The Unaccompanied Minor - When Children Travel Alone

In an ideal world airlines would never incur delays, and no flights would be canceled. Weather can turn bad, and connections can be missed. When flights don't run as scheduled this can be particularly difficult for an unaccompanied minor and everyone else involved.

In the cases of inclement weather, flight delays and cancellations, the airline will contact you and keep you apprised of the situation. For example, if an unaccompanied minor is connecting flights and misses the connection because of some sort of delay. The airline representative will refer to the phone contacts provided and will try to reach the numbers on file to advise the meeting party that the child is now on the next flight to the destination.

There are a few other things you can do to turn a worst case scenario into a manageable one. While the child is traveling make sure that someone is available to be reached by phone. It is always a good idea to provide extra contact numbers that can be put on file, with names of people who can be contacted on the day of the flight in case of emergency, delays, etc.. And even though most airlines will not permit unaccompanied minors to be booked on the last flight of the day to a destination, make sure that you don't book that last flight of the day. If a child has connecting flights and misses the last flight of the day, options dwindle.

Thousands of children will board a plane and go back to school. For those who travel as unaccompanied minors it is especially important that they are comfortable and aware of the process of flying alone to ensure a pleasant and safe trip.

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