hita45

Grandma invited the kids to spend time with her in Europe. In theory I should be happy to have a bit of time for ourselves but there are several challanges.

1) I am not sure how we feel about them travelling alone especially because of the overnight flight.They are 9 and 11 and they generally behave well so in theory it should all go well but I am still nervous. And what happens if a flight is delayed, diverted, cancelled etc, especialy the return flight. It can become a bit of a nightmare for the poor kids and it seems that lately this is happening a lot more often. Am I overthinking it?
2) The flights have to be direct and with AC and we have to pay an extra fee (of course I am fine with that)
3) There is one more "little" issue. We had planned to go somewhere else all four during that time and we already have 4 reward tickets (regular economy). It would be very costly to cancel their flights because we have booked each way on separate PNRs so the option would be to separate their tickets and change them. Will Aeroplan allow us to separate their tickets and change just their flights? I am pretty sure that when we bought the tickets there was a free change allowed.

Any thoughts or experience with this?

MSPeconomist

Have you asked Grandma whether the kids could visit at a different time that doesn't conflict with your existing vacation plans?

How do the kids feel about the idea of visiting Grandma alone and also of flying alone?

Behaving well is one criterion, but are they independent? Can they be politely assertive when needed? Do they adapt well to unfamiliar situations?

yyznomad

I don't have much to help, but if you do decide to go ahead with this, I hope your young FOTSGs are treated well and protected by AC.

Stranger

Our Toronto grandkits, 11 and 8, came to Calgary recently by themselves. Actually, for the older one, our granddaughter, this was the third time she came alone They love the experience of flying alone. Extra cost, CAD 100 each way, each kid, at least for domestic, international, not sure if the same.

Back in the nineties, our two kids flew alone SFO-BRU through LHR on BA. Of course then airlines would still take care of kids at connections.

Remember that obviously, for trips abroad, they will need passports, but also probably letters from both parents approving the trip. In some cases they might need a notatized signature.

hita45

Excelent questions. For a number of reasons, that is the only time when they can go. My daugher is feeling great about travelling without us. My son who is the younger is not totally excited but he is not against it either. They are pretty smart but because they have always been in more or less structured environments, I am not sure how independent they really are and how they would react in totally unfamiliar situations. I hope that the whole point in paying the 100$ fee is to have the airline taking care of the important things.

The Macker

I would pack them with a cel phone, just in case. That way if anything went wrong, they can reach you and you can reach them.

MSPeconomist

I would give then credit card(s) for minor purchases while traveling and emergency use plus cell phone(s) to call parents or Grandma (roaming enabled?), plus snacks and entertainment (iPads with headphones and content loaded?) for the trip.

zappy312

I leave you with these FT threads: Ontario woman says Air Canada allowed her child to fly internationally unsupervised and Air Canada abandons 14-year-old at Toronto airport after cancelling her flight

I don't know what the $100 fee is exactly for since ground crew already escort passengers with disabilities to the aircraft for no charge and the FAs are tasked with monitoring unaccompanied minors onboard... But I wouldn't say the $100 is to let AC take care of the important things. Nor would I personally want / trust AC to take care of children who are important to me.

jazzsax

I would have less of an issue sending my kid on a UM flight in canada (as I could easily give a cc / phone that I know will work)

But overseas? That's basically an remaking of Liam Neeson's "Taken" bound to happen.

canadiancow

The "stranded overnight" was not using the UM service, nor was it even eligible, BECAUSE AC doesn't want to accept responsibility for a minor on an itinerary like that.

That's not even remotely related to an 11 year old flying, because they must pay for UM and they therefore cannot have a connection.

WaytoomuchEurope

I try hard never to judge the parenting of others. You have to do what works for your family and ignore the opinions of other idiots like me.

Personally I would be too uncomfortable to let my kids do this. I wouldn’t even broach the subject with my better half.

I have sent kids to see family, but have always escorted them airport to airport. I just don’t trust people, and I sure as heck don’t trust AC frontline staff.

My $0.02. Mind you, I don’t have a lot of experience with either flying or parenting so take it with a grain of salt.

imbisibol

My then 9-year old travelled as a UM from EWR to SIN. This gave him ballast, at 17, to travel to Kirtipur to teach at a public elementary school for a month. The Nepal experience then became his ticket to an internship at Sony doing investment management because the hiring person said “Despite your other work experience, I’m more impressed with your work in Nepal”. After college, and I can’t really quantify how such independent travel shaped him, but at 23, he’s now an Analyst III at MS.

zappy312

It demonstrates the limitations of Air Canada's abilities to provide services to minors in the event of IROPS. There's still the highly unlikely chance of IROPS on a nonstop flight where it diverts (weather, mechanical, ill passenger). What's OP's / Air Canada's plan in those situations? Sit in the airport until another aircraft / crew can be arranged, probably a number of hours later?

Anyways, that's my opinion. Domestically, I'd guess things would get sorted out fairly quickly. Overseas, not quite sure.

arf04

Does it have to be AC? I would think it might be more comforting to use an airline from the country the kids are flying to (LH, for example, if to Germany) as I would be more trusting of the unaccompanied service if something were to go awry at the destination if it’s an airline that has significant services and presence at the destination. At the home airport, one could always stick around the airport until wheels up to be sure the kids get away ok.

sweetsleep

Buy a cheap ticket for Grandma to get to your home airport, then have Grandma fly back with them. Assuming all goes well(which is not a guarantee at all these days for even adults!) then maybe, just maybe they can fly back alone after "learning the ropes" so to speak of international flight.
Good luck!