Originally Posted by sbagdon

So.. OP... are you truly an Unaccompanied Minor, meaning you paid for the UM program (including bracelet, guardian to the gate, and escorts between layover segements, etc)? Or are you a minor who's just unaccompied?

Either way, I'm used to gate-control taking over the seats, to assign families, disabled, and UMs. If truly a UM, on NW they'd either get the DSA seat in the first row, or one of the gate-control seats in the last row. If room was available in F, you'd probably be put up there by the FAs after the door closed (I once shared a WBC row with a UM, they got to sit in the empty middle, they got the seat yet not the catering). Just be to the gate with your guardian before the GAs show up, and be first in line, and you'll get a decent seat.

It's really too bad that the UM program has gotten so expensive. It's a great program, and is especially useful during overnight ir-ops (you want a 15yo fending for themselves in ATL, during a forced overnight ir-ops?). Just don't do what I once saw in DTW... the guardian left the UM at security, and didn't escort the UM to the gate. The GA refused boarding, as the UM has to be handed off by the guardian to the GA. The guardian had already left for home, had no cell, so they had to wait for them to get home, and come back to the aiport, so they could be handed off on one of the later flights.