14 yr old girl- flying alone to japan with a stop-over- yes or no?

[miku]

Im having kittens. Father and daughter say its fine. I want her accompanied. Shes independent, but even so........

My initial reaction was "no" but your updates have changed my mind. Assuming she's made aware of how to deal with sleazy blokes with a penchant for teenagers, as pp have said.

I tend to think that airports in developed countries are actually very safe places because of all the security, police, cameras etc.

I would say yes. The big determining factor for me is the fact that your dd is confident enough to do it. She should make herself known to ground staff at the airport and the flight crews. In the unlikely event that the connecting flight was delayed/cancelled the staff would help her.
I negotiated Cairo airport alone at 12, I still remember a group of Egyptian women, head to toe in burkas, speaking no English, making sure I was ok and insisting I had tea with them!

If she has someone to guide/ supervise her then yes. Otherwise no, as she probably wouldn’t know what to do if connecting flight was cancelled and would be vulnerable.

Thank you all for your advice(smile)- so, in summing up, now most of you realise she is only doing about a 3 hour transit, and Incheon is a safer bet than most airports, AND they are heavily policed that it would be fine for her-- I feel a bit more reassured.
I will check out airport, wifi etc. She is sensible and (overly???) confident that all will be fine.
I think its the fact that if things did go wrong id be too far away, so thank you for offers of support!!!! lovely ladies!!

I did long haul flights, none of them direct, 12-14 hours from when I was very young, accompanied until I was 12 and then managed myself from when I was 13. If she experienced with flying then yes, just let the airline know she is travelling alone and if possible insure that the luggage is sorted for her on the way. Having to fetch and check-in luggage was a major stress factor for me at a young age and I found myself lost the one time I did that. I still made my flight but it was stressful! If she doesn't have experience and never traveled alone before I would say no.

She does have experience, Shiftymake, and the luggage gets transferred from first flight to next flight. She was nervous to start off with, now she arguing with me to let her go! Good to hear you did it. I just have to make sure she has all situations covered.

Most airlines won't allow unaccompanied under 16 with a stopover

newyork I used to work in a summer school for Asian kids and most of them flew to the UK with a stopover. Maximum age of the kids was 17 so that is definitely not true.

Absolutely not, Direct flight not so bad.

Let her do it. If someone (unlikely) does try to be a creep with her, well that could happen in this country on a train/bus/street so she does what she would do in that situation, make a fuss, shout, find an adult. There will be plenty of people around. I’m a firm believer that 99.9% of people will help others when needed.

If there’s a delay she talks to airport staff and gets info. Most delays involve hanging around the airport for a few hours so not really a big deal. If there’s a big delay and they’re offering to put people up in a hotel you need to think what you’d prefer her to do, maybe she would be better off staying in the airport? I don’t know. It’s unlikely to happen and if they’re bussed to a hotel and picked up again I’d think she’d be pretty safe. If she’s confident enough to talk to one of the other passengers maybe they’d take her under their wing in such an event. But I’ve flown loads and never had a delay of that extent.

Last summer I took my children to Sydney to visit family; they've been a few times now. For various reasons I was seriously considering sending them back in time for school and staying on a bit longer to help my mother. My then 14 yr old daughter was happy with the idea, and I felt she would have coped fine. Admittedly, travelling with a 12 yr old brother as company is probably easier than being completely on your own.
I think the Korean airport changes are reasonable straightforward, and with a relatively short transit time she will probably be able to go directly to the gate lounge for the second flight, so always be in range of airline staff to ask for help if she had any concerns.
Alternatively, there are some direct flights London to Tokyo I think - would that be any better? I was thinking about the fact that some of my daughter's schoolfriends travel home to SE Asia and elsewhere, and I think they are independent from age 13/14; but most may be going on direct flights.

I would tell her to avoid spending time alone with men and to ask a female staff member for assistance if they won't leave her alone. It's harsh to say all men but its hard for a 14 year old to know which men are dodgy (in my experience of travelling alone any that chat to you for any length of time are even if they appear innocent at the start telling of their wife, talking about innocent subjects then it progresses but even been caught out much older an hour chat on house prices then grabbed round waist).

Never been grabbed on a plane but was grabbed several times on trains (hand between my legs, on breasts etc) few times around that age and it's not pleasant but any trouble ask to move and report. I've never seen it happen on a plane but normally fly in the day, never flown and slept as a single traveler.

I find these stories of being creeped on and assaulted on a plane bizarre and unlikely - I’ve travelled long haul, double leg, for years on my own, my daughters have travelled when teenagers and in their twenties on their own and nothing like that has ever happened. People are just trying to sleep/watch a film/wonder what the heck the food is. One daughter did report waking up mid second leg to find a mars bar and packet of crisps neatly placed on her - turned out the cabin crew were concerned that she had slept through meal service and wanted her to have a snack when she woke :/ !

platypus so it has never happened to you, so it must never happen?

My 15 year old DS travelled alone from London to Tokyo with no problems but it was a direct flight. I don’t think I would have been comfortable with a stop over though.

If she misses her connection when would the next onward flight be?

If it’s all with the same airline then she will be already checked on to the next flight. I had a changeover at Incheon and the flight was late, so they held up the connecting flight and rushed us all through to the next plane.

I think she will be fine but I understand your concerns.