Changing a child ticket to an adult fare on flydubai is not something you can do with a single click in the manage booking portal, and understanding why is the first step to handling it correctly. Flydubai, like most airlines, treats a child fare (typically for passengers aged 2 to 11 on the date of travel) as a separate passenger type tied to a discounted or differently priced ticket. An adult fare applies to passengers aged 12 and above. Because the passenger type is baked into the booking record at the time of purchase, converting a child ticket into an adult ticket usually means one of two things: either flydubai's contact centre reissues the ticket with a corrected date of birth and recalculated fare, or you cancel the child booking and make a fresh adult reservation, absorbing any applicable change or cancellation fees.
The Direct Answer: What Actually Happens
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Flydubai does not offer a self-service option on its website or mobile app to switch a child passenger to an adult passenger type. The airline's online change tools allow you to modify dates, times, and sometimes routes, but they do not allow you to alter the passenger category itself. This is because the fare basis, taxes, and any child discount are calculated against the age band recorded in the reservation system (the PNR). Changing that requires a reissue of the electronic ticket, which flydubai's reservations team handles manually.
In practice, there are three realistic paths. First, call flydubai's contact centre (in the UAE, +971 600 54 44 45) and ask them to correct the date of birth and reprice the ticket as an adult fare. If the original booking was made recently and the fare rules permit changes, they can reissue the ticket; you pay any fare difference plus the change fee stated in your fare class. Second, if the change fee plus fare difference exceeds the cost of a new ticket, cancel the child booking (subject to refund eligibility) and book a new adult ticket separately. Third, if you have already flown part of the journey or the ticket is non-changeable, you may simply be out of options other than buying a new ticket outright.
The key number to keep in mind: flydubai's change fees vary by route and fare type, commonly ranging from around AED 150 to AED 400 per passenger per sector for standard economy fares, on top of any fare difference. Lite fares, the cheapest tier, generally do not permit changes at all without upgrading the fare first, which matters enormously if your child ticket was booked in Lite.
Why Child and Adult Fares Are Structured Differently
Airlines price children differently from adults for reasons rooted in both regulation and commercial practice. On flydubai, infants under 2 years old travel on an adult's lap for roughly 10 percent of the adult fare plus taxes, while children aged 2 to 11 typically pay a reduced fare — historically around 75 to 90 percent of the adult base fare depending on the route and promotion, though on many low-cost routes flydubai prices children at the full adult rate minus only certain tax reductions. The exact saving varies, so it is worth checking what you actually paid before assuming a conversion will cost you much more.
The distinction exists because aviation authorities require accurate passenger counts by category for weight-and-balance calculations, safety equipment provisioning (child seatbelts, life vests, oxygen masks), and regulatory reporting. A 10-year-old listed as an adult, or a 13-year-old still booked as a child, creates a data mismatch between the ticket and the travel documents. Airlines therefore guard the passenger-type field carefully. When a child turns 12 between booking and departure — a common scenario for families who book months ahead — the ticket must be reissued so the age on the ticket matches the age on the passport at time of travel.
This is also why the date of birth entered at booking matters so much. Flydubai calculates the applicable fare based on the age of the passenger on the date of travel, not the date of booking. If your child's birthday falls before the flight, book them as an adult from the start; trying to fix it afterwards costs money, whereas booking correctly costs nothing extra.
Step-by-Step: How to Request the Change
Start by locating your booking reference (a six-character code) and the email address used at purchase. Before calling, check the fare rules attached to your ticket, which appear in your confirmation email under fare conditions. Look specifically for whether changes are permitted and what the fee is. If you booked through a travel agent or third-party site such as a metasearch platform, you must go back through that agent rather than flydubai directly, because the agency holds the ticketing authority and flydubai will redirect you anyway.
When you call the contact centre, state clearly that you need a passenger-type correction: the child ticket must be reissued as an adult ticket because the passenger is now 12 or older, or because the date of birth was entered incorrectly. Have the child's passport ready, since the agent will verify the date of birth against the document. Ask the agent to quote the total cost before confirming anything: the change fee, the fare difference between the child fare paid and the current adult fare for the same flight, and any tax adjustments. Fare differences are calculated against today's selling price of the same booking class, not the price you originally paid, which can work for or against you depending on how demand has moved.
Once you agree to the charge, the agent reissues the e-ticket and sends a new confirmation. Verify within minutes that the new ticket shows the correct name, date of birth, and passenger type, and that the flight details are unchanged. Keep both the old and new ticket numbers until you have flown. If anything looks wrong, call back immediately while the change is still traceable in the same service interaction window.
Comparing Your Options: Reissue Versus Rebooking
Choosing between reissuing the existing ticket and cancelling and rebooking comes down to arithmetic and flexibility. The table below compares the two approaches across the factors that matter most.
| Factor | Ticket Reissue via Contact Centre | Cancel and Book New Adult Ticket |
|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | Change fee (roughly AED 150–400 per sector) plus fare difference | Cancellation fee if not refundable, plus current adult fare |
| Seat retention | Original seats usually retained | New seat selection required, possibly paid again |
| Baggage allowance | Preserved from original booking | Must repurchase if original included bags |
| Speed | Same-day, one phone call | Depends on refund processing (up to 20 business days) |
| Works with Lite fares | Only after paying to upgrade the fare | Often cheaper than upgrading |
| Risk | Fare difference may be high if demand rose | Refund may be denied on non-refundable fares |
One nuance worth knowing: if the error is clearly flydubai's fault — for example, their system mispriced the passenger type at booking despite a correct date of birth being supplied — escalate politely and request a waiver of the change fee. Documented airline errors are routinely corrected free of charge, but you must raise it proactively rather than accepting the first quote offered.
Common Mistakes That Cost Money
The most expensive mistake is waiting until the airport. Check-in staff cannot reissue tickets at the gate, and a 13-year-old presenting a child ticket may face refusal at boarding or an on-the-spot purchase of a new full-fare ticket, which is the worst possible outcome financially. Resolve discrepancies at least 48 hours before departure, ideally the moment you notice them.
The second common mistake is editing the date of birth in a profile or frequent flyer account and assuming the ticket updates automatically. It does not. The ticket carries its own stored data independent of any loyalty profile, so correcting your Emirates Skywards or flydubai Open Skies profile changes nothing about an issued ticket.
Third, families sometimes confuse infant tickets with child tickets. An infant turning 2 before travel needs a proper child seat purchased at the child fare — an infant lap ticket does not convert, and the airline will not board a 2-year-old on a lap booking. Conversely, parents occasionally buy an adult ticket for a tall 11-year-old thinking height matters; it does not, only age does, and paying the adult fare unnecessarily forfeits whatever child discount existed.
Finally, travellers who booked through third-party platforms often call flydubai first, lose time being redirected, and then find the agency's own service fee stacked on top of the airline's change fee. Confirm the total all-in cost through whichever channel holds the booking before authorising payment anywhere.
Timing: When to Act and Key Deadlines
Act as soon as the discrepancy becomes apparent. If your child turned 12 after you booked, there is no grace period at flydubai — the rule is strictly age on the date of travel. Booking 6 months ahead for a child who turns 12 in month 3 means the ticket should have been an adult ticket from day one. The earlier you call, the more likely the current adult fare resembles what you paid, keeping the fare difference small.
Changes must generally be completed before the original departure time of the affected sector; once a flight has departed, remaining sectors often become non-changeable. If you hold a return ticket and discover the issue mid-trip, visit a flydubai sales office or call the local contact centre at your destination before the return flight's check-in closes. Airport ticket desks at Dubai International (Terminal 2 for most flydubai operations, with some flights from Terminal 3) can sometimes process same-day corrections, but treat this as a last resort rather than a plan.
Refunds from cancelled bookings take up to 20 business days to return to the original payment method, longer for some international cards, so if you choose the cancel-and-rebook route, ensure you can float the cost of the new ticket while waiting.
Costs, Pricing Realities, and What to Expect
Budget realistically for three cost components. The change fee depends on your fare family: Value and Flex fares on flydubai typically permit changes for a fee in the AED 150–400 range per sector, while Lite fares effectively lock you out of changes unless you pay the difference to upgrade to Value first, which can add another AED 100–300. The fare difference reflects the movement in the same booking class since purchase; on busy Gulf routes during peak seasons such as Eid or the December school holidays, this difference alone can exceed AED 500. Tax adjustments are usually minor but nonzero, since some country-specific taxes differ slightly between child and adult passengers.
Against these costs, weigh what a child discount actually saved you. On many flydubai regional routes the child fare is barely below the adult fare once taxes are included, meaning the conversion might cost you little more than the change fee. On longer routes or premium cabins the gap widens. There is no fixed published percentage, so request the exact quote rather than estimating.
If the numbers look ugly, consider whether the trip dates are flexible: sometimes changing the flight date to a cheaper day reduces the fare difference enough to offset the fees entirely. An AI travel assistant can model these scenarios quickly — comparing reissue quotes against live rebooking prices across nearby dates — which saves the trial-and-error of multiple calls to the contact centre.
Preventing the Problem on Future Bookings
Prevention costs nothing and beats every remedy above. When booking, enter each traveller's date of birth exactly as shown on the passport and let the system classify the passenger type automatically; never override the suggested type. For birthdays close to the travel date, remember the governing rule: age on the date of travel decides the fare. A child flying on their 12th birthday books as an adult; a child who turns 12 the week after returning books as a child for the whole trip.
Double-check the passenger summary screen before payment, verifying names match passports character-for-character and ages fall in the right bands. If booking far ahead for a child near an age boundary, consider booking closer to departure even at a slightly higher fare, since the certainty outweighs the savings risk. And always book directly with flydubai when a correction is plausibly needed later — direct bookings give you unmediated access to the contact centre, faster reissues, and no third-party service fees layered on top.