Another case where I had simple questions and then quickly fell into a rat’s nest…
I flew roundtrip on Delta from the US to Dakar, Senegal. On the flight back from Dakar to NY, there was a small boy who was traveling alone. From what I heard, he was four years old.
The boy didn’t speak English or French, but rather Wolof, the common native language of Senegal. The story I heard was that he was being taken from his mother in Senegal to someone else in the U.S., possibly his father.
Before and through takeoff, he flipped out, screaming, with no one able to calm him down. The flight attendants did speak Wolof, but were ill-equipped to handle the child and passed him off to various passengers. The boy tired himself out eventually, but had other episodes later on in the flight.
Having worked with kids, I just wanted to try to help calm him down. The people I was traveling with said I shouldn’t get involved. At the end of the flight, the general reaction was that 4 years old is too young to fly alone. My neighboring passengers criticized the boy’s family and the airline.
Asking on my Facebook page, one response was:
That is way too young. Flight attendants are not babysitters and most parents wouldn’t leave a 5-year old home alone while they make a quick trip to the store.
Researching on the various airline sites, I found that 5 years old was the general cutoff age to be able to fly alone. Delta’s policy is that children 5-7 can travel alone on a non-stop flight. It doesn’t seem to matter how long that flight may be. Ages 8 and up can travel alone on connecting flights. Of course, there is an additional fee of $100 for the program. The above comment on babysitting seems applicable, as Delta does not say that they really offer anything for a child traveling alone, instead offering basic tips, such as:
Entertainment and food:
- Provide your child with entertainment materials.
- Provide a small amount of money for food as most flights do not offer meal service.
I find the last part particularly amusing, as on Delta, they make a big announcement of how they are a cashless airline. So, what, you’re supposed to give your 5 year old a credit card? Or hope that someone else just charges their food to their card and takes the bills out of their small, clenched fists as they scream for their mother, possibly in a foreign language?
I got additional info and another end of UMP on Twitter, with a response from Mark Orwoll, the Int’l Editor of Travel + Leisure:
While the video doesn’t apply to my concerns, it puts into question whether there is broader logic in the application of Unaccompanied Minor Programs.
To summarize the Today show video (even though it is worth watching the whole thing, even before Mark’s part):
These Floridian kids, ages 15, 13 and 11, decided to take a trip up to Dollywood, so they went to the airport and bought tickets.
TSA policy doesn’t require ID for minors and Southwest allows younger kids to travel alone if they’re with older kids. Apparently, that part of the policy varies based on airline.
From the above Today show piece, it doesn’t sound like any policy was violated. Which seems to be a massive problem, if a kid can just run off to the airport and fly away with no one on the hook for that, other than inobservant parents.
But those are kids in double-digits, a different problem than the original: How young is too young to fly alone? Is it fair for an entire plane to have to feel awful because of a screaming pre-elementary child traveling alone? And even more so, do we as a society have any responsibility in not allowing parents to send their kid off on a potentially life-traumatizing experience?
Looking forward to your comments on any of this.
