Thursday, July 8, 2010

What All Guidelines Must Be Followed When Children Traveling Alone?

Children as young as five are permitted to travel unaccompanied by many airlines. It adds a little bit more to the risks of flying when children fly alone. Using common sense and taking a few basic precautions can overcome many of these risks. Lets go ahead and discuss some of the important guidelines, which are helpful to children traveling alone and also to those accountable for the child to deal with many of the issues that may be encountered.

>> It is recommended that children with less maturity must fly on non-stop flights, as they may not be prepared to be in the company of strangers for several hours and may not be able to handle atypical situations that they may bump into. However, on the contrary, if the child is matured enough to travel without help on public transportation and can spend time away from family in an well thought-out setting then the child is matured enough to take a trip on their own on a journey that includes a change of planes.

>> Make sure that you synchronize well with whoever comes to pick up the child. The first thing is his/her identification. The person going to pick up the child must carry the identification that accurately matches the information supplied to the airline by you. Besides, that person must know all the significant particulars of the child’s journey and is proficient to contact either you or the airline to verify the arrival time of the flight. The pick up person must arrive early at the airport and should inform you about their arrival. So that if in case their arrival is not confirmed to you, you can have an alternate person pick up the child. Moreover, please provide the child with a copy of all the contact information that you have supplied to the airline. Also, provide the child with a phone if he is able to use that so that he could use it if required like incase of flight cancellation, delay or any other problem.

>> Sometimes the child is an infrequent or first time flier. You must inform the child about what kind of services would there be in the flight and what all experiences can he expect. Make certain to let your child know about basic things like where to sit in the plane, how long the duration of flight is going to be and who is going to pick them up. Furthermore, you can also provide the child with a picture of the person going to pick them up.

>> Likewise, talk about apposite behavior with your child, which include the child’s behavior and behavior by other passengers. Make sure that your child is aware about informing a flight attendant or other airline representative in case another passenger is behaving wrongly. Now what comes under the inappropriate behaviors? It can be any thing like if the other passenger is being rude, insulting, or passing intimidating remarks, or is wrongly touching, conversing improperly, taking food or other stuff away from the child or other behaviors that make the child apprehensive or uncomfortable. Besides, inapt behavior would also include inapt behavior would include any endeavor to draw out personal information about the child. Hence, don’t forget to make the child understand that no passenger they meet needs to be acquainted with things such as their full name, their telephone number, their home address, or where they are going.

>> Make sure the child gets a convenient seat while you are getting the reservation done or while checking in your child. Request that your child should sit in a different row of the passengers who are consuming alcohol.

>> Do not forget to review the airline's policies as every airline has slightly different policies about accommodating alone children. Make a note of of their policies for escorting children at link airports and accommodations in the incident that the flight is diverted or delayed.

>> In case, the child has to change the planes, let them be aware of the fact that whoever is responsible for them must escort them while traveling between the gates or waiting for their next fight.

>> Sometimes, there are last minutes changes before the flight’s scheduled departure, hence plan coming to the airport before time and hanging about for a while after departure in order to get better chance for dealing with the respective situation.

>> Let yourself and you child identify the lead flight attendant for them to know that the child will be flying unaccompanied. Whereas, on larger flight make sure to recognize at least one flight attendant who will be in the closer area of the child.

>> Last but not the least accompanies the child to the seat to check the area around the seat for hazards like heavy substance kept in the overhead storage bins. Get in touch with the lead flight attendant as soon as possible if you find anything, which is against your approval.

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