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Kids flying solo: What age is appropriate?

The recent flight ordeal of 10-year-old Phoebe Klebahn has plenty of folks exasperated.Most frustrated are Phoebe’s parents. They entrusted their daughter to fly solo on United Airlines from San Francisco en route to camp in Traverse City, Mich. An escort was supposed to meet Phoebe at Chicago’s O’Hare airport to help her catch her connection, but never showed up.Mom Annie Klebahn spent an

The recent flight ordeal of 10-year-old Phoebe Klebahn has plenty of folks exasperated.

Most frustrated are Phoebe’s parents. They entrusted their daughter to fly solo on United Airlines from San Francisco en route to camp in Traverse City, Mich. An escort was supposed to meet Phoebe at Chicago’s O’Hare airport to help her catch her connection, but never showed up.

Mom Annie Klebahn spent an agonizing 45 minutes not knowing where her child was. Eventually, a United staffer helped Phoebe and she got to camp in one piece. The airline has since apologized and also refunded the Klebahn’s airline miles and the $99 escort fee they had paid.

But the story has hit a nerve and struck a divide among parents debating the question: When is it OK for kids to fly unaccompanied as a minor?

While some feel that the airline was wholly at fault and that it’s normally safe to send kids unaccompanied as long as you comply with airline guidelines, others think Phoebe’s parents shared the blame for, among other things, not putting their child on a direct flight and not sending her with a cell phone.

As one commenter on TODAY.com put it:

“Sending 10 year old girls on connecting flights is just plain STUPID on the parents’ part.”

Another commenter countered:

“The parents took every available precaution and it was the paid service provider who failed, not the parents.”

Jim Brown, a Seattle father of two, first sent his kids on an unaccompanied airline flight when they were 10 and 12. While the kids did travel together and flew without incident, Brown says he was terrified. But he made sure they had a cell phone and sent them with a slew of instructions:

“Stay together. Wait for each other outside the bathroom. Be polite. If something happens, just call us. If something happens on the plane, ask the flight attendant. Once off the plane, just call us. If you get lost or get separated, just call us,” Brown said.

Of Klebahn’s story, Brown says, “I certainly don’t blame the parents in this case... but with the easy access we have to cell phones, there’s no reason she shouldn’t have had one.”

Psychotherapist and TODAY contributor Dr. Robi Ludwig doesn’t think any 10-year-old child should be on a plane alone.

“Ten is too young," says Ludwig. “There are too many crazy people out there to leave a child vulnerable, and especially without a phone. It’s naïve at best. And it’s neglectful at its worst.”

United Airlines’ unaccompanied minor policy is standard compared to other airlines. Unaccompanied kids ages 5 to 7 can travel, but only on nonstop flights. Kids ages 8 to 11 can travel on any flight (nonstop or connecting); and kids 12 to 17 can pay a fee to use the unaccompanied minor service or can also travel as adults.

Ludwig says it’s one thing to have a teen fly alone. “Teens have some sense of independence. Their lives are about developing independence. That’s not the case for a 10-year-old.”

Amy McCready, founder of Positive Parenting Solutions, thinks that the decision to let a child travel unaccompanied depends on the maturity of the child.

“As we’ve seen from this recent United Airlines example and from others, a pre-arranged airline escort doesn’t guarantee that your child will arrive at her destination safely and on time,” she says.

McCready suggests considering the following questions before putting your kid solo on a flight:

  • Has she traveled on a plane before with family?
  • Is she easily flustered when routines or plans don’t go as expected?
  • Is she comfortable asking adults for help?

“If your child has shown she can handle independence in other areas and you feel comfortable that she will respond calmly and confidently to changes in the plan, then it’s probably OK to let her do something as independent as flying alone,” McCready says.

However, before the child boards that plane, McCready says parents should make sure of a few things:

  • Review and role play a plan for all possible contingencies.
  • Send the child with a written plan of procedures for what to do if she gets lost, if the plane is diverted to another city, the flight is delayed, she doesn’t feel well, etc.

Most important, says McCready: Make sure your child has a cell phone with important numbers pre-programmed.

That way even if mom and dad are physically miles and miles away, they are only a call away.

What age do you think it’s appropriate for a child to fly unaccompanied on an airplane? Weigh in on our Facebook page.

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