Unaccompanied minor on long haul transpacific flight?

[Anonymous]

No. Nope. Hell no!

Way too young and entirely too long of a flight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why isn’t the dad keeping them for the whole vacation?

He probably only gets limited time in the summer and OP will not allow more.

Thanks MRA poster.
It could also be that dad decided to move to another country to start his new life because he views his kids as dispensable and can only manage a vacation or two.

How are his kids dispensable? He's asking to see them and Mom is refusing.

He’s asking to see them at his convenience. Why not fly with them for their safety?

[Anonymous]

I have an 11-year-old daughter. I don't let her take a one-hour flight unaccompanied to MA to see family. No way in hell would I let her take a 14-hour flight on her own. If your ex wants to take the kids on vacation, why can't he come and fetch them?

[Anonymous]

Reminded me of a epic similar thread (everything was already discussed in those 30+ pages)

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/485520.page

[Anonymous]

I flew several time unaccompanied at 13 on a 8 hour flight (international). My mother was not American and living overseas, so I flew back and forth a few times.

You know your child.

I was terrified the whole time the first time, I will be honest. But, I was a very sheltered kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reminded me of a epic similar thread (everything was already discussed in those 30+ pages)

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/485520.page

Thanks for posting this, I’ll review.

It’s Saturday, I’ve been out doing stuff all day, sorry for lack of clarification. Two kids 11 and 9, very innocent, very naive daughters. It’s a vacation, ex lives 5 mins away, we have 50/50 custody. No need to go off the rails with all of this imagined drama regarding withholding kids. Not the case.

I was just asking if anyone else would consider young kids flying alone from Asia to the west coast for optional travel reasonable. I do not. My daughters have never been abroad and the longest they’ve flown is to the Midwest for a holiday visit, along with two parents! They are not sophisticated independent, international people. We are not. ExH has a new wife who travels a lot and wants to do this trip. Great! BUT they don’t want the hassle of returning back with my daughters. They want to keep traveling on their own. Seems very week, dangerous, and irresponsible to me.

I said no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reminded me of a epic similar thread (everything was already discussed in those 30+ pages)

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/485520.page

Thanks for posting this, I’ll review.

It’s Saturday, I’ve been out doing stuff all day, sorry for lack of clarification. Two kids 11 and 9, very innocent, very naive daughters. It’s a vacation, ex lives 5 mins away, we have 50/50 custody. No need to go off the rails with all of this imagined drama regarding withholding kids. Not the case.

I was just asking if anyone else would consider young kids flying alone from Asia to the west coast for optional travel reasonable. I do not. My daughters have never been abroad and the longest they’ve flown is to the Midwest for a holiday visit, along with two parents! They are not sophisticated independent, international people. We are not. ExH has a new wife who travels a lot and wants to do this trip. Great! BUT they don’t want the hassle of returning back with my daughters. They want to keep traveling on their own. Seems very week, dangerous, and irresponsible to me.

I said no.

That was the right move. 1000%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reminded me of a epic similar thread (everything was already discussed in those 30+ pages)

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/485520.page

Thanks for posting this, I’ll review.

It’s Saturday, I’ve been out doing stuff all day, sorry for lack of clarification. Two kids 11 and 9, very innocent, very naive daughters. It’s a vacation, ex lives 5 mins away, we have 50/50 custody. No need to go off the rails with all of this imagined drama regarding withholding kids. Not the case.

I was just asking if anyone else would consider young kids flying alone from Asia to the west coast for optional travel reasonable. I do not. My daughters have never been abroad and the longest they’ve flown is to the Midwest for a holiday visit, along with two parents! They are not sophisticated independent, international people. We are not. ExH has a new wife who travels a lot and wants to do this trip. Great! BUT they don’t want the hassle of returning back with my daughters. They want to keep traveling on their own. Seems very week, dangerous, and irresponsible to me.

I said no.

That was the right move. 1000%

Thank you for saying so. I am perplexed why anyone would think this is ok, in the circumstances I’ve described. Mostly I am just pissed that he would cluelessly take what I perceive to be an unnecessary and very large risk for his convenience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reminded me of a epic similar thread (everything was already discussed in those 30+ pages)

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/485520.page

Thanks for posting this, I’ll review.

It’s Saturday, I’ve been out doing stuff all day, sorry for lack of clarification. Two kids 11 and 9, very innocent, very naive daughters. It’s a vacation, ex lives 5 mins away, we have 50/50 custody. No need to go off the rails with all of this imagined drama regarding withholding kids. Not the case.

I was just asking if anyone else would consider young kids flying alone from Asia to the west coast for optional travel reasonable. I do not. My daughters have never been abroad and the longest they’ve flown is to the Midwest for a holiday visit, along with two parents! They are not sophisticated independent, international people. We are not. ExH has a new wife who travels a lot and wants to do this trip. Great! BUT they don’t want the hassle of returning back with my daughters. They want to keep traveling on their own. Seems very week, dangerous, and irresponsible to me.

I said no.

Good for you. Right move.

[Anonymous]

Next time, make that post your first post. Leaving out details didn’t help your cause.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Next time, make that post your first post. Leaving out details didn’t help your cause.

NP, not OP. This is classic DCUM: You must give full and excruciating details up front or we are allowed to speculate wildly and then come back and rip on you when our speculation is undermined by reality.

This thread had imagined OP was a harpy "withholding" children from poor dear dad who never gets to see his kids and kindly wants to take them on a lovely vacation. Oh, and at least one of the kids was a teen and travel-savvy enough to handle this exciting opportunity being denied by mean helicopter mom.

Reality: No teen, second kid actually younger than the first one mentioned, neither an experienced traveler, dad lives five minutes away so no "withholding" or denying him rare time with the kids. Just a thoughtless proposal by adults who want to slot two kids into an adult trip for a convenient period. And a mom with common sense enough to know it's a bad idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not. I’ve recently flown two long haul flights and would not think it appropriate for a young unaccompanied female passenger. The flight attendants have many duties on long flights like that and even if you pay an unaccompanied minor fee that does not mean they will keep eyes on for the whole flight. It’s dark, people sleep, people roam around, people drink too much. If your daughter has experience doing this kind of solo travel on long flights and is mature and has good judgment then maybe but I personally would not. He can either send you a ticket too so you can bring her or they can plan a different trip together. Or he can fly back himself to get her.

Its a bit ironic that all these parents who probably minimally supervise at home are concerned about a plane ride. Its absurd. OP probably would not let the kids go even if Dad came and got them,

We have friend's daughters who regularly fly cross country alone to see us. Never been an issue.

Cross county is NOT the same as long haul transpacific.

For these purposes, what's the difference? Is it only the length of the flight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reminded me of a epic similar thread (everything was already discussed in those 30+ pages)

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/485520.page

Thanks for posting this, I’ll review.

It’s Saturday, I’ve been out doing stuff all day, sorry for lack of clarification. Two kids 11 and 9, very innocent, very naive daughters. It’s a vacation, ex lives 5 mins away, we have 50/50 custody. No need to go off the rails with all of this imagined drama regarding withholding kids. Not the case.

I was just asking if anyone else would consider young kids flying alone from Asia to the west coast for optional travel reasonable. I do not. My daughters have never been abroad and the longest they’ve flown is to the Midwest for a holiday visit, along with two parents! They are not sophisticated independent, international people. We are not. ExH has a new wife who travels a lot and wants to do this trip. Great! BUT they don’t want the hassle of returning back with my daughters. They want to keep traveling on their own. Seems very week, dangerous, and irresponsible to me.

I said no.

That was the right move. 1000%

Thank you for saying so. I am perplexed why anyone would think this is ok, in the circumstances I’ve described. Mostly I am just pissed that he would cluelessly take what I perceive to be an unnecessary and very large risk for his convenience.

GOt it. You're just looking for validation, not actual opinions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would not. I’ve recently flown two long haul flights and would not think it appropriate for a young unaccompanied female passenger. The flight attendants have many duties on long flights like that and even if you pay an unaccompanied minor fee that does not mean they will keep eyes on for the whole flight. It’s dark, people sleep, people roam around, people drink too much. If your daughter has experience doing this kind of solo travel on long flights and is mature and has good judgment then maybe but I personally would not. He can either send you a ticket too so you can bring her or they can plan a different trip together. Or he can fly back himself to get her.

Its a bit ironic that all these parents who probably minimally supervise at home are concerned about a plane ride. Its absurd. OP probably would not let the kids go even if Dad came and got them,

We have friend's daughters who regularly fly cross country alone to see us. Never been an issue.

Cross county is NOT the same as long haul transpacific.

For these purposes, what's the difference? Is it only the length of the flight?

The fact you are asking this suggests you have never flown long haul Trans-Pacific, even as an adult.

[Anonymous]

So why not let them have the girls for the entire trip. That will be a great experience for them. It sounds like you are more angry that the ex got married and they do these things than what is best for the kids. Find a compromise.