AAaLot

My son is 15, he used to be an execute platinum, he very accustomed to flying.

I want to fly him TVC-ORD-PHX-BUR & I want him to be on the last flight of the day

The website did not allow me to do this (because it knows his age). The AA agent said we could not do this -- that he must not be on the last flight of the day.

This does not seem to be covered here:
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...ied-minors.jsp

Any way around this? We are willing to take the risk. Furthermore, I believe the agent was wrong.

wrp96

"We won't accept unaccompanied minors when their itineraries include:

The last flight of the day from the final connection city"


Seems to be covered in that link you provided

nineworldseries

It certainly does seem to be covered in the link:

"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)

The last flight of the day from the final connection city

Overnight connecting flights"

AAaLot

Further below:
"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."

We are NOT interested in their unaccompanied minor service -- furthermore we have family / friends and each of the connection points.

arollins

Last flight of day are certainly no-no's for minor. One of the main reason for this is in case of irrops, delays or cancellation, where will the minor go if he has to spend the night at the airport. There is too much liability for the airline to assume.

3Cforme

Are you sure this isn't a simple misread of the rules? Under 15s must use unaccompanied minor service (or fly another carrier: use or not is not your choice). Already 15 on a domestic flight should be allowed.

Last flight of the day as a minor is a concern. What will you do if he gets stuck overnight in PHX?

TVC-ORD-LAX would likely present more options.

AAaLot

I agree why they have it.

If there is family friends along the way (i.e. I could buy a series of one way tickets) we would be taking the responsibility.

The link shows TWO scenarios
1) USING unaccompanied minor service
2) NOT using unaccompanied minor service

The website seems to state that 16+ can just book on line (i.e. airline stating they do not care--they can even manage the exit row). This has been the case with my 17 year old daughter, for example.

The website seems to state that because of some technical glitch with site, 15 year olds must call to make reservation.

It would be nice to find someone that has had this exact scenario before. Thanks

JonNYC

Have you tried calling back, referencing the section on AA.com, if necessary?

sdix

I have had this situation many times travelling with a sports team of 15/16 year olds. There has to be an adult associated with the record of the 15 year old person if you are on the last flight. We have had to talk to an agent to book as usually we had 1 or 2 adults and 10 or more kids....

There are ways around the system to do what you want to do but you have to be prepared for irrops in which case he/she could be left stranded.

flyalways

I do not see it this way. It is clear that he is "unaccompanied minor" and it clearly states that he can not take that last flight. There are no two
interpretations.

If he wants to take that flight he must be a "accompanied" since he is a
"minor"...

I agree with that policy in this sue-happy country of ours !

F.A.

JonNYC

What am I missing here? To me-- just reading the same thing as everybody else-- it appears that a 15 year-old, traveling alone, may use, or not use the service.

And, that if they are -not- requesting the service, none of the other conditions/restrictions apply at that point. Only thing is they have to call in and make the reservation. Doesn't it seem like RES agent was misunderstanding that no UMNR service was being requested?

Here as well:

Finkface

I am reading it as he is still an unaccompanied minor at 15 and subject to the 'no last flight of the day' rule, as well as the other rules. They give you the choice to use or not use the unaccompanied minor service at that age but he is still subject to the UM rules even if you choose not to use the service. Not using the UM service doesn't change the fact he is still 15 and an unaccompanied minor - he still can't do any of the things listed, you can just choose not to take the full service. That's my read of it.

Kind of like someone who needs mobility assistance. They can't sit in an exit row, for example but they can choose or not choose the wheelchair service. Even if they don't choose wheelchair service as they can maneuver on their own, they are still bound by the exit row rules. Not using an assistance service doesn't exempt you from the other rules. That's how I am reading it.

AAaLot

In the past a 17 year old has NOT been subject to the last flight of the day rule.

I read this would apply to a 16 and a 15 year old also -- NOT to a 14 year old.

ijgordon

This seems to make the most sense to me, but I agree the web page is confusing. In and of itself, "We won’t accept unaccompanied minors when their itineraries include:...The last flight of the day from the final connection city" seems pretty straightforward. As far as I can tell, a 15 year old traveling alone is an unaccompanied minor.

But they place that language under the heading of "Unaccompanied Minor Service".

My money would be on bad page design, not an intentional policy decision, but I don't think it's 100% clear.

They could have also said "We won't accept unaccompanied minors to the UMNR service when their itineraries include...", but they didn't.

JonNYC

Please just call again. I think the res agent you spoke to possibly was misreading.

My reading is "15 - 17 Not utilizing the UMNR Special Services" has none of the conditions listed under: "15 - 17 request(ing) UMNR Special Services" (where, as we see, there are quite a few conditions.)

Could be that there's more to it, but I'd say another call is in order.