Unaccompanied Minor on plane: Flight of a child without his parents with Southwest Airlines

Do you want to send your child to his grandparents who live far from your home, during vacation periods, but you as a parent cannot leave your city? Or does your daughter have to fly to another city to go to college?

Southwest Airlines offers unaccompanied parent service on its nonstop domestic flights. This service is not available on international flights.

For the trip to be successful, you need to know the rules for accompanying children on an aircraft of the American company.

What is the minimum age to travel alone on board?

The Accompanying a child on a plane service is mandatory for children aged 5 to 11, if desired, it can be ordered for teenagers up to sixteen years old.

Obtaining a service: What procedure to follow?

The Unaccompanied Minor service must be booked by parents or guardians only.

How to book it?

When purchasing or booking a ticket, you must immediately inform that the child will fly unaccompanied. It is mandatory to choose direct flights, without transfers.

Children are not accepted for transportation if, at the transfer point, they have to move to another airport.

Reservation of a Southwest airline ticket for an unaccompanied minor can only be made by telephone at 1.80.043.597.92. The service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Transport fee for an Unaccompanied Minor

This service is chargeable. A fee of $50 must be paid for each trip (one way). For a return flight, the parent of the little traveler must pay $100.

The fare is fixed regardless of the type of flight and the age of the passenger.

Ticket price for UM service

The ticket price for an unaccompanied child is 100% of the adult fare and must be purchased in advance (at least forty eight hours before departure).

What documents must be presented to the check-in agent?

The set of documents is as follows:

– Passport in process of validation;

– Plane ticket;

– Consent of both parents for the child’s trip, accompanied by a representative of Southwest Airlines, indicating the country and the dates (signed by a notary);

– Insurance policy;

-Visa;

– A prescription with an extract from the medical history, if the child has a medical treatment to follow.

Check-in procedure at the airport

Check-in for unaccompanied children is only done at the airport terminal (it is not available online), so it is necessary to arrive in advance.

Children must be accompanied by a parent or other clean adult representative. The accompanying person must carry a photo ID to prove their identity.

An adult registers a child for a flight, completes specific documents. An application and accompanying sheet must be completed at the airport, containing the following information:

– Age;

– Town of residence;

– Name, address and telephone number of the representative sending the child, including details of their guardian picking them up upon arrival of the flight;

– Itinerary;

– Day of departure;

– Flight number.

The accompanying sheet contains information about the representative of the airline and the stewardess, that is, about those who will accompany the child.

When traveling with unaccompanied children, baggage is accepted in accordance with the regulations in force. A special label must be affixed to it, on which the contact details are indicated.

It is recommended that the child take a minimum of things with him to the salon.

Children receive a special bag with documents and registration for Unaccompanied Child and it is explained that it must not be lost, you must always have it with you. This bag contains:

– Plane ticket;

– Boarding card;

– Baggage receipt;

– Request for escort service;

– Accompanying sheet;

– Passport.

At the airport, parents hand over their children to the airline representative indicated on the accompanying sheet. This employee does all the checking with each child. Then he escorts her to the plane and passes her from hand to hand to the air hostess indicated on the accompanying sheet.

Parents must stay at the airport until the plane has taken off.

How is the journey of an unaccompanied child by plane?

The child is placed on the plane first, before other passengers board, in a convenient and safe place.
During the entire flight, children are constantly looked after by flight attendants who undergo special training, where they learn the rules of communicating with children and ways to solve all their problems.

The flight attendants accompany them to the toilets, answer all questions and even entertain them Southwest usually gives each child a game.

– After flight arrival

After landing, the child is the last to exit the plane and the flight attendant hands it over to the employee at the destination airport.

The child remains under the supervision of a representative until the arrival of the reception person indicated in the application (he must have a document confirming his identity), even if this person is late.

If he never made it to the airport, airline staff will call the parents and do what they say to escort the child to the airport exit gate.