Children Flying Alone

[SarahS]

Do you have any tips, suggestions or questions about children flying alone? This is the place to post them! Share your experiences and help other travelers.

Related Story
Children Flying Solo

[mommy1]

I have a friend who went to Mexico and left her children there for a few months due to an emergency. She has custody of both children and they are both US Citizens. Now she's trying to bring her children back to the US and we don't know what documents are requiered for her to bring them over. What documents are needed? Can I pick up her children from the airport when they arrive? Please help me!!

Thanx,

[Thames Pirate]

Growing up my parents couldn't afford for the whole family (the two of them, my sister, and me) to fly to Europe to visit family, so as soon as we were old enough (I was 6, sister was 5) off we went on our own! I don't know if we changed planes the VERY first time, but we certainly did by the time we were a bit older (7/8)--in Frankfurt. We traveled on a bus that only held flight crew and us--fun for a kid! We had a bag we wore around our necks with all of our documentation, including passports. We got to jump ahead in the immigration line, too. Flying unaccompanied was old hat by the time I was in middle school, and by then we were routinely taking our younger sisters (at 11 I took my 6 year old sister) with minimum assistance.

With the current rules we would not have been able to visit our grandparents. I realize that a) we were mature for our age, and b) experienced in international travel by age 6/5. We were also well versed in how to handle strangers/whom to trust and bilingual. We were shepherded any time we were not on board the plane and were checked on regularly by flight attendants. I realize that after a long haul a flight attendant isn't interested in herding around a few kids, but honestly it's quite doable. These restrictions are rather prohibitive.

[jocap]

I've known many, many children who have flown alone, especially from the Far East to boarding schools in the UK. One school I taught in used to have a special connection for the plane from Hong Kong, Singapore and Cyprus. My friend's child travelled with an "air nanny" from a UNESCO site in Africa each term. British Airways had special books to be filled in with junior flight miles....most kids I knew had been in the ****pit of the plane several times. They were invariably very mature because of all this travelling, even at 7 or 8yrs.
I remember an air nanny saying:"Where were you? I thought I'd lost you!!", at Manchester airport...to which young William replied "But I knew exactly where I was all the time!" ...like the other travelling kids, full of self confidence. Too much molly coddling, perhaps, these days.
Jo.

[jocap]

I couldn't believe that I'd been asterisked again on the same evening. This is beyond a joke.
Jo.

[Erika Ayala]

the first time to let your children travel alone is one of the toughest decisions, even though it is for education, emergency or sports.
In these kinds of cases, one important gadget they must have is a phone. Make sure they have a phone with them. Kids can use cellular phones nowadays. This would be helpful for you to locate them easily and communicate with them anytime you want.
Also, tell your kids to call you once they landed from the plane. Make use of available resources a.k.a. technology!

[oliver47]

Children flying alone are a great experience for them.

[Andreanns]

I don’t think that children flying alone is not much good and sometimes it’s not safety for them.

[jocap]

I don’t think that children flying alone is not much good and sometimes it’s not safety for them.

I'm really not sure what you mean by that, Andreanns- a child is escorted to a plane, and comes under the security of a flight steward; the flight is from A to B, and there is someone to welcome them at the other end. Children have been doing this safely for generations.....my own OH did this from Africa as a teen, and it was a 3 day journey, stopping at different hotels across Africa and Europe- in the 50s. He saw it as a great adventure. Children can do journeys alone, but these days adults put their worries and doubts on their shoulders. Perhaps the age of the great explorers is finally over, with our cotton wool-wrapped offspring!
Jo.

[janjozeff]

hello guys!!
When your children are going to flying alone it is very difficult for both the children and their parents. I think parents should not allow kids to go alone, they should go along with them.

[prudence12]

always let them bring important papers. orient them to discern the people they talk to. =)