Advice re unaccompanied minors pse

[MouseMate]

Has anyone got any advice they can give me on Unaccompanied Minors flying?

DH and I move to Cyprus in 2 weeks. DSD is staying with her mum, but wants to come over as soon as she can...... which means August school holidays.

DSD is 12 (very mature, but still only 12). We dont qualify for SCV (I dont think), so we need to find an airline that will allow an unaccompanied minor......so far I can only find BA, BMI and Cyprus Airlines. BMI doesnt fly to Cyprus (!), BA is going to cost me something like £600 and I cant get an online price for Cyprus Airlines.

There is no way we can afford to fly over and get her - not at those prices - but now I'm wondering if we can afford it at all

My understanding of SCV is that DH (and I) would have to have custody of DSD to qualify - is this right. What if we 'pretended' we did ??

I'm a bit Arrrrggghhh at the moment. DSD is here and we were getting all excited till we saw the cost (esp as her Nana is visiting in Sep and its only costing £140 )

Forgot to add - I'd REALLY appreciate any advice you can give ladies - this is driving me insane

Thanks

some links BA unaccompanied children policy
FlyBe unaccompanied children

mousemate - you are right, you would have to have primary care and control i.e custody to qualify for SCV. I don't think it would work if you pretended!

Any chance Nana could come in August too and accompany her?

unaccompanied minors flying check with individual airline and there seems to be a @£32 charge for sole child etc

My DS is 12 yrs old,and flew out to the Isle-of -Man to visit his father for the first time last year(he was 11). He flew with Flybe.Booked by his father,but seems very cheap.Don't know if they fly anywhere else.They took good care of him though,he had someone to escort him to plane,he had to wear a special vest,and I had to sign along with his dad when we collected him either side.They looked after him on the plane,and made sure he had a drink and a snack.We were quite impressed as I was quite worried as he seemed so young to do this alone.

my ds1 flew unac minor to nz
on a flight booked by his non resident father.

But this was qantas perhaps different for longhaul?

Monarch Air fly to Cyprus ex London. A child aged 12 is also not classed as a minor.

oh ds was 12

We have just moved back from Germany. DD was 10 when we went and so flew backwards and forwards to boarding school regularly for 2 years. Luckily the system paid for most of her flights, which were with BA who looked after her brilliantly. We had to produce our passports at the airport to prove our identity before they would let us take her home - despite the fact she was obviously ours!

She is now 13 and is about to visit a friend in Madrid for the second time. Paying for the 'accompanied' service is optional with BA at that age and she'd be mortified if we did - she loves flying on her own!

Between 12 and 16 lots of the cheap airlines will not accept them if unaccompanied. I'm afraid I have no experience of Cyprus flights but you do have to check the restrictions carefully before booking.

I have lived in Cyprus twice and loved it - it would be a great experience for your DSD to visit. Good luck in finding something reasonably priced.

easyjet fly to paphos as do thomas cook airlines and thomson fly... they may be worth a look

On a different link I do know that Cyprus airlines and thomsonfly will allow you to take your pets as excess baggage rather than the expensive other options...we did this and saved about £500.

Good luck with the move Cyprus is warm and sunny at the moment!!

Thanks to everyone that has replied - it means a lot.

Normal flights, ie not as unacc minor seem to be coming up around the £400 - £500 mark. I'm assuming that this is because its the height of the season / school holidays. The unaccompanied minor thing then seems to add around £50-£80 to the price. Cheaper airlines, such as Easyjet wont let her fly unaccompanied.

The prices change dramatically once outside Jul / Aug (which is why we have booked such a cheap flight for her Nana (easyjet).

Other issues (aren't there always!) are with her mum giving us a limit of what she would 'chip in' for the flight (I actually understand that money wise but it is making things harder - ie limiting us to what airports we can use - Lots of possible flights are from London airports and she wont go that far).

As for the SCV thing - it's soooo frustrating. DSD is in the custody of her mother - but not 'officially' thru the courts or anything. We were wondering if we could 'officially' get custody - but obv leave her with her mum.....like a paperwork exercise just so we would qualify. But you are right - it would be fraud and just not worth the risk.

I'm so fed up already - and we haven't even got there yet! I've got a great relationship with DSD (better than her father ), DD adores her (and the feeling is mutual) but now we are restricted as to how much we get to see her....... and it's all down to cash.

Oh well, still looking (and maybe tapping the bank manager for a loan....)

Get onto the airline email lists so you know when the flights are going to be released,this will save you quite a bit if you get in early- in new year I went online the same day as easyjet released flights and could (if I'd have been organised) booked flights really cheaply even in the summer hols. I booked recently to take DD back to the UK from Cyprus for 6 days at half term in Oct with easyjet and its costing us £360 for both of us. Thomson fly book nearly a year in advance.

Another thing is that Thomsonfly sometimes get cheaper the nearer to flying. Friends of ours booked flights on boxing day for under £200 only a week or so beforehand so it might be worth keeping a regular check on it.

I totally sympathise about the school holiday hike in prices.

Any chance you could indulge back then to see her??

What about asking for a weeks hol in school time and citing the extentuating circumstances?? Then she could come in Sep with Nana???

Hope it works out ok for you

Is she not entitled to use the trooper? They have lots of unaccompanied minors travelling here in the summer. Where are you going to be living? I am in Akrotiri!

LL - the type of unit I'm in now doesn't have a families officer, but my new one might - so its worth a try.

McDreamy - I'm not sure about the trooper - hadn't thought of that so will look into it as soon as I get there, thanks for the nudge! (although I thought the trooper was just used for SCV - is that not the case?) I'm going to be just up the road in Episkopi.

Sunnylabsmum - DSD is allowed 10 days leave outside of school hols per year. Her mum is taking her away in Sep (we hope - 3 yrs running she has said she was, then hasn't ). Her junior school were great, and we used to be able to take her out whenever we needed to (they knew DH and I both spent time in Iraq and that DSD needed to see us whenever she could) but this is a new school - I suppose we should maybe talk to the head...... worth a try. Jul is still expensive, but not as bad as Aug.

Still looking - have found one flight that is £460 - that's the cheapest so far grrrrr

AFAIK,When I went through my Divorce in '96,(many moons ago) there was no such thing as "Custody" anymore just "Residential Rights",and I was told that both parents can apply for this,you can hike up the time etc. by saying that for most School Holidays and sometimes at Christmas etc.she spends her time"residing" with you,and Term-time mainly with her mother.There may be rules about the length of time etc. but it would be worth looking into......HTH

She is still your DH's dependant, she should be allowed to use it. The only problem is the unpredicitability of it, I have used it a fair bit while here and have only been refused a flight twice!

If you need any other help regarding Cyprus give me a shout, are you being met at the airport? I presume you are flying into Ak?

Speak to the bookings office at Akrotiri or Day Pax at Brize Norton (think the passenger info number is on the website) as to whether she would be allowed to indulge - don't know current regs about entitlement for stepchildren, but if you have hassle I can dig it up fairly easily...