When I was a kid and my dad worked for Pan Am (in the 70s and 80s) I used to fly alone many, many times, from the age of about ten on, most often from boarding school in England to New York, but after that The DRC Congo to England.

I would imagine a whole lot has changed.

Question: my son is half Japanese. He's been semi-kidnapped by my ex-wife and lives with her in Japan. By semi-kidnapped I mean she refuses to help me renew his Canadian passport and I have no idea if his Japanese passport is still valid.

Still, I'm lucky compared to some left-behind dads -- I know where he is, I video chat with him almost every week (he will be 12 in August) and I'm going to visit him in Nara, Japan, in July for two weeks.

My flights are a dream come true: before 9/11 it seemed there were quite a few carriers who flew direct from N. America to Osaka, the nearest airport to Nara, but now only United, maybe Delta and then the Asian airlines do. Air Canada is only feasible if I go through Narita, which I loathe.

But the time has come for perhaps my son to come to ME. This time around I managed to find a flight with Delta from YUL to JFK, and then -- the miracle -- China Airlines direct to Osaka! No further stops in the US, no Narita! I can't believe my luck.

So I was thinking that in 2014, I could have my son (he'll still be 12) could fly as an unaccompanied minor from Osaka-Kansai to JFK, I could meet him there and then come back to Montreal.

But what is the state of unaccompanied minor travel these days? I'd imagine most airlines do the same thing, so please if you know anything about China Airlines (not Air China) let me know.

But I'm assuming that I pay an extra fee -- I'd seen it at around $100 last time I looked -- and he gets to fly unaccompanied on a direct (non-stop) flight, one leg only.

Now for the hard part -- my ex is ultra paranoid about letting him fly by himself, even though we've been flying back and forth to Japan almost every year since he was born, and he knows the ropes very well -- so I have to persuade her that everything will be fine.

Do they let the parent come with the child to the boarding gate? If not, who brings him there? Do they help with his passport/immigration? Do they just leave him at the gate, or do they take him on board and seat him?

At the other end, how does it work? I'm assuming he'd have to change terminals, but I've never done this in JFK. He would have to get to a place -- or I would -- where we could meet, so I could take him from there. Who would take him off the plane? Would they take him through customs? Would they bring him to me, or would they explain to me where to go?

Questions, questions . . . has anyone ever done something like this? All I'm afraid of is the airline staff getting screwed up and somehow not connecting with him at JFK.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I worked for two airlines but pretty much, the whole UM deal is universal.

-Some airports allow gate-passes for parents to accompany their children to the gate. This will depend on the airport authority. Ask the airline.

- The child is accompanied on all portions of his voyage. If the gate-pass won't work, the child is taken by an agent to the aircraft and pre-boarded. They were directly handed over to us, with their paperwork.

-All connections are taken care of, as is immigration and Customs. We held their passports and filled out their paperwork for them. The child is taken through the "fast lane" in immigration. The agents help them get their bags and escort them outside. The child is never left alone unless just to wait in a secure room (usually with other UM's). They change terminals with an airline rep.

-If there is a delay, the airlines will keep their UM's usually in a separate room. If they, in the worst case, have to overnight, the airline will take care of the hotel and an escort will stay in the room next door.

-The contact person has to sign, even if the child is jumping up and down shouting "Daddy!" At some point, you have to show your ID and grab a pen. The absolutely will not hand over UM's without the person on the paper showing ID. Please note; if you are somehow delayed, you can't just ask someone else to collect him so plan for that. I once stayed with three UM's when their family friend was late. They were kept "airside" and not taken outside to the public until he arrived.

Yes, it is possible to fly into a connection point and have the child handed over en route. Not sure that would even apply to you and am not sure on those details. I've seen it but too long ago to be of much help.

What I can't tell you exactly is how UM's change airlines. Hopefully someone can chime in here with experience.

Now, confirm all of the above. A friend recently had a bad experience but I'm not clear as to what happened. She escorted them, then somehow they got on board with their paperwork still in hand (nothing dramatic, just procedural). So get the story straight with them.

Wow, that was INCREDIBLY helpful. If I just show what you just wrote to my ex, that will probably relieve a large portion of her fears. (Not to mention mine!)

Of course i will be prepared with all necessary ID etc (I'll have to be, as I will be traveling myself).

I'm sure that major airlines like China Airlines follow a very similar protocol to the majors in the US -- after all, the American commercial aviation system is the world's leader in safety in most aspects and they'd be fools to have any different modus operandi -- and after all, my son will not be flying from Bamako to Ndjamena.

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

As I will myself be traveling the route he will be traveling, at every step I'll ask the ground reps of anything I should know in advance before we undertake this adventure.

I had no idea it was so comprehensive and idiot-proof -- now all I have to do is be able to convince my ex (not a rational person) that this is doable, safe, and the only course of action from now on. I simply cannot afford to be plunking down $8K every time I want to bring my son to Montreal.

My infinite thanks to you -- now I know that I came to exactly the right place to ask that very question.

I'll keep you posted on what transpires. Meanwhile, I'm glad to know I'm on a site in which the members seem to know very well what-of they speak.

Cheers, and thanks again

Nick

Sassori, welcome to Flyertalk. I don't have experience with China Airlines, but my family has done the international unaccompanied minor flights for years between the US and Germany. The younger girl is now 16 and no longer needs the service. We've almost always been allowed a gate pass to accompany the girls to the departure flight. (In fact, it's been required for parents dropping off to stay until the flight takes off.)

The Canadian government offers guidance on documentation you may need, though I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know: http://travel.gc.ca/travelling/children/consent-letter

I like your plan of meeting your boy in New York as his flight arrives. That might do much to alleviate some of the mother's nervousness. With no direct flights between Berlin and Minneapolis, our girls always had a stopover, and that caused a few scares with missed connections over the years. The airlines were good at getting them priority for rebooking, though.

All in all, we've found flying the kids unaccompanied to be a safe and effective way for our girls to travel internationally.

I would say most of the UM's we had were traveling between parents, who were no longer together.

In training, we were read the riot act about UM's. One issue was that the child was entirely our responsibility in transit. I used to "assign" a nearby Flight Attendant to each UM (or sibling group). Most of them were little vet flyers and really didn't need much physical help.

On one of my rare domestic, the airline even let the grandmother come on board and sit with her crying granddaughter to say goodbye (that won't happen on int'l but just to show how accommodating they can be).

We were strict with them though. Some were not happy about the trip and would try to slip away. One told me that she "needed" her passport. Please warn him about this. The crew has to keep it.

Once, a UM (not on my flight) did manage to get away. He was slipped off the aircraft and got as far as immigration, passport-free and they were on the watch for him. We all got notes in our boxes about how this was not to happen again and how important it is to keep watch over our UM charges... This child did this on purpose and was never in any real danger. They knew he was in the terminal but even then, they took it seriously.

I have friends whose children fly as UM's quite often to see the other parent. They recommend that you check for the flight status yourself. They were notified by the airline of delays but not as quickly as it appeared in the computer.

Unless someone suggests differently, what I'd suggest is that you put a huge layover time in New York. Meet him outside Customs as if he were arriving and then check in together for the Montreal flight. But talk to the airline(s) and see if they can set it up another way. Listen to them first but in the absence of some sort of procedure for meeting a UM en route, give yourselves enough time to cover for some delays.

If you can do the trip so that your son's UM flights are all on the same carrier, it will be easier. Someone posted on FT several months ago about DL not accepting UMs if some Chinese partner airlines were involved because DL wasn't confident of the procedures.

Yes, it would be only one flight -- Osaka to New York -- on China Airlines. That's it. Then I would be there at JFK to pick him up and bring him to Montreal. A day's jaunt for me!

I myself will be taking this complete trip by myself this July, so I'll check procedures while I'm on my way and get the skinny from the Japanese reps of China Airlines at Kansai airport so I'll know all about them (hopefully).

I really, really want his mother to bring him all the way to the gate -- not that I'm worried about it, but for her peace of mind. I'm sure they're a lot looser about those things in Japan than they are in the US although I could be wrong.

I'll blog the whole trip so you guys can fly to Japan with me!

KIX service from the US is spotty. NW had a DTW-KIX non-stop, then it got cancelled, right around the DL merger. There's still a DL KIX-SEA flight. It sounds that you're doing what could be recommended... fly to the arrival city, so that the minor only has one segment as UM, and shared flights are an added bonus.

As noted above, UM service means the minor is never outside of the guardianship of either an airline employee, or an adult pickup them up or dropping them off.

ALL service to KIX from N. America is spotty. It makes my blood boil. KIX is the second largest city/commercial area (Kyoto, Nara, Kobe) in Japan and it's downright shameful that so many airlines have stopped service. Air Canada in particular makes me want to strangle because every single time I took the YVR - KIX flight it was packed liked sardines -- on a DAILY BASIS, EVERY SINGLE DAY, and that was in the lean years!!!!

Now I can count on UA from SFO>KIX and that is about IT.

I absolutely despise Narita (I'm actually afraid of it -- one of the very few airports I'm afraid of landing at because of unpredictable winds) and it's highway robbery to force all travelers to Japan to go through there.

I believe KIX lowered its very high landing fees a number of years ago in order to lure back traffic but no one bit.

And yes, UM is going to have to mean gate to gate service in this case, hopefully with the mom allowed to take him all the way to the gate and for me to meet him at his gate. But China Airlines? Maybe not . . .

Mod - Can we change the title of this thread?

It's okay, it's pretty much wrapped up as it is. I appreciate all the input -- it helped me out a lot.