13, 12 & 9 - Not with Parents

[serfty]

13, 12 & 9

That's the age of three siblings traveling on my flight sans parents.

They were not booked as unaccompanied minors so no correct paperwork.

They had boarded and parents departed the gate.

Now we are 10 minutes past departure time and waiting for it to be sorted.

 

[Hvr]

Are they going to be off loaded? Interesting that 3 minors can cause such a major incident.

 

[Pushka]

13, 12 & 9

That's the age of three siblings travelling on my flight sans parents.

They were not booked as unacompanyed minors so no correct paperwork.

They had boarded and parents departed the gate.

Now we are 10 minutes past departure time and waiting for it to be sorted.

Some parents just shouldn’t be. Hope you get it sorted quickly but not sure what that means.

 

[serfty]

Thank goodness for mobile phones.

One of the kids had the parents number.

 

[AIRwin]

Can bookings for children be processed with no adults? Haven't tried it myself...

 

[serfty]

Booking is easy - but if you have unaccompanied minors (under 14) you must call and arrange 'paperwork' and pay the fee.

 

[Denali]

Wonder what airline as some say UM stops at 12 or 13 and maybe the parents thought that meant the oldest was therefore the "adult" in charge of the siblings

 

[serfty]

Wonder what airline as some say UM stops at 12 or 13 and maybe the parents thought that meant the oldest was therefore the "adult" in charge of the siblings

Qantas ...

Hmmm .... looking deeper - 13 & 14 YO can travel on their own as a "Young Passenger", but 4-12 must have 15+YO traveling with them to avoid being 'unaccompanied', otherwise a $50 supervision fee (domestic) per minor payable (+$50 if arranged at the airport).

Unaccompanied minors travelling without parents | Qantas AU

Information, documents required, booking conditions and associated fees for any child who is travelling without parents.

www.qantas.com

Maybe they were trying to avoid $150, or simply misunderstood the nuances.

If I read it correctly, they may have had to fork out another $200.

 

[tdimdad]

Interested to hear how it turned out at the end.
We've sent kids across but on their own only when one of them was 15y, before that all of them as UM's. UM is a bit of a pain in the backside but at least they'll reach their destination for sure and for that it's absolutely worth the hassle and fee.

 

[serfty]

Interested to hear how it turned out at the end

Parent(s) came back to the gate, signed paperwork and presumably forked over $$$.

Flight took off 30 minutes late.

 

[p--and--t]

I don't have a problem with QF insisting on appropriate paperwork.

There are also multiple issues over child abandonment, family breakup, who is legal guardian etc that could be at play

Unaccompanied minors travelling without parents | Qantas AU

Information, documents required, booking conditions and associated fees for any child who is travelling without parents.

www.qantas.com

‘Disgusted’: Boy tricks mum, flies to Bali

KIDS hear no from their parents all the time but when Emma told her 12-year-old son they weren’t going to Bali, he decided the word no wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

www.news.com.au

 

[Hillbilly64]

The UM fee is only $20-40 per child..why not pay that. My 13 year old could fly as an adult but he will be an UM until he's 15 for mine and his piece of mind...
Not sure what I'll do when he's 15 and his sister is 13....I hope by then they are confident enough to fly as adults...

But .I. cant believe the Qantas system let them do this and didn't throw an error due to there not being a 15+ pax. So really...if the system let them book it it's a Qantas error.

 

[serfty]

The UM fee is only $20-40 per child

The supervisory fees are$50 domestic and $90 international per child. There is an additional $50/$90 if not documented before arriving at the airport.

 

[Hillbilly64]

The supervisory fees are$50 domestic and $90 international per child. There is an additional $50/$90 if not documented before arriving at the airport.

That's expensive. Airnz is $40 achild. But still if the site let them book it's not their error.

 

[Quickstatus]

At QF,
5-11 must book the unaccompanied minor service
12 and older the unaccompanied minor service is optional.
15 and over they are called young adult and the UM service is not available.

So technically the under 12 was not “unaccompanied” in the general sense because the older siblings were travelling in same cabin as well.

Normally the QF booking system will flag an under age. Maybe the system got a loophole where the above scenario can slip through.

Another example of how the wording in policies do not necessarily convey the intent of the policy

Likely the parents had to pay for all 3 instead of opting out for the 13,12 year old because all 3 were on the same ticket and it would be administratively and practically difficult to put the 9yr into the Um service but not the siblings