The Points Guy has a breakdown of all unaccompanied minor policies by airline:

https://thepointsguy.com/news/airline-unaccompanied-minor-policies-and-fees-in-the-united-states/

Anonymous wrote:I think most of these people haven't flown with children.

Children under 16 don't need to show any kind of ID to fly domestically. No one will be asking for the girl's ID.

What I don't know is how TSA handles a kid without a parent going through security. She'll probably have to explicitly lie to a TSA agent to tell them she's 15 (which in this case seems to be the golden age between not needing to pay the UM fee and not needing ID).

As a PP said, for southwest the magic age is 12. See if there's a flight that would work with them.

That is when they are flying with a parent. This is a person with her own ticket, trying to get through TSA by herself. I don't believe she can just say to TSA, "I'm 15" (which would be a lie) and they'll just wave her through.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a one hour flight which makes it what, a 4 hour drive at most? Drive her there. Or pay an additional $100 and fly there with her. Or cal the airline and plead your case, they may be understanding and either give you the unaccompanied minor treatment for free or say she doesn’t need it.

$100? It's a $400 flight.

Right - so it’s $100 ADDITIONAL for you go accompany her rather than pay a $300 fee for her to fly alone.

I mean, do you think the airlines haven't figured out how to catch people who try to lie about their kids' age to save money?


I am sure each airline has its own method of verification. There could be legal ramifications if they let a 13 yo on the flight without checking and the kid ends up without supervision.

I would hate for your grieving daughter to be put in a situation where the check-in agent has to question her and possibly not let her fly because of this. What a disaster that would be.

I am usually a stickler for not lying but these fees are ridiculous for kids in this age group and it always steams me. It is particularly bad because it sounds like this is an important trip and the $$ is meaningful to this family and it is a short flight. So first, check with all the possible airlines to see if you can do the trip on one that lets your kid fly without being "unaccompanied" and charging the fee. If your kid is an experienced flier, I think you can pull this off. Here is the plan: 1. When you buy the ticket, put in her birthdate but off by one year so she is one year older; 2. No checked bags so she never interacts with ticket agent at the ticketing area; 3. Go through TSA with passport (TSA will not have birthdate on ticket and will confirm identity) TSA will have no idea she is not with parents because you don't have to go through security together; 4. Go to gate and get on plane and nobody will check to confirm that she is over 15.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's American, you have to provide the birth certificate at the gate:

At check-in, parents / guardians will also need to provide:

A birth certificate or passport as proof of the child’s age
The adult’s government-issued photo ID with their current address
Your phone number so we can contact you
The name, address and phone number of the adult meeting your child at their destination

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/special-assistance/unaccompanied-minors.jsp

That's if the child is an unaccompanied minor.

If a (truly) 15 year old is flying, none of that is needed.

Sure, if the kid is flying with a parent, then no. But all unaccompanied humans aged 17 and under must present identification at check-in as well as that of their parent/guardian. That's what the policy says.

I know that on Southwest, they did not require a passport or an ID. I sent a birth certificate along, but I do wonder if you could call the airline and ask whether they require kid to have ID?

Also, I think Southwest did not have a fee for 14 years old. Each carrier might have different age limits.

Do you want to send your daughter the message that it's ok to lie when she can't afford something she really wants?

Ok I know this isn't totally on topic but on Southwest the 13 year old can be the guardian for the 12 year old little brother which we have done multiple times and I think it is a hoot.

We always walk them to the gate then they get on and I remind the little one to listen to his brother.

Carry on.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's American, you have to provide the birth certificate at the gate:

At check-in, parents / guardians will also need to provide:

A birth certificate or passport as proof of the child’s age
The adult’s government-issued photo ID with their current address
Your phone number so we can contact you
The name, address and phone number of the adult meeting your child at their destination

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/special-assistance/unaccompanied-minors.jsp

That's if the child is an unaccompanied minor.

If a (truly) 15 year old is flying, none of that is needed.

If you read the whole page, that's required for any person flying under the age of 18 without an adult. The chart says:

15-17 • Unaccompanied minor service optional • Gate escort and guardian contact required

Because of the bolded, you will have to show the child's birth certificate/passport.

Caveat: assuming OPs kid is traveling on American.

OP I think it wouldnt be an issue. Skip checked bags go to TSA, does she have a passport? I would use it if its current, no TSA agent is turning her down. Backup have her take a credit card, prepaid debit just in case a fee is assessed but I still don't see where that would occur the gate is just making sure your carry on isnt too big and your bp scans correctly

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's American, you have to provide the birth certificate at the gate:

At check-in, parents / guardians will also need to provide:

A birth certificate or passport as proof of the child’s age
The adult’s government-issued photo ID with their current address
Your phone number so we can contact you
The name, address and phone number of the adult meeting your child at their destination

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/special-assistance/unaccompanied-minors.jsp

That's if the child is an unaccompanied minor.

If a (truly) 15 year old is flying, none of that is needed.

Never mind. The PP is right that even 15-17 year olds need to do this, even though they don't get the UM service. My bad.

When I booked a ticket for my minor DC, also 14, United collected the fee when I bought the ticket.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it's American, you have to provide the birth certificate at the gate:

At check-in, parents / guardians will also need to provide:

A birth certificate or passport as proof of the child’s age
The adult’s government-issued photo ID with their current address
Your phone number so we can contact you
The name, address and phone number of the adult meeting your child at their destination

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/special-assistance/unaccompanied-minors.jsp

That's if the child is an unaccompanied minor.

If a (truly) 15 year old is flying, none of that is needed.

If you read the whole page, that's required for any person flying under the age of 18 without an adult. The chart says:

15-17 • Unaccompanied minor service optional • Gate escort and guardian contact required

Because of the bolded, you will have to show the child's birth certificate/passport.

Anonymous wrote:Southwest:

Stop at the Southwest Airlines ticket counter. Here the child will receive a UM lanyard and you can obtain an escort pass, which is required to accompany the child through the security checkpoint. Be sure to have the following documents to complete the check-in process:

A copy of the child’s itinerary
Proof of the child’s age (birth certificate, etc.)
Your valid, government-issued ID (required to get an escort pass)

Again, these are for UMs. A 14 year old flying on Southwest is not a UM and does not need to do any of that. They may or may not even give you an escort pass.