Flying as an unaccompanied minor at age 7

[CrispyClo]

I’m posting on behalf of my sister as she is looking for some external views on the matter.

My niece is 7, birthday was in August. She started a new school in September, which closes for Christmas a week earlier than most state schools. There don’t seem to be a lot of options for childcare during that week as not many schools here close that early so there aren’t any holiday camps.
My sister has booked my niece onto a week long camp abroad for the week. The camp is well reviewed and offers a pick up service for children flying as an unaccompanied minor. My sister initially felt this was a good idea, and booked it.
Now she is having some concerns and is unsure it’s the right choice, mainly as she appreciates 7 is quite young and while the flight isn’t particularly long, they don’t actually have someone sat with them, just cabin crew checking in. She has admitted herself she was fine with it until other people seemed to think it was a reckless parenting choice. I think it will be fine, my sister and I flew as unaccompanied minors often as our dad lived abroad, we were a bit older (maybe 10 the first time) but managed it fine.

AIBU to think my niece will be fine? She’s looking forward to the camp and doesn’t seem phased by the thought of it.

No way. She’s 7

mini blondes is 8 and flies yearly but with me

can’t imagine sending her abroad to a camp knowing no one , let alone being sat on a plane alone

thus obv is a huge cost

cant they hire a temp nanny for the daytime

Probably only people who already send their tiny children to boarding school. I'm horrified at the thought!

A) not at 7 and B) not without a group of school classmates and teachers who they already know.

14 is old enough to fly without an adult on BA so your DC wasn't an 'unaccompanied minor' as per the regulations, he was just a young passenger. The unaccompanied minor service is something you pay for and includes an adult staying with them at all times up to boarding and from boarding to handover.

My brother and I would routinely fly as unaccompanied minors from aged 8 to see my grandparents in France. It was totally fine, and (whisper it) actually quite fun and exciting.

Thats being said, I wouldn’t send my children on a camp for a week though. And actually I wouldn’t send my child on a flight on their own either, but that’s because of my own neurosis and not because it would be awful for the child.

Of course this post is real...children that young flying as unaccompanied minors isn't that unusual but 7 is very young. Ive met children that looked forward to it.
But first unaccompanied flight, not having family at the other end and then another week with strangers..I think the itinerary is way too much for a little girl that young.
If money isn't an issue couldn't a family member or at least someone your neice knows well accompany her on the flight and make sure she gets to the camp safely?
Has the little girl been to camp before (or flown unaccompanied) because if not, this arrangement is really dropping her in at the deep end and even if shes very confident and says she wants to go..it wouldn't be unusual at all if she changes her mind as soon as she gets there. Its too much.

Nope.

https://www.bluewin.ch/en/news/switzerland/man-sexually-assaults-girl-on-swiss-flight-parent-sat-just-one-row-in-front-2839215.html

Goes to show you that money can buy everything except sense.

Your sister is a horrible parent even considering doing this to her child and honestly you are no better if you think it is ok. That poor kid :(

Are you Swiss? Kids in the UK have waaaay less independence than in Switzerland or some other EU countries. For example most primary schools in the UK will not allow children to walk home alone until they are 10 or 11 years old. So opinion on here won’t be in line with what others in your country would think.

Unless there is going to be a massive drip feed, this seems to be a collection of things the child has never done before. All in one go. At 7. Having also just started a new school. And seemingly arranged in a hurry because mum can’t think of any other way to look after her own daughter for a week.

I toyed with the idea of putting my 10 year old on a flight to France to be met by her grandma but in the end I decided it wasn't worth the risk of her if she found it distressing or if something went wrong in the air, even though she flies frequently. So I just got another ticket and accompanied her, stayed a night and flew back. Then repeated all that again two weeks later. Not ideal but I just couldn't do it. No way on earth I'd have done it for a summer camp.

That is horrendous, that poor girl.

I think there's probably a cultural element here if the father is Belgian. It's not unusual for Belgian schools to take much younger children (4/5 years old) on week long trips.

What does the 7 year old think? I'm more interested in that. Are they used to summer camps and being at them for a week? Are they used to travelling by plane? Are they quite confident or are they timid?
.
It seems quite an unusual solution to childcare but these schemes exist for a reason and I don't doubt she'll be taken care of. Logistically I actually think this is fine - IF the child is happy to do it. But any chance of homesickness or uncertainty then no.

Just because something exists doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. You can buy cot bumpers for example but all major safety organisation say not to use as they can cause death. Sometimes some discernment is useful!

And you never met any of these people that you just handed your children over to in Zurich in your life 🤷🏻‍♀️..
I’m glad your children had really good experiences and not bad , but don’t you see most of us just wouldn’t take that risk with our children in a million years when they are so young .
Primary aged children should never be left over seas to camp ..
They have plenty time in secondary school to live these experiences ..

This has got to be a wind up!

Fir me, it's not the unaccompanied minor on a flight thing that I'd be mostly concerned about (even though he'll would freeze over before I'd put a 7 year old of mine in that position).

It's that the child would be collected by a randomer from a holiday camp. My safeguarding bells would be ringing here.

How does your sister know it's a genuine holiday camp? Just because they have a website, that could be completely fake.

How does your sister know that all staff have had the appropriate safeguarding checks and training (even though even they're not full proof).

Does the child even speak the language?

Just because the child says they want to go, at 7, they won't necessarily have the capacity to understand all that it really entails a d could quite easily change their.mind once they're there.

If this isn't a wind up then, imo, you both have a very skewed view of what is normal and okay when raising a child.

If they are happy to do it they’ll be fine. They are accompanied throughout the airports and monitored on the flights. As long as the child has the confidence to do it I would say go for it. My DD flew with Swiss accompanied at 11 and was absolutely fine. The big change was when she was 14 she was considered an adult so left entirely alone to navigate the airports and flights and nobody to check on her or know she was a child. She managed it absolutely fine. Kids are more capable than we think and SwissAir/ Swiss have always been very good with kids and young fliers. For reference I flew myself alone with SwissAir at 5 though that was in 1980s

Summer camps are popular in my country and they take children from age 7 (some from 6) so the idea of a week at camp age 7 doesn't seem so strange to me. I considered sending DS this year but decided he wasn't ready for it but his older sister would have been at that age. Not a rich people thing either, many camps are subsidised or have subsidised spaces for low income or children that are disadvantaged in other ways (immigrants, health conditions, single parent families, parents with mental health conditions etc.)

But with the flight being abroad, what plans does your sister have for if something goes wrong? Can she fly on short notice if her DD gets too homesick? Or is injured and needs to return home?

It's not just the flight part though , if relatives were waiting the other end to have her for a week that would be completely different. It's then sending her off to a holiday camp where she'll know nobody!

I went abroad for a week with a family member to visit another family member when I was 9. I missed my parents and my siblings so much, I hated it. The thought of not being able to go home until the flight back made it so much worse. Once home, I suffered with homesickness for quite some time afterwards and remember a really upsetting night having a sleepover at a friends house who lived around the corner.

My mum advised me not to go, but I was with a close family member and I insisted. I’m in my 40’s and it still pops into my mind every now and then.

Am i really reading this right?! 😱 She wants to send her barely 7 year old ON HER OWN to a different country?!

Is she in the UK?! This is unbeleivable and surely not even allowed for her to fly alone!

Cannot believe a parent would ever consider this....i didn't go abroad without my parents until i was 18! And even that was with a friend and her family.

If you don't have childcare you take annual leave or unpaid parental leave, not ship them off to another country alone!! 😔

I assume this is a Camp Suisse ski holiday. I know a number of families who have used them. Safeguarding is on a par with a UK boarding school and the children have a good time. The u/a minor service on Swiss Air is good and I would have no concerns about the child actually arriving safely and on time and being physically well taken care of.

But I think 7 is the youngest age accepted and I would be asking questions about how many other solo 7 year olds there would be. As I recall, most children go with a sibling or a friend. If the rest of the children are 10 or 11 plus and with friends she could feel quite isolated. Does she have the option of going with a friend?

I think much depends on the child. How robust is she? Has she been away from home alone before? Is she sporty? Does she really want to ski?
I think you said the father is Belgian. I know Belgian schools and organisations run residentials for very young children so culturally this would be normal. UK parents seem to “protect” their children for much longer than other European countries - eg no walking to school without an adult until end of primary.

Probably cheaper - and perhaps more fun - at this age to hire a university student to act as babysitter for a week and do fun things at home

Also just because it’s theoretically possible for children to board from 7 doesn’t mean it actually happens in any significant numbers. My children go to a school that offers boarding. The numbers at 11 are tiny and shifts dramatically as they get older with it being closer to 50:50 towards sixth form. If there was an emergency they’d scoop a prep girl into the boarding house and look after them but they don’t offer boarding to the prep section of the school.

I’m also not convinced she’s really looked that hard. There are camps out there covering the early weeks of December especially in London.

Absolutely no fucking way!? far too young.