Posted by admin on July 5th, 2009 in Travel

Letting my kids fly alone has been a sore subject that arises almost every summer.  Ever since my daughter  started attending a summer camp several states away, the question of whether to let her fly alone has been an issue.  When I heard about two cases of “mis-placed” minors on Continental flights, I re-visited my feelings.

It’s true that the mandate of airlines is to fly (mostly) adults or families from point A to point B safely.  I think we can all agree on that.  But, I’ve noticed over the last ten years that parents more and more do not hesitate to put their un-attended minor on a plane and send them across the country.  I’ve considered it and rejected it.  Mostly because the flights involved were NOT non-stop and therefore were filled with gaps of time and multiple adults “in charge” – making for a much higher error rate (in my opinion).  That was when my kids were under the age of 13.

I’ve always thought that chaperoning children and making sure they were safe was really not the job of an airline.  Then I learned that at least one airline (Continental) charges $75.00 EACH way for the purposes of tending to and making sure a minor child gets to the right gate and on the right airplane. Evidently in the case of the mis-placed children, both were put on the wrong plane and ended up not only at the wrong airport but in the wrong state! Airlines track baggage better than that.

I’m sure the increase in un-accompanied minors is directly associated with the divorce rate and the lower airline fares.  If one parent lives in California and the other in Texas, how else are you going to shuttle a kid between the two parents?  Clearly there are important reasons un-accompanied children should fly.  The question is, can we trust the airlines to get them to the right place? I’m glad my kids are older and can safely negotiate an airport as well as most adults but I do not envy parents with younger kids who face solitary travel for their minors.