UNACCOMPANIED MINOR: WHO ARE THEY?

                   I read a very interesting story on the Internet a couple of days ago that has informed my writing this piece. Two teenagers and a 10 year old were allowed to fly by an airline in USA without an ID. In the first place one would probably never have heard about this if the kids didn't end up in a wrong destination. These children will probably have gone and come back without even their parents noticing their absence.
                   A lot of explanations has been  given by the airline and all concerned as to why their was no negligence on the part of the airline, "two of the children were over 12 and the 11yr old was obviously been accompanied" says Bridget Brown, TSA also has this to say "no need for ID".
                 After reading through the story, I suddenly realised that the rules as we presently have it are all targeted towards parent ensuring that their children, between the ages of 12 and18 do not decide to make any journey on their, if they chose to, then there wont be any law against the airline allowing them to. Many airlines all over the world allow children to fly alone though they all have different rules guiding them.
                 MY POINT OF VIEW: As a travel consultant, I'll say putting your children on any flight unaccompanied should not be your first option if you can avoid it, but should you not be able to, I have some tips listed that can help you and the child in having a stress and anxiety free travel;

1)  All airlines have their age limit for unaccompanied minor but I would suggest you do not put a child under the age of 8 on any flight unaccompanied as this child might be too young to attend to the issues that might arise during the journey.

2) Only put them on non stop flights so as to  reduce the risk this child will be exposed to, risk of missed flight or wrong connection for instance. Should you however need to put a child on a connecting flight, make it an older teenager.

3) Ensure there is adequate identification on this child apart from the Identification given out to the airline, that is if any has been required by the airline for the flight in question.

4) Do not allow your travel manager put the unaccompanied minor on the last flight of the day for the destination as this could be very dangerous should the child miss his or her reserved flight.

5) Ensure your child is not only old enough to be alone for the number of hours this flight will be for, he or she must also be seen to be psychologically fit to be alone and be in charge of his or her affairs for that lenght of time on issues like baggage and immigration especially if the airline will not be giving any flight assistance.

6) Ensure you check the child in early enough and stay with the child till you cannot be allowed to any longer, however ensure the child boards in your presence and also wait till the flight takes off before you leave the airport.

7) At the destination however, it is very necessary that the person asked to meet with this child is a responsible adult who will be available by the time the child gets through immigration at the airport, this is to avoid unnecessary anxiety for the child.

8) Please ensure you lecture the child on the safety of all travel documents that might be in the child's custody throughout the duration of the journey.

9) Ensure the child has a copy of all contact information you have supplied the airline even if he or she is an older teenager.If the child is old enough to make a call, ensure you provide the child with the means to make phone calls.

                As you do all the above listed things however, still remember that you only take all these steps when your child has not decided to take off on his or her own without your consent, this is only MY POINT OF VIEW.