Originally Posted by
FlyFreakquently
Younger travelers exist. I am fortunate enough to fly upwards of 30 segments per year, and even more fortunate to have parents who exposed my sister and I to the absolute thrill of traveling. OP is incredibly lucky to have such status with AA, and in my opinion, that status reflects not only the loyalty to the airline, but also shows that he is, at the very least, a competent traveler. I know of people double his age who are far less responsible in an airport, but they'd be let in the AC no issue.
I was quite precocious myself (particularly around the OP's age), and there's no doubt that individuals in that age group can make significant societal contributions and can certainly be much better behaved in public situations than many older adults.
That said, all of this pleasant commentary regarding worthiness of high school age students to enjoy the same freedoms as adults does very little to help AA's potential liability here.
Maybe the OP will somehow effect great change at the airline. If someone signs off on this, would I ever want that person to be part of the legal team in my business? Probably not -- I favor a conservative liability approach in these sorts of situations. Risk is risk, whether it seems entirely fair or not. In the U.S., 18 is the general age of majority, which controls so much when you have to consider prudent policy-making in a large corporation.