Is That Legal?

Unaccompanied minors have to be with an adult at all times - up until the minor in transferred to the approved adult (I believe this is also verified by the airline). Usually, this is done by ground crews at the airports and the flight crew during flight.

This should be the same for any type of delay, cancellation, etc. Also, most airlines have the minors wear some large badge-like thing around their neck that contains their paperwork.

Hopefully, that will help some.

Each airline has its own policies for transportation of unaccompanied minors, often incorporated by reference in their conditions of carriage. Most major airlines based in the USA have at least a summary of these policies on their Web sites.

At one time, air travel by unaccompnaied minors was relatively rare. Today, many children travel regularly by plane between parents who share custody but live far apart. As a result, airlines have set up more systematic and larger-scale programs for escorting and dealing with unaccomopanied minors. Some even have dedicated waiting areas for unaccompnaied minors in transit at their hub airports.

Except when they are actually on the plane, an unaccompaNied minor is escorted by an airline employee (or, occasionally, contractor) from the time they are signed over to the custody of an airline by their parent(s), guardian, or custodian to the time they are signed back over to the person designated to meet them.

Escort services cost money. Airlines charge for this in one of two ways: On international flights, unaccompaNied minors are typically charged an adult fare, rather than a child fare. The differenCe beween the child and adult fares is a _de facto_ fee for escort services. On domestic flights in the USA, where there are rarely any fare discounts for children, unaccompanied minors are generally charged an explicit escort fee.

The airline accepts responsibility for the unaccompanied child until they are able to deliver that child to the originally designated person at the destination, return the child to the person who originally delivered them to the airline, or, in rare cases, deliver them to someone else designated and authorized by the person who dropped them off.

If it is apparent before departure -- because of a cancelled or delayed flight, bad weather, etc. -- that the child will not reach their intended destination, the airline will generally try to reurn them to the person who dropped them off. Airlines strongly prefer, even if they don't absolutely require, that after dropping off an unaccompanied minor, you wait until the flight has actually departed before leaving the airport.

In rare cases, a missed connection or flight diversion may prevent an unaccompnaied minor form either returning to their starting place, or reaching their intended destination, the same day, and they may have to stay overnight somewhere else. In such cases, they remain in the custody of the airline, and the airline will arrange for an airline staff person (or, rarely, a contractor) to stay with them throughout the layover.

Northwest Airlines, for example, provides as follows: "Under rare circumstances, an overnight may be required (major snowstorm, etc.). In these instances, we will provide overnight and meal accommodations for your child. A qualified guard and/or Northwest employee will provide continuous supervision to ensure your child's safety during their overnight stay. You will be contacted with all pertinent information if this rare circumstance does occur."

Many parents are surprised by the legal requirements for international travel by minors, either when unaccompanied or when accompnaied by only one parent. Because of the frequency of international flight with children in custody disputes, international treaties now require the consent of *both* parents (or legal proof of sole custody) for international travel by minors, or the issuance of a passport to a minor in the USA many other countries.

So if a minor is travelling internationally, and won't be accompanied by both parents (or if they are accompanied by both parents, but the child and both parents don't all have the same surname), it is essential to have proof of the relationship with the accompanying parents (e.g. a birth certificate showing the parents names), notarized consent from the absent parent or parents ("I, Jane Doe, give permission for my daughter Mary Doe to travel to Mexico from June 1, 2005, to August 1, 2005, with her father, Richard Doe"; "We, Jane and Richard Doe, give permission for our daughter Mary Doe to travel... with her grandparents Alice and Bob Doe", etc), consent from one parent and legal proof of sole custody, or consent from a guardian and legal proof of guardianship.

This is not a discretionary decision for the airline or cruise line, and is required for even a brief port call outside the USA by a cruise ship. Without notarized permission from any non-accompanying parent(s), a child will *not* be allowed to board an international flight or cruise.

I am sure these dudes will have an answer with more details than you care to know in a few days: http://www.airliners.net/discussions/general_aviation/read.main/2140994/.

sPh

sPh, I follow the site sometimes. And they will definitely have the answer with FAR more details than you care to know.

I can't add to the complete description of the process, but I will note that the fee charged for domestic UM escort varies greatly by airline. United was $60 and JetBlue and Southwest both $0 at last check.

Every airline I have used in this situation refuses to book the minor on the last flight of the day to minimize the chance of being stuck overnight. Also, every airline has required me to stay at the gate until the flight is in the air.

If you're going from North Carolina to the northeast, it's probably USAirway's policy you're after. (A young relative will be testing it for me at the end of the month. $80. Oof.)

Don't do it!!! Northwest Airlines lost my thirteen year old a few years back. They did so only after slapping one of those "Kidnap me first - unaccompanied minor!" stickers on her. Eight gut-wrenching hours of the kid going up in planes, coming down, no one ever telling us anything, and insisting that we were being unreasonable because she'd been unaccounted for for the whole time. Good thing we had dear, patient friends on the other end of the journey.

But hey, she got 500 frequent flier miles, a Cinnabon, and a phone card that didn't work in any phones she had access to.

(to be read in Homer voice:)

mmmmm.... Cinnabon .....

Shipping two girls to Japan on Tuesday. They have been going international, France, Africa, Japan etc for many years as unaccompanied minors.
They are now 12 and 15.

No serious problems. Last summer when flying to Japan the kids were bumped up to first class where there were more staff to keep an eye on them. This sometimes happens when they are well behaved and fight is not full.

The girls tell me that going all the way from Florida to Japan is MUCH better in First Class.

You will not be able to go to the gate with them once you have handed them over. It's best to stay till plane is in the air, some contracts requre it.

They have found they can ask for just about anything within reasion and get it solong as they are polite and good.

Arm them with phone contact lists for both ends. Even if they are not able to use them the list may help the person in charge. List both the familar and full name: Mum, Jane Austin, 954 555-1212.

You should know everything about the remote pickup person, address, phone numbers, etc. You will need it to fill out the paperwork.

You should have no trouble on a short domestic flight.

Try to keep to a minimum the stuff they cary. If they put an item down they are unlikly to mention it until it's miles behind. You may like to take a large cary on, books, makeup, and pocket litter.

Kids don't need to cary and track all that stuff. It's likley that they will leave somthing in the kids wating rooms or on the plane so put EVERYTHING thing you can in the checked bag!

Have them take a book bag with just phone list, ticket, pen and paper and a book. On longer flights personal CD players may be a good idea.

CD player is nice IF you think they can keep track of it. The fewer items they have to track and account for, the less the stress.

You may want them to share a cary-on bag. That way you have halved the number of things to lose and they are BOTH looking out for it.

It may be good to arm them with a picture of the person who is comming to meet them. If you were to arrive and expect to be meet, but could not find them, you would walk through the terminal looking for them.

That won't work for supervised kids. There is NO WAY they will let you kid wonder around looking for grandmar. But if the kids have a name and a good picture it's possible that an adult may be able to take the picture and walk through the terminal to locate them.

Don't worry about mad gunmen running off with your kids. First you cant get anything larger than a toothpick past security, next every one has had to show ID, last an airport is crawling with securty. It's probably the safest place on the planet.

Oh yes, if going international they need their OWN passports. If going domestic it's not a bad idea for your kids to have their own photo ID.