Unaccompanied minors

benjus

My kids (ages 7 and 9) are currently with their mother in a country that's not very easy to access from the UK.

I'm trying to organize flights so that they can come and visit me and their grandparents here, ideally without their mother having to accompany them.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience using Unaccompanied Minor services, how much they cost, how best to find the cheapest prices, and any other tips for using the service.

In particular:

All routes to the UK involve at least 2 changes. Is it practical for them to travel as UMs for the whole route, or should we try to split it up - e.g. we break up to route to involve a short leg, a long leg, and another short leg; they travel with their mother on the short leg, alone for the long leg, then I meet them and take them for the 2nd short leg.

Any other ideas?

Caz3121

you need to look at the airlines policies, some will not accept UMs, some will for direct flights only, there will be different fees
what airlines do you have the choice of?

pleasedelete

There are also chaperones. They fly all the way with the children and hand them over to you. See a few on flights bringing children to boarding schools. They look like students.

whitewing

What is their mother's opinion on the subject? If she is not happy for them to travel unaccompanied, can you expect the visit to happen?

benjus

Thanks for the replies.

I think the only airlines that could fly all the way through are LAN and American Airlines, although if we were to go with the option of breaking up the trip into separate parts some other airlines (e.g. KLM) would also be an option.

I hadn't thought of chaperones - I'll look into it.

Obviously this would require their mother's consent. At the moment I'm just trying to see how viable it is and how much it would cost. I think that she would be willing to accompany them herself if she's not prepared for them to fly alone, but to be honest it would be easier for me and my parents if the children could come alone.

bagand96

American Airlines and LAN's rules are on their websites:

http://www.aa.com/i18n/disclaimers/childrenTravelingAloneChecklist.jsp
http://www.lan.com/en_au/info_viajes/info_util/menores.html

They have varying rules, as all airlines will (although it seems American will not consider connections for the 7 year old).

Seeing as all UM flights have to be booked via a call centre it's probably worth calling the, up and having a chat.

Bob_the_Saver

Big jiffy bags and first class stamps?

Just a thought