would you let your children fly alone on an airplane? - Page 3

[Ornery]

We started letting my oldest ds fly to my Dh's family when he was 8. It was a nonstop flight that was just under an hour. We always made sure the receiving party was at the airport waiting for him before we even put him on the plane. He loved it!

I started flying across country unaccompanied at 7 so I guess I didn't see it as that big of a deal. I would not allow my kids to fly across country until they were teenagers though. There were many instances where I got stuck at airports during layovers or flights got canceled or whatever. The responsible adults always tried really hard to make it into an adventure for me but they weren't always successful.

[chel]

we've done this alot with my 2dsd. always went well. worst issue was as they got older and didn't feel they needed the supervision. even if the child feels capable, there's a min age to fly alone and not be in the UM program. with delta they both has to be 15. any younger and it isn't a choice.

my oldest dd want to fly by herself. we would have considered it at age 7-8 but we haven't had a situation where it was needed. we fly often and i'm trying to prepare her to find her way through the airport alone. i have her find our connecting gate, check flight times and find the baggage area.

we do fly out of lots of small airports and never have problems with taking "non-flyers" to the gate to help the "flyer"

[Adventuredad]

My son will be flying as soon as he turns seven which is the minimum age in most places. Flights will be domestic and only a couple of hours. My kids are currently 6 and 3.5 and we have so far done 60+ flights with them, lots of them international transatlantic flights. They both love flying, my son is really looking forward to February 2011 when he turns 7:-)

[Eclipsepearl]

as he turns seven which is the minimum age in most places.

Just to clarify, with most airlines, the minimum age is 5, not 7, to fly as an unaccompanied minor.

Of course, some airlines only limit it to non-stop domestic hops.

[kirstenb]

I suppose around 10-11 I would be fine with them flying by themselves. DS1 has flown multiple times since he was born and is pretty comfortable already flying on airplanes, and I am sure DS2 will be the same way.

[CorasMama]

My dd had just turned 6 a few days before her first UM flight. She flies across the country, roundtrips, 3 or more times per year. Sometimes it's a connecting flight, sometimes non-stop. She's always been well-supervised.

Now that she's 12, most airlines will let her fly by herself, without the FA supervising, but we can, and still do, choose to sign her in as an UM until she's 15. So we are preparing her for that day, because at that point, we'll have to leave her at security. She has a cell phone, and she's starting to learn her way around our airports, as well as major hubs. For now, we still do the UM program, but hand her her own ticket, and say, "ok, kiddo, here's your ticket. It tells you what gate we're going to, and we'll follow you. If you get so far off track that you might be late, we'll redirect, but otherwise you're in charge."

She's a pretty seasoned traveler, and even once told the FA transferring her from one gate to another (at O'Hare?) that she was going the wrong way. DD was right.

[dmpmercury]

I would think around 8 with a mature kid I would think about doing UM. We live in Alaska and there is always a least one stop and it is a long day of flying to the East Coast so I am thinking it will be longer. I like the idea of them going to see their Grandparents for a week but I don't know when that will be a good option.

[~pi]

Originally Posted by gaudynight

It would depend on the flight, the child, and which combination of siblings.

As a young adolescent, I flew overseas as an UM with my younger sister a number of times. I particularly remember being put in a tiny, crowded half-walled little pen with wooden benches, a few dingy toys, one attendant, and a lot of crying children in the middle of Heathrow for a four hour layover. We told the woman minding the crowd of children that we had to use the loo, took off, and came back three and a half hours later, just in time to pick up our passports and tickets and make our flight onwards.

I am, of course, appalled in retrospect at our lack of thought for anyone else. Though I am not sure they noticed. No one said a thing to us and they didn't seem surprised or relieved to see us.

I would want to make very sure that any child of mine wouldn't be able to pull that same sort of thing nearly so easily, but I put 11-12. I would be much more comfortable with a nonstop flight. I don't care if it's domestic or not, just no plane changes, please.

[cristeen]

I think it really depends on maturity level for me. I flew for the first time UM when I was 12.

Grandma seems to think that she's getting the baby by herself when he's 3... she lives on the opposite coast. I'm glad to see that no airline would allow that - since I'm not inclined to stick my 3 yo on a plane to go off without me for a week anyway.

[childsplay]

DS flew from Canada to China when he was 14....but it was with a school group (8 kids, 2 chaperones).

However, he wasn't with us...so we kind of considered it 'alone'.

Ugh, it's a creepy old feeling when you're laying awake at 3 am. knowing that your child is flying somewhere over a cold dark ocean.

I trusted the chaperones though, and it was extremely well planned.


My younger kids have flown in small private planes alone before. (around ages 2 - 4) That didn't really bother me though as we knew the pilots and they were fairly short jaunts.
A commercial airline though? No, definately not at that age, or even now at 6 and 7. There's just to many what if's for me to be comfortable with it. (like what if the person who's assigned to him is some sort of perv, or what if they can't get their seatbelt buckled, what if they get lost.in an airport. far away.....etc...)

[pacificbliss]

I actually voted 5-6 but I had a specific case in mind. I fly Southwest a lot so I was thinking of going to visit grandparents. The flight is 1 hr 20 minutes gate to gate. I have seen flight attendants and gate agents with unaccompanied minors. I would go to the gate and see him of on the plane and they rrquire you stay until the plane leaves. My mom would be at the gate before the plane takes off. In case the plane had to land somewhere else we know people along the way and could drive.

[meemee]

my dd is 7. i would have put her on teh flight alone. she is perfectly capable of it. but i dont think she really is ready for it. she has anxiety so i would say 8 would be much better.

however she could travel with someone without any parent at 5.

[Eclipsepearl]

Maturity is part of the answer but how much they've flown, specifically that route plays a role.

Most of my UM's were flying per visitation orders (international). They had done it many, many times previously. The parent has to take the child if they're too young so by the time they hit the minimum age, they were used to it. Most do it at least twice a year.

I would say that the 8-9 age is more reasonable if the child is not used to flying, and even older if have never flown at all. I wouldn't recommend a child flying for the first time... as a UM unless pushing middle school!

[Oliver'sMom]

I started flying as a UM when I was 5 and never had any trouble. My parents were divorced, so I flew from Las Vegas to Phoenix (only about a 45 min flight) once a month to see my dad. It was a lot of fun. My dad was/is an airline pilot, so I was very familiar with airports and planes etc.

I would be comfortable letting my ds fly alone to see his grandparents when he's around 5 or 6. I would make sure it's a direct flight though.