United Expands Age Range for Service Fee
Ryan Boyd December 28, 2015
As of December 14, children between the ages of 5 and 15 who fly alone with United Airlines will now incur a $150 fee.
Under the “unaccompanied minor service,” airline employees will accompany minors to their seats and make sure that the solitary passengers are united with the proper adults upon landing.
Prior to the change, the service fee was only charged for minors aged 5 to 12. Commenting on the expansion of age parameters for the policy, United spokesman Charles Hobart said that the airline had made “a thoughtful review of the policy and decided that this change will provide the best possible care for these travelers.”
This has not been a popular change of policy, and Jay Sorensen of Wisconsin-based IdeaWorksCo. has encouraged United to upgrade the service for underage passengers traveling alone to provide consolation for the stiff service fee.
To learn more about this story, go to The Los Angeles Times.
[Photo: Getty]
Its just another money grab.
My grandchildren are now 13 and 19. My 13 year old independently changed planes at ORD this summer. Fortunately they were both commuter flights so the gates were relatively close. Changing planes at ORD can be a nightmare even for adults. UA often allows 40 minutes from mainline to commuter or reverse. I am wondering how many 12 year olds can do this at Newark, Dulles, Houston, or O'Hare. Personally I would rather pay the fee than having my 13 year miss a flight and then try to figure out what to do next.
Have they actually had problems with 14 year olds? Without such evidence, it looks mostly like a money grab to me.