Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

423 replies

emkana · 05/01/2008 16:51

... 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.

OP posts:
Original poster
emkana · 06/01/2008 22:02

My dd's are going on a school trip on Tuesday, on a couch. Should I not let them go because there might be a crash? There have been so many coach accidents...

OP posts:
MeMySonAndI · 06/01/2008 22:04

Exactly, and don't let her go out of the house as a lightening can strike her

suedonim · 06/01/2008 22:07

I haven't read all the posts (too many of them!) but my inclination is that if the child wants to go to see her granny then let her. My ds flew unaccomanied at just a bit older than 7, admittedly on a domestic flight, and dd1 got herself all the way from Aberdeen to New York on her own.

Ime, airline staff are very solicitious towards their charges and certainly better than dh and I, who managed to lose our own child on a plane that was 35,000ft up in the air!!! As expats, we see unaccompanied children flying all the time, no one bats an eyelid.

Original poster
emkana · 06/01/2008 22:11

loving my typo... on a couch

OP posts:
2shoes · 06/01/2008 22:13

i am sure if i google it i could find a couch crash.

2shoes · 06/01/2008 22:15

told you

roisin · 06/01/2008 22:15

ooh dear - sorry this has got so rough Emkana. Go with your instincts!

Fwiw last term ds2 (8) was doing a project on planning a holiday to Zambia, and we taught him how to look up flights on the internet and so on. (He chose to plan his trip as a single-traveller!) One evening I noticed a credit card by the PC and thought "oops forgot to put my card away - better do that quick - otherwise ds2 will book his tickets and abscond". I didn't realise it was actually dh's card, and he spent the whole next morning looking for it, and checking the internet history because he was convinced of the same thing! I have no doubt that ds2 would be capable of that, and hope that - thanks to UM schemes - if he did attempt it he'd be pulled up at the airport.

He would love to fly unaccompanied to Germany, and I'm sure your dd will have a whale of a time. And Oma will appreciate it immensely too. I just had a lovely email from my mum thanking me for "lending her" ds2 to stay for a few days this Christmas: they both had a wonderful time.

LadyMuck · 06/01/2008 22:17

So just out of curiosity - if your dd is the only unaccompanied child on the flight then she will just sit beside a stranger (though presumably within sight of flight attendant for take-off and landing). Do they supply extra staff on the flight or does the flight attendant look after your dd as well have her usual duties? And do you have an say (or even knowledge of) who she will be sitting next to?

I have to say that I hadn't appreciated the "sitting next to a stranger" bit. I think that I had assumed that they sat with the staff or at least would have the row blocked off.

Tamum · 06/01/2008 22:17

I can't believe the way this has descended into hysteria about infinitesimal risks. Don't be put off, emkana.

Jackstini · 06/01/2008 22:18

Memtsonandi - I once arranged a peanut free flight for a family too so you can do this! (son was severely allergic - even to the dust from opening a bag)
tbh most airlines don't use them now anyway due to allergy possibilities. Mini cheese biscuits I think you'll find

Original poster
emkana · 06/01/2008 22:18

I think they sit in a normal row of seating, but not next to a male passenger.

OP posts:
bellabelly · 06/01/2008 22:18

If your dd is keen then I think it's a great idea! When my DH was little he used to do this quite often as an unaccompanied minor and the airline staff always looked after him and his brothers really well. You'll be able to take her to the airport yourself won't you? And mil will pick her up at teh other end, won't she? What's to worry about?

bellabelly · 06/01/2008 22:18

If your dd is keen then I think it's a great idea! When my DH was little he used to do this quite often as an unaccompanied minor and the airline staff always looked after him and his brothers really well. You'll be able to take her to the airport yourself won't you? And mil will pick her up at teh other end, won't she? What's to worry about?

Jackstini · 06/01/2008 22:20

PS - 2shoes, the things you find on t'internet..
I shall not be letting dd go couch racing I can tell you!

LadyMuck · 06/01/2008 22:21

Is that Luftansa's policy - Farfaraway indicated that her dd sat next to a man (21:39)?

Not that a strange man freaks me that much more than a strange woman. But presumably it is more difficult to ensure that they don't talk to her and vice versa?

LadyMuck · 06/01/2008 22:23

But in any event, if you're happy with what they do, and your dd is happy then go for it. I think that it is still worth talking to your MIL to see if she has any specific fears as in general I find it helpful to keep all grandparents on side.

Califrau · 06/01/2008 22:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

susiecutiemincepies · 06/01/2008 22:25

It was a rhetorical question Kerry.... yes, it was "a for real, rhetorical question. " jeez. Not seen an apology yet for your mis judged posts. I would hope you would all things considered and all that.

Dont be put off Emenka. Your instincts are telling you to go for it, so you should! All the positives far out-way the negatives. I can understand your MIL reservations, of course. However, different generation, plus, she is your MIL, are thought by their very nature, most are supposed to disagree with DIL parenting decisions

kindersurprise · 06/01/2008 22:26

I am a bit at the turn this thread has taken.

Of course Emkana asked for opinions, and was open to people disagreeing with her. She surely did not expect someone to state that Lufthansa has a bad safety record (which is utter bollocks, I have been living in Germany for the past 15 years and cannot recall a crash). To google and find a crash that was over 30 years ago.

Emkana
You got me thinking. My DD will be 6 in April and DS 4 in July. I was just thinking about how soon I would let them fly alone to my parents. I could definately see DD flying alone next year, and DS the year after. In fact, if they were both flying then perhaps both next year. Difficult to tell at the moment how DS will be in 1 1/2 years. But DD would manage no bother.

I do think that expat families are more used to flying back and forward and do not feel so apprehensive about flying. It is just a bus with wings

Califrau · 06/01/2008 22:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MeMySonAndI · 06/01/2008 22:32

Jackstini, problem is many airlines don't take it seriously... I had contacted the airline who assured me peanuts won't be served, I told the staff at the airport, at the gate, main stewardess, and they served them anyway. They also forgot DS's food so he sepnd the way there munching on glutten free biscuits (and don't start me in the stupid stewardess that planted a fish finger plate on front of him and a packet of peanuts without asking first and after my complaint about them forgetting DS's food... he was also allergic to fish

Bloody Delta, will never ever use them ever again. However, we found that many other airlines are cr*p in this subject too. They promiss but don't deliver.

Gameboy · 06/01/2008 22:34

Ladymuck - a friend of mine who worked as cabin crew said they don't have extra staff or anything for UMs.

Slight tangent here, but I have to say I get a bit annoyed when the cabin crew clearly identify a 'soft target' in the passengers to look after UMs. When we flew to the US last summer (DH & I and our own two kids) I was on the other side of the aisle from two UMs and the air hostess directly asked me "could you keep an eye on these two here, as the plane is full and I've got 4 UMs..."
Of course I muttered 'of course...' or something, but then to my horror, she turned to the two kids and said "this lady here is going to keep an eye on you, so let her know if you need anything.."
It was an 11 hour flight and the two kids were a nightmare, asking me to open their yoghurts, fix their headphones, get their bags down. Apart from serving drinks and food, we barely saw the stewardess again!
And this was on BA....

It's really unfair on parents who already have their own children to deal with .

MeMySonAndI · 06/01/2008 22:34

LadyMuck, I have been the "stranger" travelling to the side of an unacompanied child. We had a great time making paper airplanes all the way down to Brussels!

MeMySonAndI · 06/01/2008 22:36

Now I would really be put off of having to take care of a couple of children in a longhaul flight, but then I supose you could have a word with the stewardess?

kindersurprise · 06/01/2008 22:36

Cali
Yes, I know. I meant Kerrysmum with her fear that the plane would crash. When you fly a lot that fear does get reduced, imo.

The reservations you have are more about the age of the child, not the actual safety of the plane.