Preparing for your trip with your family

Planning a family vacation can involve completely new challenges, even for an experienced traveller. We have put together a checklist with tips to help prepare for your holiday so you and your children can feel a bit more relaxed before your departure:

• Check the validity of all passports. Infants and small children require their own passport.
• When booking your flight, please state the ages of your children, as their age is used to calculate the applicable fare.
• Check in conveniently online on austrian.com approx. 47 hours before departure.
• Book your seats – the earlier, the better.
• Children’s menus can be ordered directly when making your booking on austrian.com.
• Make sure to get your inflight entertainment with our ​Media Box. Choose from a wide range of magazines and colouring pages for children and teenagers, and download as many as you like from 5 days before departure.

At most airports, you can keep your foldable buggy or baby back carrier weighting up to ten kilograms with you until shortly before boarding.

After your arrival, the ground staff will return your buggy or baby carrier at the end of the passenger bridge or directly at the aircraft steps if you are arriving by bus.

Prams, buggies and baby back carriers must be checked in at the counter for oversized baggage at Vienna Airport.

Our baggage drop-off staff will inform you whether or not you can take your pram, buggy or baby back carrier with you on board. If you have a connecting flight, please inform our staff before departure whether you will need your pushchair only on arrival at your final destination (recommended for short transfer times) or also require it at the transfer airport. Our ground staff at the departure gate will ensure that your buggy or baby back carrier is loaded correctly.

If your buggy is not returned to you upon arrival, please contact one of our staff members at the gate or the nearest Service Centre. Please note it may take a few minutes to return them to you.

If your buggy or baby back carrier weighs more than ten kilograms, it must be checked in as baggage. Please note: an excess baggage fee will be charged if you exceed your free baggage allowance.

You can bring a so-called ‘pocket buggy’ into the cabin as part of your permitted hand baggage allowance. It must be fully foldable and must not exceed the hand baggage dimensions (55 x 40 x 23 cm). Please note that the pocket buggy must be folded before you board the aircraft and must not be used on board. If bringing a pocket buggy causes you to exceed your hand baggage allowance, it will be transported in the aircraft’s hold.

Electric pushchairs are not permitted.

More information about free baggage for children

You can take your own child car seat on board. You need to book a separate seat for this in good time at the relevant child’s fare.

The child seat must be approved for use in aircraft and fit on the seat (43 cm × 43 cm). Please refer to the label on the child car seat.

Ensure that you are familiar with the manufacturer’s instructions to use and attach the child seat in an aircraft, because this is solely your responsibility. Please understand that our cabin staff unfortunately cannot assist you with fitting your child seat. If the child seat cannot be properly attached, it must be checked in as baggage.

For safety reasons, ‘comfort seats’ with integrated locking systems or inflatable foot rests are not permitted for use on board.

Choosing suitable seats

• If your child uses a child seat, the window seat is best suited for this.
• Accompanying persons should sit next to the child.
• Seats in rows with emergency exits and behind cabin partition walls are not suitable for child seats.
• The travel comfort of other passengers must not be impeded by the use of a child seat, and the emergency exit must not be blocked in case emergency evacuation is required.
• For safety reasons, infants under 2 years of age cannot be booked with their own seat in Business Class on long-haul flights or on certain short-haul aircraft.

We define children under two years as infants. Ten percent of the adult fare (infant’s fare) is normally charged for infants with Austrian Airlines.

Please note that national differences (depending on the country where the ticket was purchased), fare differences or seasonal differences may apply.

Infants have no entitlement to their own seat on board. However, we try to keep an adjacent seat vacant as long as possible for adults who are travelling with an infant. If you are travelling with an infant and would like your baby to have their own seat, please contact our Service Centre. In this case, the child fare will apply, and your infant can travel for 75% of the regular fare on almost all fare types. If your child is under 2 years of age and travelling in a separate seat, an approved child restraint system is mandatory. 

Infants (under 2 years of age) cannot be booked in their own seat in Business Class on long-haul flights, or on certain short-haul aircraft.

For safety reasons, only one infant can travel per adult. The accompanying person must be over 18 or over 16 years of age if the journey is as a family with adults.

Infants who will turn two years of age during the travel period must be booked as children (with their own seat) for safety reasons. Example: your child was born on 15 November 2024 and you are travelling from 1 to 20 November 2026.

We define children as between two and 11 years of age, i.e. children who have not yet reached 12 years of age. For safety reasons, infants who will turn two years of age between the outbound and return flight must be booked as children (with their own seat). Children usually pay 75 per cent of the adult fare (child’s fare) with Austrian Airlines.

Please note that national differences (depending on the country where the ticket was purchased), fare differences or seasonal differences may apply.

Unlike infants, children have their own seat on board. Children younger than five must always be accompanied by an adult. The accompanying person must be at least 18 or older than 16 years of age if the person is the brother or sister of the child. Children between five and 11 years of age must be accompanied by a person who is older than 12. If this is not the case, the rules for unaccompanied travelling minors apply.

Children who turn twelve during the trip pay the child’s fare. Please contact our Service Centre if you wish to do so.

Please note that a separate travel permit is required in many countries if your child is travelling alone or with just one parent. Local authorities can refuse the child entry or departure if you cannot present the travel documents required. You should therefore obtain information about the relevant entry/departure regulations of the country concerned in good time. Examples of countries where special provisions apply to the entry and departure of children and young people are listed below: