Feb 24, 2016, 9:06 am
Last edit by: JDiver
Unaccompanied Minor Service / Travel on AA
Q. What does AA UNMR / Unaccompanied Minor Service consist of, and are there restrictions?
Unaccompanied minor service
Our unaccompanied minor service is to ensure your child is boarded onto the aircraft, introduced to the flight attendant, chaperoned during connections and released to the appropriate person at their destination.
We won’t accept unaccompanied minors when their itineraries include:
Our unaccompanied minor service is to ensure your child is boarded onto the aircraft, introduced to the flight attendant, chaperoned during connections and released to the appropriate person at their destination.
We won’t accept unaccompanied minors when their itineraries include:
- A connection to/from another airline, including codeshare and oneworld® partners
- Ground / co-terminal connections (unaccompanied minors under 15 years, can’t use ground transportation alone)
Guidelines for children traveling alone:
Age range Restrictions
0-5 Children under 5 years of age may not travel alone under any circumstances.
5-7 Can only travel on nonstop or direct flights. They can’t travel on certain flights on smaller aircraft when a flight attendant is not required.
8-14 Can travel on any nonstop or direct flight, or any connecting flight through Charlotte, NC (CLT), Washington Reagan, D.C. (DCA), Dallas Forth Worth, TX (DFW), New York, NY (JFK and LGA), Los Angeles, CA (LAX), Miami, FL (MIA), Chicago, IL (ORD), Philadelphia, PA (PHL) and Phoenix, AZ (PHX).
15-17 Children in this age range don’t have to use the unaccompanied minor service, but it’s still available to them. When traveling alone, children 16 years of age and older can book online, to book children 15 years of age, you’ll need to call Reservations.
Note: Children 2-14 years old can travel as an 'accompanied minor' with someone 16 years or older.
American Airlines' UNMR policy: Link
Link to PDF.
Age range Restrictions
0-5 Children under 5 years of age may not travel alone under any circumstances.
5-7 Can only travel on nonstop or direct flights. They can’t travel on certain flights on smaller aircraft when a flight attendant is not required.
8-14 Can travel on any nonstop or direct flight, or any connecting flight through Charlotte, NC (CLT), Washington Reagan, D.C. (DCA), Dallas Forth Worth, TX (DFW), New York, NY (JFK and LGA), Los Angeles, CA (LAX), Miami, FL (MIA), Chicago, IL (ORD), Philadelphia, PA (PHL) and Phoenix, AZ (PHX).
15-17 Children in this age range don’t have to use the unaccompanied minor service, but it’s still available to them. When traveling alone, children 16 years of age and older can book online, to book children 15 years of age, you’ll need to call Reservations.
Note: Children 2-14 years old can travel as an 'accompanied minor' with someone 16 years or older.
American Airlines' UNMR policy: Link
Link to PDF.
That will also differ by carrier, just as connection and other policies will differ. American charges $150 for one or two UNMRs each way.
American Airlines:
- The unaccompanied minor service fee is $150 (plus tax) each way
- 2 or more unaccompanied minors from the same family, traveling on the same flights, will only be charged $150 (plus tax) each way
Yes. AA requires proof of age for the child traveling alone (birth certificate, passport, etc.). The TSA will likely require this as well.
Q. What documentation do minors require for international travel?
Unaccompanied minors will generally require a passport internationally.
Be sure your unaccompanied minor has a letter signed by both parents / guardians (or copy of documentation showing there is one person with sole custody) granting him permission to travel and noting who s/he will be residing with (and I suggest another granting the adults s/he to secure medical care for the minor). The letter should probably be notarized.
US Department of State:
LETTER OF CONSENT FOR TRAVEL OF A MINOR CHILD
Because of increasing instances of child abduction in custody cases, and a growing number of children who are the victims of trafficking or pornography, an immigration officer, airline, or travel company may ask you to provide some form of letter of consent if your child is traveling internationally with only one parent or with another adult, such as a grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc. The sample letter below is a guide only. You may also wish to have the letter of consent notarized.
Link to PDF of sample letter.
LETTER OF CONSENT FOR TRAVEL OF A MINOR CHILD
Because of increasing instances of child abduction in custody cases, and a growing number of children who are the victims of trafficking or pornography, an immigration officer, airline, or travel company may ask you to provide some form of letter of consent if your child is traveling internationally with only one parent or with another adult, such as a grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc. The sample letter below is a guide only. You may also wish to have the letter of consent notarized.
Link to PDF of sample letter.
Q. What if the minor is traveling internationally with another adult (accompanied minor)?
See the letter authorizing travel, mentioned above. As well, you can ask AA to add a "TCP* note" in his PNR (booking record) to show s/he is traveling with another adult(s) other than both parents (one parent, relatives, friends). It might be useful to do the same for the adult; this also may help the airline to assure they're not assigned different flights in case of travel disruption.
Q. Anything else?
Yes. It may be wise to assure the unaccompanied minor is covered by health / medical insurance or coverage in the destination country in addition to having a medical care authorization letter.
Even some countries with universal healthcare may be quite expensive for a person who is not a legal resident of that country.
Be sure to prepare a "care pack" - perhaps school size backpack - with books, games, etc. for distraction and entertainment. Airline unaccompanied minor services do not include continual supervision on the plane, nor are the crew charged with entertaining a child, merely with safeguarding their safety and boarding, disembarking, assuring they get available water and food, etc.
* "To Complete Party"
AA Unaccompanied Minor / UNMR Policy and Discussion (consolidated)
Jul 27, 2016, 4:55 am
#106
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Potomac Falls, VA
Programs: AA Plat 2MM, MR Gold, Avis Pref
Posts: 41,109
Frankly, I'd never look to SeatGuru as an arbiter for airline policy, or even airline seats for that matter.
AA policy (link)
15-17: Children in this age range don’t have to use the unaccompanied minor service, but it’s still available to them. When traveling alone, children 16 years of age and older can book online, to book children 15 years of age, you’ll need to call Reservations.
Note that children age 16 or older can have an infant travel as their lap child.
Sixteen seems to be for essential purposes - booking online, booking even the last flight of the day, etc. a "flying adult".
Fifteen is a year of transition to AA; they can not have travel booked online for them because of that. And it seems they apply the Unaccompanied Minor "The last flight of the day from the final connection city, unless it’s the only scheduled flight offered" whether the 15 year old is using UMNR service or not. They apparently and understandably can not allow a 15 year old to assume adult responsibilities for a 13 year old.
Airlines vary in their policies for UMNR
AA policy (link)
15-17: Children in this age range don’t have to use the unaccompanied minor service, but it’s still available to them. When traveling alone, children 16 years of age and older can book online, to book children 15 years of age, you’ll need to call Reservations.
Note that children age 16 or older can have an infant travel as their lap child.
Sixteen seems to be for essential purposes - booking online, booking even the last flight of the day, etc. a "flying adult".
Fifteen is a year of transition to AA; they can not have travel booked online for them because of that. And it seems they apply the Unaccompanied Minor "The last flight of the day from the final connection city, unless it’s the only scheduled flight offered" whether the 15 year old is using UMNR service or not. They apparently and understandably can not allow a 15 year old to assume adult responsibilities for a 13 year old.
Airlines vary in their policies for UMNR
If the answer is NO, does this change when my 16 YO turns 17 in the fall?
While I'm here on Unaccompanied minors, at 15 they can sit in the exit row and the three of us are traveling together, we are all in the exit row. However the just turned 15 yo does not "look" 15.
Will they move him and all of us?
Will they need proof of age like his passport or GOES card?
Nov 7, 2019, 4:34 pm
#110
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Dallas, TX
Programs: AA EP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 37
Having trouble finding advice on this after searching FT. My mother in law is flying DFW to AGS to pick up my 10 year old niece. The ideal plan would be for her to fly in, deplane, grab my niece, and fly back to DFW. In order to do that it would also be ideal for my brother in law to get a gate pass and accompany my niece to gate, wait for MIL to deplane, then hand her over. Looks like 1 flight per day DFW-AGS operated by same aircraft, landing at 1541 and departing at 1611. So I'd rather not send my MIL landside to get her and reclear security. Think her father would be successful grabbing a gate pass to escort her through the gate at AGS? Hard for me to find an accurate answer since she's not technically an unaccompanied minor. TIA.
Last edited by diggnan; Nov 7, 2019 at 4:37 pm Reason: grammatical mistake
Nov 8, 2019, 3:47 am
#111
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Posts: 102,095
May 3, 2022, 10:38 am
#112
Join Date: Mar 2007
Programs: UA 1MM 1K/AF Plat/Marriott Titanium/Hertz PC (who isn't?)/National Exec Elite/CFA Signature
Posts: 193
Hi,
My family and I are very frequent flyers, but somehow have never flown AA internationally - our home airline is UA.
With that, I'm not sure how AA handles our typical situation, which is that my wife and I fly business and my 3 kids fly economy on the same flight.
...and before the conversation goes there: we always put them in a block of three seats so they don't have a neighbor and we've done this dozens of times without any issue; they are very well behaved if I say so myself. Indeed we trained them from a young age to just sleep the whole way (I was the crazy Dad making my toddlers wear the LH baby eyemask at home so they'd tolerate it on flights, worked like a charm).
Here's the question: some airlines (like UA) require the children be booked as UM even if the parents are on the same flight. Not being in the same cabin means UA considers them unaccompanied.
Other airlines (like LX or AF) don't care who is in what cabin; if you're on the same flight it's all good.
Where does AA fall on this issue? I tried to research it but no luck, and with no status I'm hesitant to call the kettle's 1-800 only to wait for an hour and find some clueless agent on the other line.
Thanks for any advice!
My family and I are very frequent flyers, but somehow have never flown AA internationally - our home airline is UA.
With that, I'm not sure how AA handles our typical situation, which is that my wife and I fly business and my 3 kids fly economy on the same flight.
...and before the conversation goes there: we always put them in a block of three seats so they don't have a neighbor and we've done this dozens of times without any issue; they are very well behaved if I say so myself. Indeed we trained them from a young age to just sleep the whole way (I was the crazy Dad making my toddlers wear the LH baby eyemask at home so they'd tolerate it on flights, worked like a charm).
Here's the question: some airlines (like UA) require the children be booked as UM even if the parents are on the same flight. Not being in the same cabin means UA considers them unaccompanied.
Other airlines (like LX or AF) don't care who is in what cabin; if you're on the same flight it's all good.
Where does AA fall on this issue? I tried to research it but no luck, and with no status I'm hesitant to call the kettle's 1-800 only to wait for an hour and find some clueless agent on the other line.
Thanks for any advice!
May 3, 2022, 11:08 pm
#113
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: OC, CA
Programs: AA EXP, 2MM, HH Diamond
Posts: 832
Hi,
My family and I are very frequent flyers, but somehow have never flown AA internationally - our home airline is UA.
With that, I'm not sure how AA handles our typical situation, which is that my wife and I fly business and my 3 kids fly economy on the same flight.
...and before the conversation goes there: we always put them in a block of three seats so they don't have a neighbor and we've done this dozens of times without any issue; they are very well behaved if I say so myself. Indeed we trained them from a young age to just sleep the whole way (I was the crazy Dad making my toddlers wear the LH baby eyemask at home so they'd tolerate it on flights, worked like a charm).
Here's the question: some airlines (like UA) require the children be booked as UM even if the parents are on the same flight. Not being in the same cabin means UA considers them unaccompanied.
Other airlines (like LX or AF) don't care who is in what cabin; if you're on the same flight it's all good.
Where does AA fall on this issue? I tried to research it but no luck, and with no status I'm hesitant to call the kettle's 1-800 only to wait for an hour and find some clueless agent on the other line.
Thanks for any advice!
My family and I are very frequent flyers, but somehow have never flown AA internationally - our home airline is UA.
With that, I'm not sure how AA handles our typical situation, which is that my wife and I fly business and my 3 kids fly economy on the same flight.
...and before the conversation goes there: we always put them in a block of three seats so they don't have a neighbor and we've done this dozens of times without any issue; they are very well behaved if I say so myself. Indeed we trained them from a young age to just sleep the whole way (I was the crazy Dad making my toddlers wear the LH baby eyemask at home so they'd tolerate it on flights, worked like a charm).
Here's the question: some airlines (like UA) require the children be booked as UM even if the parents are on the same flight. Not being in the same cabin means UA considers them unaccompanied.
Other airlines (like LX or AF) don't care who is in what cabin; if you're on the same flight it's all good.
Where does AA fall on this issue? I tried to research it but no luck, and with no status I'm hesitant to call the kettle's 1-800 only to wait for an hour and find some clueless agent on the other line.
Thanks for any advice!
May 4, 2022, 11:21 pm
#115
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: OC, CA
Programs: AA EXP, 2MM, HH Diamond
Posts: 832
I couldn’t find anything definitive on the AA website or CoC.
Post 19 of this thread suggests they can’t be in a different cabin, but this is just a datapoint: Booking child and adult ticket separately
Post 19 of this thread suggests they can’t be in a different cabin, but this is just a datapoint: Booking child and adult ticket separately
Last edited by hbtr; May 4, 2022 at 11:22 pm Reason: Typo
May 26, 2022, 3:12 am
#117
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Edinburgh
Programs: BA Silver, Amex Platinum
Posts: 149
I’m travelling to NYC from the UK tomorrow for a couple of days holiday with my teenage daughter (14.5 yrs) just the two of us. We fly on BA. We have all the necessary documents for covid, esta etc. Will USA border entry want to see some sort of consent form from my husband though? If so, is there a good template to use? I see the ESTA website talks about consent forms but it doesn’t seem to be mandatory and they don’t provide a pro forma.
Jun 29, 2023, 2:45 pm
#118
Join Date: Mar 2007
Programs: UA MP, NW WP, AA
Posts: 719
Unaccompanied minor lounges
Has anyone have children that had experience with this? Does the child have to be signed up for “unaccompanied minor service” in order to enter the lounge? My child is 15 and has had extensive air travel experience (with me of course). The “ unaccompanied minor service” is optional for him; he feels comfortable without this service. Though it would be nice if he has a lounge to hang out while waiting for his connecting flight.He will be connecting in DFW.
Jun 29, 2023, 3:11 pm
#119
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: DCA
Programs: AA EXP 1MM, WOH Globalist
Posts: 1,160
Unaccompanied minor lounges
Has anyone have children that had experience with this? Does the child have to be signed up for “unaccompanied minor service” in order to enter the lounge? My child is 15 and has had extensive air travel experience (with me of course). The “ unaccompanied minor service” is optional for him; he feels comfortable without this service. Though it would be nice if he has a lounge to hang out while waiting for his connecting flight.He will be connecting in DFW.
Jun 29, 2023, 3:19 pm
#120
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2010
Programs: AA
Posts: 14,735
Unaccompanied minor lounges
Has anyone have children that had experience with this? Does the child have to be signed up for “unaccompanied minor service” in order to enter the lounge? My child is 15 and has had extensive air travel experience (with me of course). The “ unaccompanied minor service” is optional for him; he feels comfortable without this service. Though it would be nice if he has a lounge to hang out while waiting for his connecting flight.He will be connecting in DFW.
