Would You Let Your 6 Year Old Fly Alone? This Child Was Put On Wrong Plane!

fuzzybuddy said:
It depends on the 6 year old kid. If the kid is comfortable flying alone and is behaved enough to sit in a seat for a few hours, why not?
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My one granddaughter was that type of kid. It wouldn’t have phased her.

Any time one of my kids or grandkids flew the parent took them right through to the boarding gate and the adults were right there as the plane disembarked.

Six is mighty young.
 

fuzzybuddy said:
It depends on the 6 year old kid. If the kid is comfortable flying alone and is behaved enough to sit in a seat for a few hours, why not? There are 100+ closed by adults to take care of the kid. If the kid is put on the plane by his family and a family member is at the door when the plane lands, it's kind of hard to go missing. Again, it depends on the kid. I had to accompany my 86 year old mother, who was threatened being arrested by the TSA.
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I think, in this case, it's not so much about the child, but about the other variables. The child may be able to handle the situation, but you can't control everyone else on the plane. Then there's the obvious issue that, unforeseen problems happen - such as this very story. Finally, if something truly tragic and terrible happened, and that plane went down, how would you deal with the guilt of knowing your child was alone? (I know that's a rare event).

I've had flights cancelled, been stuck on runways in Scandinavia in the freezing cold, been re-routed, and more - all things a child isn't well placed to handle.

It's a risk/reward thing, I guess.
 
VaughanJB said:
I think, in this case, it's not so much about the child, but about the other variables. The child may be able to handle the situation, but you can't control everyone else on the plane. Then there's the obvious issue that, unforeseen problems happen - such as this very story. Finally, if something truly tragic and terrible happened, and that plane went down, how would you deal with the guilt of knowing your child was alone? (I know that's a rare event).

I've had flights cancelled, been stuck on runways in Scandinavia in the freezing cold, been re-routed, and more - all things a child isn't well placed to handle.

It's a risk/reward thing, I guess.
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Really VJB...a six year old able to handle a "situation"!? In this case it's very much about the child. He's too young to fly alone and be able to handle the things you mentioned. If the child had been snatched or the plane went down, you're right...those parents would be wracked with guilt for the rest of their lives.
 

OneEyedDiva said:
Really VJB...a six year old able to handle a "situation"!? In this case it's very much about the child. He's too young to fly alone and be able to handle the things you mentioned. If the child had been snatched or the plane went down, you're right...those parents would be wracked with guilt for the rest of their lives.
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Wow, you picked out 9 words from my post, and ignored all the rest that supported your stance. I was replying, directly, to @fuzzybuddy who DOES think it's okay for a 6 year old to fly alone. Hence, when I replied to him I accepted his position (which isn't the same as agreeing to it, it was just a point I didn't want to cover since I'd done it earlier in the thread) and then brought my further concerns forward.........
 
jujube said:
Heck, I walked over a mile to school at the age of 5. It was dark in the mornings and sometimes it snowed. Luckily, it wasn't uphill both directions but we did have to cross a major highway.
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I wonder for how many this was literally true? I walked a mile (a little more actually) to school back in ye olde days. We got something then that we rarely get now - thick, thick, fog. I'm talking you couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of you. Street lights did nothing. We don't get that any more.
 
VaughanJB said:
I wonder for how many this was literally true? I walked a mile (a little more actually) to school back in ye olde days. We got something then that we rarely get now - thick, thick, fog. I'm talking you couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of you. Street lights did nothing. We don't get that any more.
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We didn't get bussing until I was in the 3th grade. I rode the bus for one semester and then we moved closer to the school, just inside the bus limits, so it was shanks pony again.

Every morning and afternoon, the entry to our neighborhood is absolutely packed with cars of parents who drop off and pick up their kids at the bus stop. It's a small neighborhood. Nobody would have to walk more than three blocks and it's Florida for gosh sakes. Nobody is slogging through three feet of snow in the dark.
 
jujube said:
We didn't get bussing until I was in the 3th grade. I rode the bus for one semester and then we moved closer to the school, just inside the bus limits, so it was shanks pony again.

Every morning and afternoon, the entry to our neighborhood is absolutely packed with cars of parents who drop off and pick up their kids at the bus stop. It's a small neighborhood. Nobody would have to walk more than three blocks and it's Florida for gosh sakes. Nobody is slogging through three feet of snow in the dark.
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Oh man, I was in the UK - there was no concept of school buses.
 
I think that until the age of 12, no child should be allowed to fly unaccompanied. There are too many things that could go wrong, and even if that doesn't happen, the experience could be terrifying for such a young child.
 
VaughanJB said:
Wow, you picked out 9 words from my post, and ignored all the rest that supported your stance. I was replying, directly, to @fuzzybuddy who DOES think it's okay for a 6 year old to fly alone. Hence, when I replied to him I accepted his position (which isn't the same as agreeing to it, it was just a point I didn't want to cover since I'd done it earlier in the thread) and then brought my further concerns forward.........
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In all fairness, I did say you are right about part of what you posted. If I only took issue with that one sentence, that means I was okay with the rest of what you wrote. And it would have been helpful if you had tagged Fuzzbuddy so I'd know you were replying to him, not me. I know you know how to do that because you did it with your replies to me and someone else. You strike me as a cool, level headed person VJB, so I'm sorry if you thought I attacked you! 🤗
 
People put their children on school buses everyday in bad neighborhoods with numerous stops on it's route and those kids are probably safer than this child was. Many children are given public transportation tickets to get to school but they're probably older than 6.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
In all fairness, I did say you are right about part of what you posted. If I only took issue with that one sentence, that means I was okay with the rest of what you wrote. And it would have been helpful if you had tagged Fuzzbuddy so I'd know you were replying to him, not me. I know you know how to do that because you did it with your replies to me and someone else. You strike me as a cool, level headed person VJB, so I'm sorry if you thought I attacked you! 🤗
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No problem, our "spoken" words don't always translate well to the written word. Especially when the only way to ensure something is fully understood in the world of Social Media you have to include caveat after caveat to try and prevent people from jumping to every contrary conclusion. :D

Apologies for the misunderstanding. I'm still not for having 6 year olds on a plane on their own. :)
 
VaughanJB said:
No problem, our "spoken" words don't always translate well to the written word. Especially when the only way to ensure something is fully understood in the world of Social Media you have to include caveat after caveat to try and prevent people from jumping to every contrary conclusion. :D

Apologies for the misunderstanding. I'm still not for having 6 year olds on a plane on their own. :)
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No worries, as the young people say. And you're sure right about how written words can be misinterpreted on social media. See...I knew it..reasonable and cool. 🤗
 

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