fee for a lost passport is Rp 1,000,000, and the fee for a damaged passport is Rp 500,000. No fee is charged for a passport lost or damaged due to force majeure. If the examination results state that the regular passport was lost or damaged due to a disaster, such as fire, flood, or earthquake, a direct replacement may be granted. If it was due to carelessness and the loss occurred beyond one’s control, a replacement regular passport will be granted. If it was due to recklessness or negligence accompanied by unacceptable reasons, the issuance of a regular passport may be suspended for a minimum of six months up to a maximum of two years.