9 Tips for Booking a Flight for a Child Flying Alone



Posted: Friday, November 13, 2009

by

If you are considering sending your child on an airplane, unaccompanied by an adult, you undoubtedly want the flight to be as easy, quick and safe as possible. Therefore you should evaluate all your options before booking the flight, knowing full well, that your best flight, for your unaccompanied child may not be the cheapest.

When considering your options, you will have a few possibilities, but to insure that the flight is easy, quick and safe and have the least amount of opportunity to have a problem, you should book the flight in the order listed below. i.e., your best option should be to book a nonstop flight, then if that can't be done, select option 2, then 3 and so on.

Your order of choices for booking the best possible flight for your young child, flying alone, is:

Remember that most airlines will not allow kids under 8 years to take connecting flights when traveling alone. If your child's trip does involve connecting flights, it is best to contact the airlines and learn about their policies and requirements for unaccompanied minors.

Other tips for booking your flight.

Book flights earlier in the day. These earlier flights are less susceptible to delays than flights going out later in the day.

Avoid the last flight of the day. If it is canceled, opportunities for rerouting your child will be severely limited. In some cases you don't even have to worry about this since carriers may not even accept a reservation like this. They may not even give you a connection to another airline leaving late in the day.

An unaccompanied child cannot usually fly on standby. Reservations are almost always required.

If the flight has meal service, it is good to inquire about it and reserve a child's meal.

Use "electronic ticketing" in which no paper ticket is issued. This means that the ticket can't be lost or forgotten. The ticket information is all stored on the computer. The only problem you might encounter with this is that you may not be able to purchase an unaccompanied-minor ticket on a web site. Instead you'd have to go through the airlines.

When you receive the ticket or itinerary, check to make sure that all the information is correct. This means check your child's name and flight dates, times and cities. Also, make sure the person meeting your child on the other end also knows all the specifics of the trip.

Ask the airline what phone number you should call if you have questions or problems during the trip.

You can also ask the airline about getting a "gate pass" so that you can accompany your child through security to the departure gate. Some airlines will require this. Remember that adults going to the gate will need a government-issued photo ID, like a driver's license. Likewise, the person picking up your child will need to know this too. You might also tell that person that the same thing applies when he/she brings them back for the flight home.

By following these few tips, you can be assured that you have done what you can to ensure that your child will have a safe and enjoyable flight.

Bill has been writing articles for over 5 years. Come visit his latest website over at http://www.HPInkjetCartridgesAreTheBest.com which explains a lot about HP Inkjet Cartidges and why they are the best inkjet cartridges around.

This Article has been viewed 100 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.