A Minor Increase in Airline Connection Charge : Airports: To cover costs, most carriers now charge $25 to shepherd children under 11 between flights.

Responding to an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors flying on domestic routes, some airlines recently have instituted an additional charge for junior passengers on connecting flights, or have raised already existing fees. (If the flight is nonstop, there is no extra charge for an unaccompanied minor.)

Airlines consider children 11 and younger to be minors. Children under 5 are generally not allowed to fly alone.

Delta Airlines, which previously didn’t charge for unaccompanied minors on connecting flights, instituted a fee of $25 last September. This charge is levied per family, not per child--i.e, one or more children from the same parent or guardian-- but it is imposed each way on a round-trip flight. At about the same time, such carriers as TWA, USAir, American, Northwest and Continental raised their one-way fee for unaccompanied minors from $25 to $30. This fee also covers one or more children from the same family.

Airlines justify these charges as necessary to cover the efforts of ground personnel who take care of unaccompanied minors at airports where they make connecting flights. Such care entails greeting the child upon arrival, having the child under supervision during the layover, and getting the junior passenger on the right flight for the continuing journey. At some major airports, the ground representative may bring juniors to special children’s lounges, leave them there and then return to pick them up for their ongoing flight. Children are usually signed in and out of these lounges, which have supervision and such diversions as TVs, games and books.

“We started charging the $25 to cover our costs in providing an escort and taking care of a child during the time they’re in our custody at connecting airports,” said Clay McConnell, a Delta spokesman.

A similar sentiment came from Martin Heires, an American Airlines spokesman: “The charge helps to offset the cost of children’s lounges at hub airports, and our personnel who take care of the children.”

Both American and United officials estimated, conservatively, that they carried more than 100,000 unaccompanied minors in 1992.

“We’ve noted an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors flying back and forth across the country, especially during the summer and holiday periods,” noted Jeff Black, TWA’s director of area reservations at Los Angeles International Airport. “The minors stay under supervision, either at one of our children’s lounges or with one of our personnel.”

Some airlines permit only children 7 and older to travel on connecting flights. “Children ages 5 through 7 have to go on nonstop flights,” said McConnell of Delta. TWA, on the other hand, allows children 5 and older to go on connecting flights.

Carriers generally will even provide ground representatives at airports for some children older than 12 who are taking connecting flights. Airlines may also refuse to allow unaccompanied minors to travel on the last connecting flight of the day. “Threatening weather, or other factors, could cause a cancellation, and we want to avoid a situation where the child is stranded,” Heires said.

If a connecting flight is canceled, airlines notify the parents or other family members at the airports of departure and arrival, and provide care for the child until the next flight, at no expense to the family. “One of our employees with children might take the child home or we might rent a hotel room,” Heires said. “In either case, the child would be under adult care.”

When unaccompanied minors are booked on overseas flights, airlines may allow only connecting flights in the United States. For example, Delta would permit an LAX-Atlanta-London itinerary for an unaccompanied minor, but not LAX-Frankfurt-Budapest.

Northwest, however, has a different policy. “If the unaccompanied child is from 8 to 11 years old, we’ll allow the connecting flight to be overseas, with LAX-Tokyo-Hong Kong as an example,” said spokesman Jim Faulkener.

Airlines require parents to provide specific written information before they will accept responsibility for unaccompanied minors. Information includes the name of the person meeting the child on arrival, including that person’s address and phone numbers; particulars on the name and age of the minor, plus the person bringing the child to the airport. Flight details also are included. If anyone is meeting the child at a stopover point, specifics on that person are covered. Some airlines prefer that forms be filled out at the airport on the day of departure, while others allow them to be filled out in advance, but verified and signed at the airport.

“It’s possible that the parent might originally designate Aunt Sally to pick up the child, but then plans change and it’s Uncle Harry instead. That should be noted,” said TWA’s Black. “Parents should get to the airport early enough to take care of the paperwork.”

Should there be any change in who will meet the child at the arrival airport, make sure the airline is advised as soon as possible. The child will only be released to the person designated in the signed form, and that person will be required to show identification. If the person who is supposed to meet the child isn’t at the airport, the airline will call that individual. But if no contact is made, the carrier will phone the parent who brought the child for further instructions.