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.

I have a 7 year old daughter who turned 7 in September, and there’s no way on earth I’d let her fly on her own. How would she even know what to do at the airport, security and gate to go to etc ? 7 is still so very young. Also with no family at the end of the flight and the camp staff picking her up , wouldn’t that be too stressful for her? I can’t even understand why your sister thinks that’s the best way to fill that week of school ?

Don’t send random people on the internet the location of where your unattended very young niece is going to be going at a fairly obvious date based off of your posts.

Absolutely not. Even accompanied there are just too many things that could go wrong and a 7 year old can’t advocate for themselves or sort anything out that may go wrong.

She might well want to do it now, my 7 year old wants to jump off the sofa head first and soon regrets her decision.

what if she changes her mind the second she steps onto the plane?!

poor poor thing

Imagine if there was an emergency on the flight. We know an 11 year old who went down with a plane during one of the major air disasters. Imagine their fear. Absolutely no way should a 7 year old be on their own - I am surprised the airline allows it.

She wouldn’t be doing any of that alone, the airline sends someone to accompany the child all the way through the airport, the child is never expected to navigate it alone!

Yes, I've read so many accounts of similar traumas. It's a challenge for many at 12 or 13, but 7?

My child flew UK to Europe as an unaccompanied minor every year from the age of 4, no issues at all. I went unaccompanied to fortnight long Summer Camps from the age of eight and always had a brilliant time.

People are too clingy with their kids, its not good for children, many of whom are growing up to be teenagers/young adults with mental health problems or 'failure to launch'.

One poster even says that she's feeling anxious just reading about it - that really is too weird for words.

I flew regularly as an unaccompanied minor to see family. staff were always super nice / nice enough.

The flight isnt the problem imo - The camp is/ might be. A week alone no even with friends or other family if she isnt used to it will be tough.

My DS went on his first camp at 8. It was a wilderness camp out in the middle of nowhere. There were loads of other kids his age. He went for a week and loved it. Has done various summer camps for a week or so every year since.

Just because it exists doesn’t mean it’s not awful!

PGL require teachers and other adults familiar with them to be resident too - so for beavers/brownies we have all the leaders and additional DBS’d parents to make up the adult/child ratio. It was thay who supervised bedtime, showers etc. PGL simply provide the facilities, food and supervisors for the activities. You do not dump your kids there and go home.

No I’m pretty certain they also operate summer camps where you can just drop your child off.

I’m assuming a 7 year old doesn’t have a mobile phone. If something bad happens how are they meant to contact a parent? Adults aren’t always beacons of trust.

The whole thing is a hard no from me.

I'm a pretty pushy mum in some ways and have very much encouraged mine to take opportunities, join in and have adventures as they've grown up. But there is NO WAY I would have sent my 7 year olds off to be with strangers in a country away from me where it would take time to get to them if they were injured or ill, and where they have no known or trusted adult to talk to.

Mine have all done nights away with school and clubs from the first opportunity, but starting with 1 or 2 nights at a time, close to home and with their friends and very well known adults. They've coped fine but nearly always come home with something bothering them or that didn't go well that needs talking through and processing. They're often exhausted from not settling well in an unfamiliar place even with people they know around them.

My.youngest is 9 now, and his teacher always comments on his maturity and 'old for his ageness' and yet I know he would find a proposal like this so anxiety provoking and scary and upsetting. He would do it and survive but at what cost.

Just why? There are a million better options.

Absolutely not. After my recent trip from UK to the US (and back again) absolutely no way my 7 year old would be on a flight alone, short or otherwise. Every toilet had posters about trafficking; what to do if you were a victim, hand signals, phone numbers etc. My husband was quizzed on our 3yo daughter's DOB etc to make sure she hadn't been stolen. Just, no. It's frightening and very very real.

Why didn't she do what us boring mortals do and send her to a camp in the same county? She has actively made a choice to send her kid to another country alone for a week? Why would anyone think that was a good idea?

This is a 7 year old girl going to a camp in another country where she knows no-one. As pp have said, the flight isn't really the problem here.

I still feel a tiny bit guilty that I put my oldest at age 10 into a day camp - art and golf - where he knew no one during the summer - like 9 to 3 for a week.

A 7 year old shouldn't be going to a summer camp in another country by herself. She shouldn't be travelling by herself just to go to some random camp. Find a camp near home and hire a nanny.

Unaccompanied flight is the least of her worries - that is where her child will be in full view and accompanied and looked after. But a foreign camp for a 7-year old on her own? Are you kidding?

I went to sleepaway camp for a week aged 8 (not in UK), and I remember being desperately homesick. And that was only a couple of hours drive from home! A plane would have been way more scary

Why do you think it’s a troll thread? Swiss summer and winter camps are huge business. I know kids who have gone for years. They cost a fortune so we’ve never done it but if I had the money I would have done.

Sure. What could possibly go wrong?

If she's flying as an unaccompanied minor I strongly suggest you don't use KLM...

No they also run summer camps where the child goes for the week and meets other children and staff there.