illinidad

Thinking about sending my 15 yo son to visit the Asian side of his family in Singapore over the summer. SQ includes UM service on a standard fare, which we'll buy. Curious to know if anyone here has any experience with the UM program that they'd be willing to share?

My concerns are mostly with the possibilities of delays during a plane change in NRT/HKG/etc. or some other similar situation that would leave him stuck in the transit city overnight. If there are no delays, etc, I think a UM on SQ would probably be just fine.

But.....would SQ be responsible for providing a hotel if a delay is weather related (when they otherwise wouldn't have to I assume)? My son would have cash and a phone, but would not be able to handle these kinds of logistical issues on his own (despite his assertions that he could handle anything - teenagers).

Thanks.

FN-GM

Im pretty sure SQ will put him up if something like that happens.

If he is in Business Class there is a direct service, the aircraft is 100% business class. That maybe better.

aviationp

I have in the past gone as a UM on SQ.

SQ treats all it's UM very well I find, and they even have a policy in place that you can't be seated next to a male passenger unless there is a seat difference or it's an aisle seat. As it will be LAX-SIN, there will be no real plane change as it is just the same plane, but if for whatever reason something happens in transit, even weather related, SQ should provide you hotel accomodation, irrespective if its UM or non UM.

Despite the rather negative views people hold of SQ at times, when the passenger is in trouble, then SQ is very proactive in solving it.

avm2806

SQ is the best airline to fly UM - they have strong procedures in place. As someone who has had family member's and has flown myself as UM - I have to SQ is the best and safest way to fly as a UM and rest assured they will take care of your young one...

FN-GM

This rule is just stupid in my opinion, why tar all males with the same brush. I work in a school and find women are just as likely to abuse a child

Rant over

jetsetkiwi

I agree, this is such a stupid policy. It applies to anybody under 18 years even. I was travelling A380 J with a friend, both under 18, and they changed our seat requests on check-in. Once discovering we were friends, they still had to contact Changi to get permission...

anaidross

I just realise that Thai charges USD60 per flight for this service.

http://www.prthaiairways.com/thaiair...g=6#fragment-1

So I am curious if SQ charges for this service?

illinidad

No charge, according to the rep I spoke with. It's included in the standard economy fare.

Also, a belated thanks to everyone for the responses.

dsquared37

Irrational fears cause lots of stupid rules.

Guy Betsy

SQ is very good at keeping the child (no matter what age) entertained...

My, it was many moons ago when I was an UM ! All I remember however is being seated at the back of the plane where the cabin crew can keep an eye on me and kept plying me with drinks .. (pop that is).

Penbank

In contrast, years ago, I flew on Delta as a child. The connecting flight was cancelled. They just handed me, a 9 year old, a hotel voucher. That was in the days before cell phones so I couldn't call home to ask. Silly me, I should have called collect or asked the ticket counter to call for me. I had to scratch my head and figure out what to do. For some strange reason, I thought someone would break into the hotel so I put a chair in front of the door.

anaidross

I would be horrified both as a child and as a parent.

How irresponsible of Delta.

tfjim

Want to hear a fun UM story?

Folks were living/working in Riyadh and us kids were all still in school back in the States. I was just 18 and in college along with my older sister but my younger sister, 15, was in boarding school. Summer vacation plans called for us to do a Far East trip meeting in Bangkok then onto Hong Kong and Tokyo. We were flying economy as although the company specified C class for the nonstops "home" to the Kingdom we could, and usually did, simply turn these into tickets to places of our choosing.

Flights arranged were JFK-SFO on TWA. Then SFO-HNL-HKG-SIN-BKK on Singapore. I could not tell you if we were classified as UM but, for sure, at the time I didn't sense any special treatment. Certainly our seat assignments, the last row of economy in the 747, didn't indicate preferential treatment (other than, I guess, we were close to the rear galley).

Who knows, maybe back then a 19-year old sister counted as someone accompanying a minor? We arrived in BKK a whole 2 days before my parents. We were well taken care of as a classmate of my sister's at boarding school was the son of the president of Thai Airways and he also had other important "relations" as well.

It was a wild trip! And not just because of the fun we had with the locals in Bangkok! The intra-Asia trips were in first class; TG and CI (those are interesting stories in and of themselves). The return to JFK was on Pan Am!

FlyerEC

My 13 year old twin niece/ nephew flew on SQ 1/2 ( 2 years after their older sister who also visited as an UM ).
They were accompanied by a stewardess at all times & all had a fantastic flights. They were not allowed to disembark for the HK transit but were entertained with SQ goodies as well as their own gadgets

This is SQ .. not some other airline so the crew are all well trained to handle logistics - often beyond their call of duty.

wyvern

UM service is good on SQ. EK and BA are also good in my experience as a parent.