Sending your kid abroad alone logistics.
- Lucky Lucan
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Sending your kid abroad alone logistics.
Has anyone done this? Things look to be going a bit pear-shaped at the moment, maybe I'm just getting hysterical. However my teenage kid has a 6 week break coming up in June and he would like to spend it in Europe where he will be most welcome. I see flights advertised via Qatar that have short transfer times. He's flown many times before and I might be able to travel with him, but if not do you think it's feasible? It's my understanding that minors are accompanied by ground staff during transfers and this costs a little more, that seems fair. I'm more interested in the sending part just for emergencies but the other issue is that if he returns here he is likely to have to go through quarantine on return. On a K visa he should qualify for the local free quarantine but he seems keen on staying in a foreigner geared facility.
Any advice welcome on this so far hypothetical issue.
Any advice welcome on this so far hypothetical issue.
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- horace
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Mate, I reckon he is better off where he is. Eastern Europe is going through a third wave, more n more borders are being shut. You may find he gets stuck in Ireland!
Stay where you are, keep safe and wash yer yer hands you dirty little fucker.
Anyhow who am I gonna play with and annoy if you send him away?
Stay where you are, keep safe and wash yer yer hands you dirty little fucker.
Anyhow who am I gonna play with and annoy if you send him away?
k440, something to do when you're pissed.
I would postpone for a year. Lockdowns happening all over Europe as new strains reboot. Borders will close a year. Let the vaccine roll out happen and reassess. Otherwise it could be a frustrating and expensive time for your boy seeing little more than airport terminals and quarantine hotels.
- Lucky Lucan
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He's already decided it's a non-runner, the quarantine on the way back didn't sound appealing. However I'd still like to know how easy or difficult it is to send a kid abroad unaccompanied. It's only transiting through airports, so I'm imagining it wouldn't be so tricky with assistance from ground staff?
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
Airlines are used to it. I don't think it even costs more?
Anyway that kid is smart as fuck. It'll be easy for him
Anyway that kid is smart as fuck. It'll be easy for him
It wouldn't be a problem at all. Especially with airports mostly empty, literally more staff than passengers, no queuing etc.
There's no charge from the airline I think, they just cap the UM at maybe 2 per flight.
There's no charge from the airline I think, they just cap the UM at maybe 2 per flight.
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You would need to check with airlines.. I heard that unaccompanied minor option had been temporarily removed for many airlines.
dude your kid is pretty capable. take him to Ponchentong, throw him over the fence with a packed lunch and a beanie and tell him to climb up into the landing gear.......
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- Phuket2006
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Pre CovidLucky Lucan wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:11 amHe's already decided it's a non-runner, the quarantine on the way back didn't sound appealing. However I'd still like to know how easy or difficult it is to send a kid abroad unaccompanied. It's only transiting through airports, so I'm imagining it wouldn't be so tricky with assistance from ground staff?
when my daughter used to fly alone as a kid,i would need pay extra for someone to accompany here from immigration or check in, to her seat and than after deplaning/ thru a transit (where she was told to stay in one seat) and than on arrival she would be handed over to someone i designated whom the ground staff had the name
For international flights it was like $75
domestic in the states $50
till she was 14
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I have some thoughts on this in no particular order.
I think he's old enough and speaks English well enough to do this himself and it's just a matter of checking the airlines' specific rules.
Also, what would be most important here is booking the most direct, fewest stops, fewest airlines routing with only airside transits and no going through immigration anywhere except at the final destination. People are still getting f*cked booking on sites like kiwi.com with a routing involving a Bangkok/KL/Singapore stopover with connection on a low cost carrier and them finding out they are banned due to pandemic from passing through immigration to check in for that flight.
And then also confirming that he can do airside transit at all the transit airports and that he meets the COVI D test requirements, etc.
If he has a European passport and they let him on the plane in Phnom Penh they won't turn him back and send him back to Cambodia at the transit point even if there's a problem. Especially if he's booked to country of his passport and is coached to tell people he has no contacts/family/parents in Cambodia.
Some airports/airlines offer a special escort/fasttrack service for passengers who need extra help but maybe that's included with unaccompanied minors.
If he ends up on his own, he has to know that gates can change. The TV might say gate B2 and by the time he gets to the gate it has changed to D7. He needs to know that shit can change. And also needs to know that the Qatar airlines flight 614 he's looking for from Frankfurt to London might be labeled BA flight 320 on the monitors. And that there may be two other flights to London around the same time. He should learn to check the monitors by departure time, as there will one be one 15:25 flight from Frankfurt to London.
Another thing that can confuse novices is that your itinerary lists the departure time but once they hand you a boarding pass it will probably just list the boarding time so when he's checking the monitors he shouldn't be comparing the departure times on screen to the time now stated on his boarding pass.
And they really do close the plane doors 15-30 minutes before departure time so he can't be f*cking around in the airport and expect the stroll on the plane 5-10 minutes before departure.
I think he's old enough and speaks English well enough to do this himself and it's just a matter of checking the airlines' specific rules.
Also, what would be most important here is booking the most direct, fewest stops, fewest airlines routing with only airside transits and no going through immigration anywhere except at the final destination. People are still getting f*cked booking on sites like kiwi.com with a routing involving a Bangkok/KL/Singapore stopover with connection on a low cost carrier and them finding out they are banned due to pandemic from passing through immigration to check in for that flight.
And then also confirming that he can do airside transit at all the transit airports and that he meets the COVI D test requirements, etc.
If he has a European passport and they let him on the plane in Phnom Penh they won't turn him back and send him back to Cambodia at the transit point even if there's a problem. Especially if he's booked to country of his passport and is coached to tell people he has no contacts/family/parents in Cambodia.
Some airports/airlines offer a special escort/fasttrack service for passengers who need extra help but maybe that's included with unaccompanied minors.
If he ends up on his own, he has to know that gates can change. The TV might say gate B2 and by the time he gets to the gate it has changed to D7. He needs to know that shit can change. And also needs to know that the Qatar airlines flight 614 he's looking for from Frankfurt to London might be labeled BA flight 320 on the monitors. And that there may be two other flights to London around the same time. He should learn to check the monitors by departure time, as there will one be one 15:25 flight from Frankfurt to London.
Another thing that can confuse novices is that your itinerary lists the departure time but once they hand you a boarding pass it will probably just list the boarding time so when he's checking the monitors he shouldn't be comparing the departure times on screen to the time now stated on his boarding pass.
And they really do close the plane doors 15-30 minutes before departure time so he can't be f*cking around in the airport and expect the stroll on the plane 5-10 minutes before departure.
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Do they also need to carry a letter signed by both parents to avoid trouble at the border? I got this once when my wife traveled solo with our daughter. (Thai, into Thailand)
- Lucky Lucan
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That is a requirement I believe.Green Martian wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 8:23 amDo they also need to carry a letter signed by both parents to avoid trouble at the border? I got this once when my wife traveled solo with our daughter. (Thai, into Thailand)
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
- Hanno
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My daughter traveled on her own a few times. Generally not an issue, though on one flight from Siem Reap to Da Nang, when she was about 10 years old, the flight attendant that was supposed to take care of her lost her upon arrival. She marched right through immigration without anyone noticing and out of the airport. She had no idea where to go but luckily did not hop into any car. Her step father eventually saw her (she walked out of a different exit). The real headache started the next day: her mother went to immigration to get the necessary paperwork. Immigration declined; saying that my daughter was not actually in the country as she wasn't stamped in.... Zero help from Vietnam Airlines, the airline that lost her in the first place, and it took a couple of weeks to sort out.
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my daughter never had nor was ever asked for a letter and she started flying alone at 10
"We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear—fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp on vague charges of being a Terrorist sympathizer." HST
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