Did you ever wonder how you would send a minor on an airline?

 

            By David McClelland

 

            Our daughter, Julie, agreed to provide a temporary home for a 14 year-old French exchange student for three weeks this summer. Julie went all out to make sure that Juliette had a great time during her stay. Julie is the Director of Early Education at Oakland Christian School and the French teacher at OCS arranged to accept several French exchange students for this period. Julie and her family took Juliette camping with them the first weekend. We took her to Mackinac Island the next weekend and we brought her with us on our Hilton Head family vacation this week.

 

            All went well until my daughter took Juliette to the Savannah, GA Airport so she could fly back to Detroit where she was to be met by the French teacher and stay with her until her flight to France departed later in the day. When they got to the Delta counter, the attendant said that Juliette could not fly alone.  She is under 15 and, per the Delta policy, can not fly unaccompanied.  She went on to explain that Amber Alert has caused all of the airlines to tighten their policies in this way. Also, this prevents runaways from grabbing money to just fly away.

 

            My daughter told the agent that Juliette needed to get to Detroit for her connecting flight and didn't understand why Delta sold her the ticket in the first place. The agent said that the ticket was purchased through a travel agent who didn't bother to check Delta's policy. Julie next asked what the agent suggested they do. The agent had the answer.

 

For an additional $100, Delta would allow Juliette to fly to Detroit under the watchful eye of the Delta attendants.  It required that paperwork be filled out, that Julie take Juliette to the gate and stay with her until the flight was in the air and that the French teacher meet her at the gate in Detroit.  When sending a minor on the plane, Delta does allow adults from their party to escort them to and from the gate. They also changed Juliette's seat assignment so that she would be close to the flight attendant during her flight.  Juliette wore a wristband so that everyone would know that she was a minor flying alone.  Her paperwork highlighted in yellow that she spoke French. The system seemed full proof to assure Juliette's (and other minor's) safety, but as with most things, the assurance came with a price.