Reply to Would you let you 5 year old fly unaccompanied overseas?

Forum Index » Travel Discussion

Reply to "Would you let you 5 year old fly unaccompanied overseas?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]My daughters have flown alone, as UM and, later, on their own.  I would not let go of their hands until they could recite their own name and my cell phone number (including in Europe, so a different number), which was around age 4.  I would wait until your child can read - yes, the airline watches out for you, but they do slip up, and reading signs etc. makes the world less overwhelming.  It also makes it much, much easier to endure a long flight quietly.

When you do allow trips, at whatever age, I strongly recommend planning for and discussing a whole lot of what-if scenarios.  What if the bus is late, the taxi doesn't come, the car breaks down, your suitcase doesn't arrive.  I have sent a brightly-colored index card with emergency instructions and phone numbers, even with a 15-year-old.  These can come in handy when Passport Control decides to hold your DC until someone comes to meet her, even though she knows how to take the metro and it's her 25th trip there.

My younger child arranged a flight to her grandparents on her own at about age 7 (she badgered us until we bought her a ticket, and she had to be UM, but it was all her idea and her arrangements).  But it was just DCA to LGA.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics