Each year, parents fork over hundreds of dollars to airlines’ unaccompanied minors programs to ensure their children traveling alone by plane make it to their destination safely. While most of these trips go swimmingly, a few don’t. Case in point: an Iowa couple says their 12-year-old daughter was left alone at a Houston airport despite paying extra to ensure she was accompanied at all times. [More]
unaccompanied minors
JetBlue Asks Court To Throw Out Lawsuit Over Misplaced 5-Year-Old
By 12.6.16
More than three months after losing track of an unaccompanied minor and sending him to an airport in an entirely different city than his intended destination, JetBlue is arguing that an international treaty prohibits the mother from bringing a lawsuit against the airline. [More]
Mom Sues JetBlue After Airline Flies Unaccompanied 5-Year-Old Son To Wrong City
By 9.30.16
September began with news of a New York City mom whose unaccompanied 5-year-old son somehow ended up on the wrong JetBlue flight, and now the month comes to an end with that mom filing a lawsuit against the airline that misrouted her child. [More]
JetBlue Puts Kids On Wrong Planes In Unaccompanied Minor Switcheroo
By 9.1.16
It sounds like a classic movie switcheroo, but it’s one that gave the families of two five-year-old boys a bit of a real-life scare: JetBlue apparently confused the children, putting a boy who was supposed to go New York City on a flight to Boston, and a boy meant for Boston on a plane to New York City. [More]
United Airlines Expands Age Range For Children Flying Alone Who Are Required To Use $150 Service
By 12.28.15
If you’ve got a tween who’s preparing to fly alone on United Airlines, you might end up paying a fee you weren’t prepared for: United Airlines has quietly expanded the age range of children who have to use a $150 service when flying without an accompanying adult, raising it from an upper limit of age 12 to age 15. [More]
It Just Got More Expensive For Older Youths To Fly Solo With American Airlines
By 8.22.14
Older tweens flying solo on American Airlines and hoping for a bit more independence can kiss those dreams goodbye. The latest American/US Airways merger-related policy update for the airline involves increasing the age for which unaccompanied minors must pay to be supervised.
[More]
Delta Hands Over 7-Year-Old Passenger To Wrong Person
By 8.22.14
Delta has got some explaining to do. Not only did the airline hand over a 7-year-old unaccompanied traveler to the wrong person when she arrived at her destination, but that wrong person happened to be the mother who recently got out of jail for kidnapping and beating the girl back in 2008. [More]
United Airlines Now Only Accepting Unaccompanied Minors On Non-Stop Flights
By 12.19.13
If you are planning on sending your kid on a solo trip to visit her grandparents in the new year, the L.A. Times reports that as of Dec. 5 the nation’s largest airline (for the moment) no longer accepts unaccompanied minors on flights that involve connections. So if that trek to and from GrandpaLand isn’t a nonstop flight, you’ll need to look for another airline for your whippersnapper. [via L.A. Times] [More]
Parents Tell United It Lost Their 10-Year-Old Daughter, Airline Shows Remarkable Lack Of Interest
By 8.14.12
Back in June, the parents of a 10-year-old girl say they put their child in the hands of United Airlines staff for the kid’s first solo trip to summer camp, only to soon find out that the airline had somehow misplaced the young girl — and that the airline didn’t really seem to think this was a big deal. [More]
Should Single Men Be Barred From Sitting Next To Unaccompanied Minors On Planes?
By 8.13.12
I’m a single guy (Hello ladies…) and I’ve also sat next to an unaccompanied minor on an airplane without issue. But if I were a passenger on Australian carrier Qantas, I would have to switch seats with an adult woman because apparently my Y chromosome tags me, and all adult males, as a potential threat to children flying solo. [More]
United Books Unaccompanied Minor On Flight That Bans Unaccompanied Minors
By 7.3.12
United Airlines has a simple enough policy regarding children flying alone (unaccompanied minors, as airlines call them.) They cannot travel on the last flight of the day. This makes sense: no one wants an unaccompanied minor to become a stranded unaccompanied minor if their flight is canceled. But when Hannah booked a flight for her 12-year-old son to travel unaccompanied, no one mentioned this rule, and United phone agents placed him on the last flight of the day. This meant that he was turned away at the airport, and his departure delayed until the next day. Hannah thinks that the family deserves some kind of compensation for this inconvenience due to United’s screwup. [More]
Consumers Get Screwed Because Airlines Can't Agree On Unaccompanied Minor Policies
By 5.30.12
For parents, it can be stressful enough to put your children on a plane on their own. And it only gets more irritating when you have to sort through each airline’s particular policy for unaccompanied minors to make sure your child will actually be able to fly without an adult — and how much it’s going to cost. But even then, the airlines can throw in a hitch that invalidates all your efforts. [More]
Delta Sends Boston-Bound Child to Cleveland And Vice-Versa
By 6.10.10
Not content to just lose business clothes and cute little dogs and smash bikes, Delta took two children flying as unaccompanied minors and put them on the wrong planes, according to Cleveland’s WOIO. [More]
Delta Air Lines: You Need To Pay A Fee To Pay This Fee
By 11.28.09
Update: Delta representatives are in touch with Martin and his family, and we’ll let you know when they work something out.
Martin’s 5-year-old stepdaughter has had a very eventful holiday week. So has her family. Flying as an unaccompanied minor, she had to miss her original flight on AirTran and her family booked another at the last minute. The first reasonably priced flight available was on NWA/Delta, but her parents tell us that communication between different departments seems to have shut down–resulting in fees, hours of delays, and the child ultimately missing her flight because the airline didn’t mark down that the unaccompanied minor fee had already been paid.
Frontier's Computer System Lands Unaccompanied Minor In Security Room For An Hour
By 6.30.09
Ok, here’s a crazy idea: if you’re an airline, and you have a form with room to list two adults who are authorized to pick up an unaccompanied minor, wouldn’t it make sense to have room for both names in your computer system? Because whoever is running Frontier Airline’s system doesn’t seem to think so! Kayla’s mother spent a frantic hour, IDs in hand, trying to prove that she was authorized to meet her 13-year-old daughter at the gate. The form accompanying her daughter clearly had both her and Kayla’s father listed, but the computer listed only the father’s name. While Frontier sorted out the confusion, Kayla spent an hour waiting in Denver Airport’s security room.
Continental Puts 10-Year-Old Child On The Wrong Plane
By 6.15.09
Sure, airlines misroute luggage all the time. But how about misrouting a ten-year-old girl to the wrong state?
Delta Wants $300 In Fees On A $306 Ticket
By 7.31.08
When reader Anayah booked a ticket for her little sister to come visit her in New York, she specifically asked Delta if there would be a fee for an unaccompanied minor. They told her (twice) that since her sister was 14, there would be no fee. When Anayah’s family got to the gate Delta informed them that there would be a charge of $100 each way. Anayah’s mother could not afford to pay this fee and, since Delta would not allow Anayah to pay the fee in person at the ticket counter in New York, there would be an additional charge of $100 to pay by phone. The confusion caused her sister to miss her flight, and now Delta wants another fee to rebook her.
