Can I leave my 11 year old alone in airport for an hour?

[Lifoo]

Interested in what the other parents might think about this.

I live in a different country to my kids and regularly fly to Ireland to collect them and then bring them back to UK with me.

On the last trip it was just my 11 year old son travelling and as my plane had been delayed (communicated this with ex) she left my son in the airport by himself, siting that she had to attend a client meeting.

He ended up waiting by himself near security departure gates for an hour.

Thoughts?

I wouldn't. At that age he could go to local shops etc, but an airport is a big busy place. I say this as someone who got the public bus to school alone in London at 11. Your curvy arrangement doesn't work can you not pick him up from home?

A sensible 11 year old is probably fine. I wouldn't do it but an airport is a pretty safe place. He was fine so I don't see an issue.

Is he typically sensible? Does he have a phone with him? If it’s a journey and airport that the 11yo is well used to then I wouldn’t have an issue with it.

How did he feel about it?

Has be been left alone in similar situations before?

If he's in high school I'd probably think he's ok in principle,cunkess he's uncomfortable or prone to mess about.

If not in high school yet then no I wouldn't leave him alone at an airport..it's borderline really so probably depends on the child himself.

I would. But my 11 year old would be fine with it. His older brother, at 11, would not have been. Also depends a bit on which airport.

Do you mean he’d passed through security at departures?

do you literally fly in, meet at the airport, and fly out again?

I think if he was booked on a flight I’d have asked if he could sit with security. Or plonked him in Starbucks with some cash and a phone.

at 11 in an emergency, if he’s comfortable, I wouldn’t have an issue.

having said all that, no I wouldn’t do it. I’d stay and hand him over.

I was an army brat and flew back and forth from boarding school unaccompanied every school holidays from the age of 12. If he's a regular flier and it was an airport he knew (which it sounds like it was) then I wouldn't have any issue at all.

Depends on the 11yr old really, one of mind would be absolutely fine and the other not so much.

Depends on the 11yr.old. mine would be fine. Phone, drink and snacks she'd be happy.

Most eleven year olds would be capable of managing alone in this situation, especially if there are no additional needs.

I regularly travelled long-haul by myself as a child. My parents booked me under the unaccompanied minor service until the age of eleven, when I informed them that I no longer needed nannying and was perfectly capable of travelling independently.

my 11yr old granddaughter just flew on her own as an unaccompanied minor, a staff would have stayed with her until collected. might be worth looking at that option (staff even collected her luggage for her).

My partner when aged 11 used to travel to Scilly from Halifax via London and helicopter from Penzance. Depressing that now parents are too precious to let them be alone for just an hour.

Dublin airport? I'd be surprised security didn't pick him up as a lone child and get you all in trouble. He'd be safe enough before or after security though.
Edited to add that unaccompanied minors isn't a thing anymore. Most airlines want you to be at leadt 16 and Ryanair won't let anyone under 18 fly alone. Which i assume is why OP has to collect and fly back.

It’s not something that I would do but then I’m not in your co-parenting situation.

You were late and the other parent had to attend a work meeting. It does sound like that in the circumstances, the other parent did the best they could.

This might be a prompt for you both to review the current arrangements and build in some slack to accommodate delays.

I used to regularly travel unaccompanied from Canada to the uk at that age which involved going through airports to gates negotiating border control etc by myself. I don’t know when we starting thinking 11 year olds were so hopeless. It isn’t very different to negotiating the tube across London to go to school and thousands of kids manage that every day. In fact it is considerably safer, as so contained and controlled. Stop panicking.

How did your son feel about it?

My thoughts are that she probably does the vast, vast majority of the parenting. And obviously juggles this with working also.

You were late. You could have left earlier?
I wonder why, instead of working with her to communicate better, you thought you'd come onto MN and try and get a load of women to slag her off. Hmm.

This

Not a lot you can do mid air if it's suddenly delayed without having a crystal ball. Presumably if he caught an earlier flight his ex would still want to drop the child off at an appropriate time for a handover.

Don’t you organise unaccompanied minor assistance?

I flew alone at that age so it wouldn’t worry me as I know it would be fine.

I had the same experience, but was always booked in as an unaccompanied minor, so was never just left alone.

I would, providing my DC was fine about it, knew what to do in that time & knew what to do in case of a problem.

What was your son’s view?

Plenty of 11 year olds spend an hour alone on the school run and are often on busy public transport. As long as the child was happy and comfortable with the set up, and they were mature enough to act appropriately in an emergency, I think it’s fine.

I live in Ireland, it’s insane nobody intervened and social services didn’t jump in, as I said here recently my two children were once in the car as dh got money out next to the car and a Garda came over to tell him not to do it again. They were the same age as your child. The poor thing