ZOOM - 14year unaccompanied

fluff1

My child is flying with ZOOM this summer to visit relatives. I will take her to the airport and relatives will pick her up at the other end. Now that its booked i am getting the jitters about her flying alone.

Has anyone any experience of children travelling alone with this airline, or any advise/tips etc. the airline has said they will "assist" her but im not sure the extent of this, I just dont want her missing her flight !!

JAM1376

Hello

Not quite the same distance but my step daughter started flying from north to south in the UK at the age of 14 (and a few days, literally - we were waiting for her birthday as its a very long drive to pick her up!!).

Like you say, we leave her at security and then, the first few times she did it, an airline rep (Air Southwest) walked her to the gate and then she boarded alone. At the other end, she just followed everyone else to pick up her luggage and find the exit. She's quite mature and now, at 16, thinks nothing of flying!

As long as your daughter is confident enough to ask if she needs help and has lots of books and her ipod, I'm sure she'll be fine. She can always call you on her mobile at either end and pass the phone to an official/member of staff if there is a problem!! Safe travels!

bagand96

The usual procedure for "UMs" (Unaccompanied Minors) is pretty good usually. Here's what happened at the airport I used to work at:

You go to check in with her, once she is checked in you can stay with her in the airport (landside) as long as you like. You will have to take her to a specified point at a specified time at which point you will hand her over to a member of airline/ground handling agent staff. This member of staff will then take your daughter through security etc and take her to the aircraft and hand her over to a cabin crew member who will sit her down, ensure she is comfortable etc. It varies airline to airline, but most will have a designated cabin crew member to keep their eye on the UM through the flight etc...

At the other end the process will happen in reverse, cabin crew will hand her over to a ground staff member who will then go with her through immigration; baggage claim and then through to the family members meeting her.

It will probably vary between airline/airports but thats how it worked where I worked a couple of years ago...

M4RKM

i totally agree with bagand96 on how it should work, but this is Zoom airlines we're talking about.....they might be brilliant and do things like that, but the best thing to do is try to speak to someone at Zoom, and enquire more..

the airline has a responsibility to ensure the UM gets to the place, but it might be worth checking with the airlines policy!

cazziebo

My daughter (15) flew with Zoom to Canada and back last year and she didn't get any special treatment or supervision - ie just left as any other passenger would be and went through customs etc on her own. She's travelled quite a bit and very confident so maybe that's why.

She did go unaccompanied with BA when she was 10 and 12 and that was completely different. I had to confirm who was collecting her, emergency numbers etc. She was taken to the exec lounge and accompanied on to the plane. She had to transfer at Heathrow and was accompanied all the way through that. However my sister who was meeting her in Canada said that her identity wasn't checked at all, although dd was obviously happy to see her so perhaps they judged it not necessary.

Just booked daughter on a Zoom flight in May - she's still 15 - and there have been no questions about who's taking her, collecting her etc.

So if you're concerned I'd do as Markymoo suggests and check with the airline what their process is.

M4RKM

hmm.. i think that last post by cazziebo proves that certain airlines do things differently... obviously Zoom don't bother as much as BA, but it could be the age thing too...

fingers crossed you get a good answer out of Zoom

dmg24

markymoo wrote: »

hmm.. i think that last post by cazziebo proves that certain airlines do things differently... obviously Zoom don't bother as much as BA, but it could be the age thing too...

fingers crossed you get a good answer out of Zoom

As an example of BA's policy, when I was at school twenty of us flew to Paris, with the required number of teachers. We checked in at Birmingham and proceeded to walk towards security. Suddenly two ground staff were chasing after us, as we were on their list of UA's. Despite reassurances from us and the teachers, the staff insisted we were UA's, and therefore had to be escorted to the plane! This also happened in Paris, again with two staff due to the large amounts of UA's on the plane ... the teachers had a great journey! x

Oldernotwiser

Someone mentioned making sure she had her ipod with her; I'd say the opposite. The most likely thing to go wrong is for her to miss any announcements because she's got one of these in her ears!

Apart from this I wouldn't worry too much, it's not as if she's got to change platforms!

bagand96

I agree with the others contact Zoom. Different airlines will have different policies regarding this. It seems many airlines (including Zoom) do not have an automatic policy, whereas BA for example do. I'm sure if you contacted Zoom to arrange the UM assistance, it could be arranged...

M4RKM

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Someone mentioned making sure she had her ipod with her; I'd say the opposite. The most likely thing to go wrong is for her to miss any announcements because she's got one of these in her ears!

Apart from this I wouldn't worry too much, it's not as if she's got to change platforms!

i'm sorry... an 8 hour plane journey without any music... make sure she has her ipod, but educate her not to use it at the airport, only on the plane, and only when you're allowed...

angel

This is from the Zoom website ...

"Passengers between the ages of 13 and 17 inclusive will be accepted for travel as Young Persons (YP). YP will be assisted to and from the aircraft by a Zoom representative."