posted on August 6, 2001 06:03:08 PM new
Well, maybe the parents should actually take said kids themselves instead of relying on the airlines to be their babysitter? NO WAY would I ever send my child on an airline to fly alone.
posted on August 6, 2001 08:14:09 PM new
Hey they only get $60 extra for routing them.
If you want service pay some real money.
Anyway how many do parents lose when THEY are escorting them? Maybe the airlines are doing better and we don't even know it!
I used to fly all the time once I was about 12. Nobody ever had to tell me where I was going. and if they had tried to send me off to a wrong town I would have screamed bloody murder. At 14 I hitch hiked all over Colorado and Wyoming one summer. Closest I ever got to trouble was riding down from the Continental divide to Pagosa Springs one day with a sheep herder in an El Camino. I thought for sure he was going to fly off each curve and kill us on the rocks the whole way down. He had been down that road too many times.
posted on August 6, 2001 08:23:30 PM new
Parents used to send their kids to camp at a much greater expense, now you put 'em on an airline to "who know where". If your lucky they will be well fed, see the world and get back in time for school. Don't be so "picky"
Hepburn.....all that for the cost of one ticket!
posted on August 6, 2001 09:01:49 PM new
Girls can't make exotic trips like gravid, but I've been flying alone since I was 10 years old. If you can ride a bus, you should be able to fly in an airplane.
My children have traveled throughout the US and Europe and never got lost.
The absolute worst airport that I experienced was Atlanta, Georgia. But I managed to find my way home.
posted on August 6, 2001 10:04:53 PM new
Its too scarey to send kids off on planes alone anymore. Remember when we used to go trick or treating and never thought of xraying the candy? Remember when we were kids and mom left us alone in the toy isle while she shopped? Nowadays, no way no how. Too many looney tunes out there. And those same looneys are on airplanes and in airports. 'Sides, airlines are NOT babysitters. One airline said "thats it. No more unescorted children on our planes". Cant say I blame them.
posted on August 6, 2001 10:06:27 PM new
Gravid, I used to hitchhike all over the place too, but that was when I was 17. Long time ago, and not so crazy times back then. Even for a girl alone.
posted on August 7, 2001 05:35:32 AM new
At 14 I knew there were crazies. I would not stand on the side of the road and hang a thumb out. I would walk up to families or people who were visably engaged in business
at restaurants and filling stations and ask for a ride to a specific place and offer to help pay for gas. I always had a bag and I always had my handy revolver tucked under my belt. I very seldom had anyone turn me down after I had cased them and they did not know it but they had a little bodyguard with them because I had always been taught hospitality extended creates an obligation to defend your host. I figured it extended to a car as well as a house. I had a couple hundred dollars all the time and an American Express card so I was pretty comfortable. I found that the nicer the hotel and the more expensive the room the less chance they would hassle you about being a minor. I never had any trouble with the cops because I made sure they never saw me hanging around looking like trouble about to happen. I should also mention that by 14 I was 5 foot 10" and 180 pounds, and wore an 18-1/2 shirt.
posted on August 7, 2001 06:05:47 AM new
After moving to CA., starting from age 5, my mother put me on a plane alone, every year so I could spend the whole summer with my grandparents in IN.
Of course, that was in the day of direct (non-stop) flights too. I always had great care by the flight attendants. When the plane landed the flight attendant would make me wait until she was ready to de-board and she'd walk me out to my awaiting grandparents. But, there again, those were the days when airlines were still treating their customers like they were precious cargo.
When our sons were teens, we put them on planes alone to visit with relatives, even though they had to make one transfer.
My comfort level would allow me to put a young child on a plane alone, *IF* it was a non-stop, short trip and I trusted whoever was waiting on the other end to be reliable/responsible enough to be there for their arrival. I'd have no problem with them being in danger while in flight.
posted on August 7, 2001 07:02:49 AM new
I get the creepies when I think about a young child on a plane and there is turbulance. I just cant imagine the fear of the child if something dire happened and mom or dad isnt there...only strangers. I know, I know, Im being paranoid and that isnt like me, but still, it bugs me thinking about small children alone on a big airplane among strangers.
posted on August 7, 2001 08:19:48 AM new
Some young ones are fearful and some are not. I see 40 year old men drinking themselves into a state where they can go on board all the time. If I were that afraid i would not go - even if I had to find another job.
