Can my 16 year old and 12 year fly without unaccompanied minor service?

[Anonymous]

16 can escort 12. 16 can fly alone. 12, probably not. What if they get diverted to a strange city in the middle of the night? What if a pervert bothers them on the plane? It happens.

[Anonymous]

Not to derail the thread, but would you choose the service for a 16 year old traveling internationally if it's not required? It's a direct flight. Not concerned about the money, but the descriptions of the service make it sound like it's geared toward younger children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to derail the thread, but would you choose the service for a 16 year old traveling internationally if it's not required? It's a direct flight. Not concerned about the money, but the descriptions of the service make it sound like it's geared toward younger children.

It is for young kids. A 16 yo will be fine. There iare downsides to it besides cost: not being allowed off the plane right away, being corralled into a waiting area instead of allowed to wander the airport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to derail the thread, but would you choose the service for a 16 year old traveling internationally if it's not required? It's a direct flight. Not concerned about the money, but the descriptions of the service make it sound like it's geared toward younger children.

Only if they’d never flown before. When mine few unaccompanied several years ago, they were required to wear a huge, bright yellow pouch around their neck with all the paperwork in it. At 16, they’d be mortified!

But 16 falls in that grey area between unaccompanied minor and full adult ticket, so an adult has to purchase the ticket and check them in at the airport. It’s a specific type of ticket (at least it was on American), so the flight attendants know there’s a “young adult” on the flight. As long as they’ll be comfortable calling a flight attendant or a going to the ticket desk to ask for help, and they have access to funds in case of a flight diversion, they’ll be fine.

FWIW, my nephew flew unaccompanied with a connecting flight that was cancelled due to weather, and the airline had a safe, contained waiting area for all the unaccompanied minors who had been affected by flight delays and cancellations. I suspect in a real emergency, if the flight was diverted somewhere and they were too young to book a hotel room, the airline would help them find a safe place to wait for their new flight. It just might take a few phone calls by a parent to get the right kind of help.

[Anonymous]

My experienced traveler 14 year old had to be treated as unaccompanied on American last year. He was mortified.