sending a nearly seven year old alone on a plane to Germany...

[emkana]

... for a holiday with her grandmother, for five nights?

Dd1 keen to go and not scared. Have never done this before, but as I understand it airline will look after child?

MIL so upset at the thought that she can't even talk about it.

Have to go now, but will check back later.

Emkana - if you DO decide to send her as an UM, this site has some useful tips about ensuring things go as smoothly as possible (a bit American/ long haul, but useful nevertheless)

Air Travel Health

FGS - some of the irrational bollocks on this thread! emkana's DD is at much greater risk crossing the road than she is getting on an plane. Get a grip!

And I think it was unkind of you kerry to mention Lufthansa's safety record. Rather spiteful actually. And unnecessary.

Thanks for that gameboy.

Lufthansa look after 60000 children travelling alone per year btw...

To whom are you addressing the comment 'get a grip'? You ought to name names so that they get a proper right of reply

I think I will be far happier and confident letting my younger dd's fly alone than I was letting my older daughter (now 16) take the bus for the first time into town with her friend on her own

and according to www.planecrashinfo.com Lufthansa has the best safety record of all the airlines in Europe, and 8th worldwide. Two fatal events out of 7.78 million flights.

Good lord h&hmw - where do you live?

Been offline for ages and haven't read the whole thread but have to say my DD1 flew from paris to UK (hour flight and to a new and unfamiliar airport) unaccompanied this summer at age 6 and half to stay with my sister for a week. I told her before hand exactly what was involved and asked her if she wanted to go and she did and she had a fantastic time.

There was a group of four unaccompanied kids (and she was the youngest) and they were all taken up together from checkin. I was not allowed to leave the airport until the flight had taken off. My sister had to sign for her with proof of id the other end and we did the same the other end. In fact it was DH who had to sign to pick her up and he had wandered off just as she arrived and the hostess would not allow me to sign for her despite the fact it was glaring obvious I am her mum.

In the flight she was given a special pack of things to occupy her for the flight, food bag etc and was aware of the hostess checking on her. She was sat next to a man and near the other unaccompanied children. DD1 is a confident but shy child and I felt it boosted her confidence and has helped her grow. I say if your child wants to go then let her.

Right I am off to speed read the thread now.

No I didn't have reservations.

The reason I started the thread is that MIL is so against it.

I lived in Bristol HMC now live in france, its more that statistically my older dd was more at risk iyswim

Sorry if I was unclear. The get a grip comment was aimed at anyone who is scared of the plane crashing. It's an irrational fear which clearly emkana doesn't share or she wouldn't even be considering sending her DD to visit her Oma.

Emkana - it sounds as if you have already pretty much made up your mind, based on a judgement of your DD's maturity, the need for her to travel to Germany, and a sensible evaluation /risk assessment.

Hearing some of us say "personally, I couldn't" doesn't really help you.

I've had friends say to me "personally, I couldn't....

• send my child to nursery
• book my child into ski school at 5
• let my child go to Summer Camp"

and I've gone ahead and done all of these, and the DC are still alive and well!

I hope she has a great time!

Not you handlemecarefully

I'm totally scared of the plane crashing. We are allowed to be irrational about some things, no? But I agree that emkana should not be influenced by other people's irrational fears

Kerry, I have never read a post from you before on Mn, but i have to say, that your post and then subsequent link to a plane crash which occured over 30 years ago, is outrageous.

I cannot believe that you feel in ANY way justified in either! I ma actually horrified.

Ok, so you wouldn't do it. OK, so you do not agree with Emenka for considering doing it.

That is NO reason whatsoever for the manner in which you have posted. Moreover, to actually post a link to a plane crash that happened with the same airline ( 30 years ago) That was sickening.

I think that when Emenka asked you to name one, the thought behind it was more that you implied that Lufthansa planes are crashing all the time. yet, the only evidence of this you can find is from one crashing 30 years ago...

You ought to be suitably ashamed of yourself. What a despicable thing to do. And BTW, how the hell is having someone you know sitting next to you should such a thing happen, going ot make a blind bit of difference.

emenka sorry, to have continued to mention the crash scenario.I just felt SICK reading kerrys post. I'm so sorry that someone felt they were justified in doing that.

I'm not sure personally if I would or not. I do know that i would feel very reassured having read their policy on UM though. I just dont like flying myself.

I'd say you know your girl the best. YOu feel confident in the system in place, your mum will get SO much from the visit as will your girl, I dont see there are any negatives here at all

good luck with it, and I hope she has a fab time!

Why not ask MIL to take her??

I'm actually quite jealous that I can't be as rational and sensible about this as say - emkana and others

embaka. do it. your dd will be fine.the chances of anthing happening are so low. most accidents happen in the home(would have thought kerry would know that)

Definitely think it depends on the child and the situation. If your dd is up for it Emkana, I would say go for it.
As an aside if it helps, I worked in travel for 10 years and used to book unaccompanied minors all the time (many airlines including Lufthansa, kids were age 5 & up). Never, ever had any issues at all. Kids thought it was a great adventure and general airline consensus was that they were all very well behaved so they would be allowed to do it again

My son is allergic to peanuts so the sole thought of putting him in a plane is enough to worry me no end, forget it about sending him on his own.

But it is peanuts that I'm afraid of. I don't know if things have changed but as far as I was aware they take plenty of care in making things easy for unacompanied children. I would worry a bit if there were transfers but for a direct flight... no, I would send him in. More so if it is a short flight.

May also said that before the last incident with the peanuts, DS was averaging about 10-12 flights a year so... we are so used to them that, apart of the peanut problem, we know planes are quite safe. As a kind American woman put it to me on a ocassion, it is not as if someone will run out with your child inside of a plane and certainly with SOOOOOOO many witnesses it is a safe place for a child to be.

Besides, you are far more likely to be killed in a car accident than in a plane crash. And we all drive around with our kids without giving it much thought.