Leaving a child at the airport

[Longboardpedro]

I have 3 kids with my wife. She is from Germany but we live in the UK. She had tickets to head back to see family for new years.

Unfortunately my eldest daughter only had 2 months left on her passport so when they reached the final gate for departure, my eldest was turned away from flying.

I had to collect her and bring her home whilst my wife carried on with her trip to germany with the 2 other kids. My eldest was heartbroken.

I was shocked, as this is something I could never do. We either all go or no one goes is how I approach things but keen to get some feedback from other parents on their opinions if that was OK?

It doesn't sound as if the mother necessarily had time to consult before the plane was due to take off.

you would likely have 1.5-2 hours between check in and take off.

Unaccompanied minors as young as five years old travel all the time. Airports and airlines have strict arrangements in place for them.

They do indeed, but that's not what this is. There's a difference between something being booked, paid for and staffed well in advance and this apparent ad hoc arrangement.

Why on earth OP is being blamed here? He was not the one going on the trip? Is his wife unable to read? She must have needed the passports to book tickets, so how the fuck she did not spot the problem? Its wholly her fault, and leaving the kid behind also her doing. She sounds disorganised and actually quite heartless.

you are ‘all’ so much cleverer than me

Do the kids have German or British passports?

The point being unaccompanied minors are strictly looked after within the airport ad hoc or not.

If you're saying 'troll' report, rather than insinuate.

There are a lot of misinformed comments here on being alone at an airport although some posters have put that right.

Airports and airlines are used to children travelling alone or being on their own.

Children who are at UK boarding schools often fly without a parent from the age of 7. They are taken by taxi from their school and 'delivered' to airport staff who look after them all the time.

Their parents are often in the Forces overseas.

I don't think so. There's a difference between a parents saying ok we made a mistake and this trip isn't happening today, and saying we made a mistake but just you get to pay the price for it. Children certainly understand enough to know the difference.

for me, it’s the way this has played out that is problematic, the being turned back from the gate. If the passport had been discovered before leaving home and the child stayed behind I think I could possibly endorse that decision, but leaving at the gate, whilst she presumably waited for 1-2 hours to be collected is harsh. I don’t think either of my kids (10 and 8) could have handled that.

that said, the decision was made at boarding, which is high pressure. It’s likely that your wife made a crap decision because the options presented by the airline (who I assume have an unaccompanied minor service, and also assistance service) might have presented it as being simpler than the reality.

The age of the child doesn’t add up though - children’s passports last 5 years and with a German mother I can’t believe the child didn’t get a passport until 4 years old. Or that the passport has been expired for a number of years.

Airports and airlines don’t just have child chaperones hanging around on the off chance that someone fancies abandoning their child at the gate! 🤦🏼‍♀️

Accompanied travel is actually pretty rare now but would have to be booked and paid for well in advance - obviously.

‘ posters ‘. plural

I've used that service with one of my children, you book it in advance with the airline. Don't know if they can magic up a chaperone at short notice.

Sorry I cross posted with you.

Again though, this wasn't an unaccompanied minor. She was with her mother, who didn't have to be allowed to board the plane. If a random lone 9 year old got found in an airport somewhere and it was somehow a fait accompli, sure, they'd have to sort something out. But that's not what this is. There is a reason OP has been so vague on the details of how this happened.

I think they possibly do - they have staff available for special assistance. We book sometimes for one of our kids with SN to help get through security and then don’t always need it so stand them down at the airport. It’s not inconceivable that someone was available. Maybe it had a knock-on effect somewhere else for the staff but I reckon possible.

Clearly they won’t be hanging around the gate, they would need to phone for an appropriate member of staff to go to the gate 🤦‍♀️

The child wasn't unaccompanied, they were with their mother and siblings. You can't just decide you can't be bothered with caring for your own child and leaving someone else to accept responsibility.

From what a disability campaigner has said the assistance doesn't always appear when it is booked so a bit of a gamble to assume you can just leave your 9 year old behind and expect someone to care for them.

She would be an unaccompanied minor as soon as the airline allowed the mother to fly without her and the airline’s responsibility.

Why would it be the airlines responsibility? I don't imagine they forced the mother to board the plane, she left her child behind and that's on her.

Right. So can you explain how the child managed to go back through security the wrong way to get back to land side OR how OP was able to go through security without a ticket to collect the child from airside?

Even the UNaccompanied minor service offered by some airlines requires you to book and pay for staff to escort your child through the airport. They don’t just 9 year olds wander through an airport and navigate security etc themselves, clearly!

And in any event it would have been blindingly obvious to gate staff that this wasn’t an official accompanied/unaccompanied minor situation.

Some people really will try to argue black is white…