Hello all,I'm the new President/CEO of AmericanAirlines Virtual. One of the things I've noticed as I've explored my new office is a notice on the application page that says "you must be at least 14 years of age to apply due to federal regulation". Is there such a regulation and if so what does it entail? Any help from the leaders of the VA community would be appreciated. Thank you.

Hello,You can check out the document link below for more information:http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.pdfHope this helps you out,Dave SybiakRegional Pacific Airwayshttp://regionalpacific.com

Thank you, Dave. That helps out a great deal!

Rafael,No problem, Glad I could help you out.Dave SybiakRegional Pacific Airwayshttp://regionalpacific.com

I'm not sure weither VAs have to conform to those laws. It all depends what "if your website targets children under 13" means. I'm not sure virtual airlines are targeted or directed to children under 13.We probably do have to disallow children to sign up for our airlines without parental consent.Children under 13 CAN sign up for your airline if you get them to sign & fax a form to you saying they give permission for you to collect information from their children.

I'm not sure that VAs have to conform either. We really don't target young people, though young people are a potential "audience" for what we do. The biggest point that I took from the above document is that if the information you take would allow the child to be contacted, then it cannot be taken without parental approval. Being that an email address is a part of the application, it falls under "contact". Long story short; I turned down the young man's application that prompted this thread citing his age and the regulation, but thanked him for his honesty. He replied back that it was okay, that he had been turned down by some 20 other VAs for the same reason. I invited him to re-apply once he reached the minimum age. It's good to hear from other VA leaders as to how they view these concerns. Thank you, Daniel, for your input.

You can sign them up as long as you get parent's approval.I suggest writing up a form and faxing it to the kid's parents so he can fly for you :)

We put that on our application for CYA purposes. However, I don't really want to get into creating documents for parents to sign, either. But if some pilot-to-be, under the age of 14, wants to join bad enough, I will accept a faxed letter from a parent of guardian.

I believe this is a US only restriction? However we only accept applications from those over 14 as a matter of policy. Running a VA is time consuming enough without having all that extra admin!Dave M.CEO Orange Air VAwww.orange-air.com

yes, COPPA is a US only thing.Doesn't apply to a VA unless that VA is based in the USA (whether that means hosted in the USA or having US leadership is not clear to me).

I believe the laws apply only to where the server (host) is actualy located. Although your own country may have different laws. It's all a bit of a mine field!

Many people don't even know where their server is located :-lolMore likely it depends on where the legal entity running the operation is located, if only to prevent US companies from getting out from under the law by locating their servers in Mexico or Canada :-rotor

ANY site directly (e.g subsidiary site in another country not affected, as it's bound by different laws) controlled by a American citizen cannot ask personal information (e.g address) from a person under 13 years of age. (Note that this law is significantly flawed and some people in other countries might not care).If you ask their Name, email, previous airlines etc., without verifing age thats not a violation. Asking their address, postcode etc. is.