17 YEAR OLD FLIGHT TO GLASGOW

[CURLYSANDY]

My 17 year old daughter wishes to fly to Glasgow alone to meet her friend (we are happy she is a bone fide female friend, not impersonator). Its the first time she has ever been on a plane - I am nervous about saying yes????????

Depends, who's the friend?

She’s 17! Of course you say yes. You’re lucky she’s even asked you!

A 17 year old female friend she has been Zoom calling for 2 years.....

Presumably this is flying from another U.K. airport. What are your concerns exactly because it doesn’t seem terribly onerous ( especially if she’s flown before)

Are you nervous about the flight or the friend? The flight would be the thing that worries me least as a parent but you seem to be confident in the friend so assuming it's the travel you're concerned about?

I’d be happier if the friend she’s never met before came over here first

Have you spoken to the friend’s parents? If there’s no red flags there I would be fine with her going.

I wouldn’t be concerned about the journey but I’d have a niggling concern about her making a solo trip to an unfamiliar city to meet up with someone she hasn’t met in real life other than zoom. Hopefully they’ll hit it off and have a great time.

Why are you worried? I travelled alone by plane when I was 7. Nothing to it.

Oh, yes, you definitely got yourself through check in and security and boarding etc all by yourself without a single adult involved

Meet her halfway - you both go to Glasgow and you stay in a hotel and have some chill time shopping etc. I wouldn't let her go herself - Glasgow's a big place with lots of lovely and not so lovely people

This is a good idea. Coach hee through how to navigate an airport then 'step back' and let her do it all while you follow a few steps behind. Enjoy Glasgow for the day/night and be around just in case the friend is actually a 50yo creeper who's been using image altering software on zoom !

I flew to Germany at 16 on my own to see my pen friend way back in the 70s. My son is 17 and he’s just been to Germany on a work experience school trip. The main reason for feeling nervous was simply that this generation are the lockdown teens who missed out in DofE and other life skills and indeepenance building trips

do You think there are no 17 year olds in Glasgow already? 🤔

Glasgow os a city like lots of big cities. It’s pretty full of 17 years progressing into university and living away from home as most young adults are capable of doing

I wouldn't let her go herself

what about university?

are you planning on following your kids there too?

The travel thing is no problem. I'm just not sure I'd be happy with the whole travelling to Scotland to meet someone I met online thing. Is she sure sure it's legit?

My first time on a plane was when I went to Edinburgh to stay with a (family) friend when I was 11. It was different circs as I was a child so the airline staff chaperoned me and made sure I was OK on and off the plane but if you're happy the friend is legit and there's no concerns there I see no reason why you'd ask her not to go? At 17 most teenagers have had days out in the nearest big city and capital with friends or on school trips away from the teachers, and had to navigate buses and trains etc. probably be a really good experience for her.

Like others ... cautious about the friend, not about the flying! Are you sure you haven't got your concerns muddled in your mind?

@00100001 No, I didn't check myself in and there wasn't any security back then but I was able to speak and ask for help if I needed it.

The point I was trying to make, since you clearly take delight in being obtuse, is that flying is easy. You go to the gate, you board, you sit, you fasten your seatbelt, etc.🙄

Assuming you live elsewhere in the UK, she should get the train instead!

Won't be so easy if the OP's in Northern Ireland (and sadly probably far cheaper to fly than train from many other places)

Make sure she has access to enough money to buy her way out of problems. That might be a debit/credit card with enough to buy a train ticket or hotel room if it doesn't work out.

When I started travelling my Dad gave me a card on his credit card and said that if I ever had to use it to get out of a situation he would pay it no questions asked. They only time I came close to using it was when I had misread a timetable and missed that last train to somewhere. I was about to get a hotel when I bumped into someone I worked with who had also done the same and we sat on the station together for a couple of hours until the 4.30am train,

Flight wouldn't bother me, meeting someone she's never met before in real life would concern me a little

How did she meet her friend - was it on an internet forum? as above, I’d be much more concerned about ‘friend’ than flying.

What if the friend's parents felt the same?