Is this ridiculous?

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cbjr

No, not ridiculous at all. They are responsible for you and must make special arrangements. If there is no adult willing or able to travel with you, they should not have to be responsible for the cost of an employee taking their time (for which they are paid) to ensure you make it to your destination securely.

helloosunshine

Yeah. I don't think a ton of maturing goes on between the years of 14 and 15....but I guess obviously they need to draw the line age-wise SOMEWHERE. You sound like you can handle it, but there are definitely 14 year olds out there who can't. So I'm sorry about that. :/ I do think the price is ridiculous though!

Jon

Go see the other thread going on right now about some guy wanting to sue an airline because they didn't babysit his kid enough - your fee is that high because it's going to go towards that guy's legal settlement.

Okay, seriously - it pays for
* the flight attendant checking up on you during both flights.
* the flight attendant babysitting you in the terminal.
* Either:
** the salary for the time the reservations agent spent collecting the info about you being an unaccompanied minor. Or
** for part of the salary of the website designer who made it so you can do unaccompanied minor bookings online, if AA allows that. (I was the website designer who worked on that feature on a different airline's website.) For instance, if the website designer got $20,000 to make the website do that, and they project that 2,000 minors will fly unaccompanied, then it cost $10 per U.M. and that cost will have to be recouped.

The flight attendant time could be what, 8 hours tops? So you're paying about $12/hour for that service. Hmm...yeah, I'd say it's a little much, since while you're in-flight the flight attendant will also be doing other things. $50 each way would probably be fair, IMO.

jackson

Not so long ago the airlines did not charge or charged much less. When I was your age I could fly everywhere alone and I knew my way around an airport.

Maybe not you but generally across the board kids think they are geniuses and more adult than they really are.... nowadays.

The airline is merely covering potential liability.

straight shooter

I agree. There are many 14 year olds who are more intelligent then some adults I know. My three daughters were more then capable of navigating airports and finding their connecting flights at even a younger age. A simple quick training session would be adequate.

When making reservations be careful about flying definitions. A flight schedule which has no stops is called "non-stop". A direct flight is a flight schedule with the same flight number but may have a stop or 2. Connecting flights have at least 1 stop but the flights change number.

tonalc2

You are paying for her time, and giving yourself safety. It's worth it.

kev_ok

The age restriction is for liability reasons. As for the fee, flight attendants don't work a regular 9-5 schedule and they only get paid for the time that they are on duty. The fee that you are paying is to cover the wages which the airline will have to pay the flight attendant to assist you and wait with you (however, you can be sure that the airline is adding a little extra on top).

legs

yeah, that's bogus! all you need is to look at your next flight's ticket to see what gate it's at. or look at those tv's. you can handle it, but i guess some people can't. time is money, though. whatever.

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