Would you let your six year old fly unaccompanied?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Would you let your six year old take a two hour unaccompanied direct flight to visit grandparents? My husband and I are at odds about this. Thoughts? |
Anonymous
|
No way! Imagine how scared they'd be during the flight, waiting for the flight, when it takes off, if there's turbulence . No way!
|
Anonymous
| No. |
Anonymous
| Absolutely not! My DD is 6. She would be scared. And if there were a delay, it would be very confusing. I know you can get a gate pass to drop a kid at their gate, but 6 is entirely too young, IMHO. I would not be ok with it until around fourth or fifth grade with a VERY mature child. |
Anonymous
| My kids have all visited grandparents and godparents (solo), unaccompanied starting at 5. |
Anonymous
What if it's diverted for weather? What if there is a medical emergency on board? That happened the last time I flew with my son, and an adult woman was screaming her father was dead. My son of course wasn't hurt or in danger but he was really scared. What if they spill all their food? Feel sick? Puke? Need to go to the bathroom badly but all the bathrooms are full? Too many things to go wrong and unnecessarily stress the kid out at that age. 10? Maybe. Depending on the kid. Not 6. |
Anonymous
| Yep. My son flew for the first time at 6 and did great. My husband accompanied him onto the plane to get settled, and my MIL met him at the gate at his destination. On his most recent flight there was a kid his age, also flying solo, right next to him and they had a great time. The flight attendants are pros. Not every 6 year old would be a good solo flyer, but you know your kid best. My daughter will join my son on these trips to the grandparents when she's 5 or 6. |
Anonymous
| I did it at age 6. I was a pretty anxious kid, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. |
Anonymous
| My cousins and I did. But I was closer to 11/12 putting them at 9/10 and 6/7 |
Anonymous
|
Mine flew unaccompanied all the time starting at about 7. I wouldn't have done it with any flight changes. But just a couple of hours on a plane is no big deal. They are assigned to a flight attendant on board. You can walk them all the way to the gate and meet the person who will be in charge of them while on board. That same person stays with them until whomever picks them up takes over. They check the ID of the person meeting the plane.
There is nothing scary about it. |
Anonymous
| No. Times have changed and plane schedules/flight paths/watchful flight attendants can no longer be counted on. |
Anonymous
| No way. Maybe by 8 or 9. Not 6. |
Anonymous
Times have changed. Security is tighter. If anything, they are much more attentive of young children flying. |
Anonymous
| Hell to the no...what of the plane is diverted? Then you're relying on absolute strangers to get your kid off the plane, shuffle them through an airport, rebook their flight, and get them to a new flight? |
Anonymous
| never. |