<p>I am frustrated and need to vent and hopefully get some advice. I have discovered only one airline (Southwest) in the Boston/Manchester area will allow my daughter to travel by herself. All the other airlines designate her as an unaccompanied minor due to her age. Some airlines will not allow UM's to travel if there are connections and there will be for d. Southwest is not ideal because of the limited flights from our area to Boston/Manchester and the connections. I've contacted some of the car services and the price of taking her to the airport and serving as the adult checking her in approaches the cost of buying an airline ticket. We may not have any other options, but would love to hear suggestions.</p>
<p>How old is your daughter? I had the impress that the minimum age for traveling unaccompanied was 12, and that if you were younger than 12 and still needed to travel alone, you could pay 100 bucks more and the service people would take care of you. Then of course at the destination someone designated had to pick her up with a valid ID. Did they change the policies?</p>
<p>emdee - for breaks, SPS offers bus service to NYC airports. Are there direct flights out of NYC that she can take?</p>
<p>like nodrama, I do think you can have your child “escorted” by the airline for an additional fee. My cynical take on this is that it is another revenue source for the airlines in this bad economic climate.</p>
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<p>I was under that impression as well. I’ve flown in the Alaska/Horizon Airlines UM Program before. I believe I was eleven. They transported me to and from flights. (I near missed one, but that’s another story.) And if I’m not mistaken, if you were older than 12 you could pay extra to travel in the program still. Then again, that was five years ago, so you never know.</p>
<p>Have you contacted the school where your D will be attending? They may be able to help you out with suggestions. There may be an older kid who lives in the same general area that she can travel with.
I am confussed though, S has friends who are international students who traveled by themselves from Korea, China and Mexico to Logan.</p>
<p>I have not looked into NYC, that may be an option because of the possibility of direct flights. </p>
<p>Most of the airlines, Delta, American, Continential and USAirways designate the minimum age for traveling alone as 15. Is there a way to get around this? There must be a lot of 14 year olds at boarding school traveling by air, do they check the age on a passport or are they just checking id? Would they accept a school id? Delta will not escort a child to the gate, an adult is needed to escort them to the gate and stay there until the plane departs. Not sure about the others, have not had direct experience.</p>
<p>The problem is not traveling as an unaccompanied minor, she can do that in most cases, except for the airlines who say not connections etc. The problem is having someone on the school end check her in, escort her to the gate, stay with her until the airplane departs. That is a lot to ask someone to do. Like I said, we can pay for it using the car services, but it is very pricey, I could fly to her school and escort her back home for about the same price.</p>
<p>Ah, ok, disregard my post then. </p>
<p>I know money problems, trust me on this, but I know that, even at 16, I wouldn’t mind my mom coming along to help me. My mom and I aren’t even too close or person either. Just see things through. So maybe it might just be worth the money to at least fly her there and then figure out a way back.</p>
<p>Dd Delta change their policy? Because last year they were fine with my 14 year old travelling by themselves.</p>
<p>Sorry- I just realized that that was a direct flight, no connections. I would call the school. They deal with this all of the time.</p>
<p>I just saw a post about Air Tran from someone, but it seems to have disappeared, but thanks for the info.,Air Tran services my town and I had not even looked at them. </p>
<p>Bio-I do not know if it is a change in policy. Did you indicate your child’s age or just purchase a ticket without indicating they were 14? Also, what id did your child show at the airport?</p>
<p>We had an international travel experience. For $100, The airline helped the eleven year old transfer, and deliver him to the destination, no question asked. They must’ve changed policies. I don’t remember anything about the age of 15 before. As for the ID, I think you just need some form of photo ID to match the original brought by person who pick you up.</p>
<p>United lets kids fly without the extra fees. I’ve been using them all year from Calif. to Logan.</p>
<p>Emdee- no ID required domestically under age 18. I know this for a fact, because my 16 year old proudly tried to offer her new driver’s license at the gate this spring, and was told it wasn’t required ;-)</p>
<p>The airlines have changed their policies. I flew just a week ago by myself, and being 14 they would not allow me to fly unless i was under the unaccompanied minor program. Therefor forcing my parents to pay 100 dollars. Needless to say my parents weren’t very happy, esp since I have traveled by air numerous times.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to a .pdf that lists various airlines’ Unaccompanied Minor travel policies. Not sure of the date, so it might be outdated … but worth a look. Generally, 14 year olds are considered minors that need accompanying, with additional fees and procedures. Luckily for us, our child turns 15 the week before he’ll be flying back home. </p>
<p><a href=“http://marketing.cheapflights.com/Guides/KidsSolo.pdf[/url]”>http://marketing.cheapflights.com/Guides/KidsSolo.pdf</a></p>
<p>emdee – your child can fly on Air Tran unaccompanied if she is 12 and over.
Air Tran’s policy is as follows:
Unaccompanied Minors</p>
<p>AirTran defines an unaccompanied minor as a child at least five (5) years of age but less than twelve (12) years of age who is not accompanied by a customer twelve (12) years of age or older. Unaccompanied minors will be accepted for travel, with limitations, based on their itinerary. A child five (5) to seven (7) years of age will be accepted only on nonstop or direct flights between their origin and destination. A child eight (8) to eleven (11) years of age will be accepted even if their itinerary involves a connecting flight, provided the connecting flight is not the last flight of the day to their destination.</p>
<p>For more information:<br>
[AirTran</a> Airways - General Information](<a href=“Southwest Airlines | Book Flights, Make Reservations & Plan a Trip”>Southwest Airlines | Book Flights, Make Reservations & Plan a Trip)</p>
<p>You may want to consider having your daughter get a state issued identification card.</p>
<p>Oh I misunderstood your ID question. In our experience, because it was an internation flight, we had to show them his passport. For domestic flights I don’t think they ever ask for ID’s from minors. I am not sure how they get the proof of a child’s age.</p>
<p>I guess ages have changed since goaliegirl started flying at age 14… I checked back then and the limit was 13 could fly unaccompanied.</p>
<p>You might want to double check, but I don’t believe the airlines actually ask the age of the person flyng when you purchase the ticket, nor when you print a boarding pass. When you do check in, if a student presents a student ID and indicates that s/he is below 16, they generally accept that ID as adequate and do not ask age. You might question the airline as to what type of ID they accept for a 15-year-old to confirm. I do not believe they can ask you to carry a birth certificate to prove 15 years of age.</p>
<p>That being said, if you choose to skirt their policy, you are on your own if they strand your child someplace. Personally, I make sure that goaliegirl’s connections are in a location that I can get to in an emergency (missing the last flight out) or a place where she has relatives nearby.</p>
<p>I agree with the above posters about this being a way for airlines to grab for extra fees.</p>
<p>I’m guessing a lot of people skirt the policy by not mentioning age, that’s why I wanted to know what id students are required to show. But I do not want to risk d being stranded.</p>