The Ins and Outs of Unaccompanied Minor Travel

Kids Flying Alone? Everything Parents Need to Know About Unaccompanied Minor Travel

Can kids fly alone — and how does it actually work? This episode covers everything parents need to know about domestic unaccompanied minor travel, from airline policies and fees to what really happens at the airport. Melissa shares firsthand experience from multiple solo flights her own kids have taken, breaks down the rules for every major US carrier, and explains how to use points to book UNMR tickets. Jacob and Shoshana also join to share advice directly for kids about to take their first solo flight.

In this episode:

• What unaccompanied minor (UNMR) service is and which ages it applies to
• Age-based nonstop vs. connecting rules — and why United is the strict outlier
• Fee structures and policies for American, Delta, United, Southwest, and Alaska
• How to book UNMR flights with points — and when partner bookings get complicated
• Credit cards that can offset the $150 UNMR fee (Amex Platinum, Hilton Aspire, Citi Strata Elite, and more)
• The airport process step by step: two-hour arrival, gate passes, regular security (no PreCheck/CLEAR), waiting until the plane is airborne
• What to have ready before you get to the check-in counter
• What to tell your child if the pickup adult isn't there when they land
• Baggage strategy: backpacks only, ship the big bags for camp trips
• Keeping in touch: Apple Watch, Apple Cash, Airalo eSIM, FlightAware
• Jacob and Shoshana's advice for kids taking their first solo flight

Timestamps:

• 01:30 — What UNMR service is
• 03:45 — Airline policies and fees
• 09:00 — Accompanying adult age rules
• 09:45 — Booking with points
• 12:30 — Credit cards that offset the fee
• 13:30 — The airport process
• 21:00 — Preparing your child
• 25:15 — Jacob and Shoshana's advice

Don't miss this inspiring, practical travel with kids podcast hosted by family travel expert Melissa Conn, founder of The Family Voyage, certified Child Passenger Safety Technician, and mom of two who proves family travel is achievable for everyone.

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Transcript

0:02

Hey there, and welcome back to Family Travel Unpacked. I'm your host, Melissa, and in case you're new here, you can find tons of detailed destination guides, travel tips, hacks, and more on my website, thefamilyvoyage.com. And if you've been enjoying the show, be sure to hit follow wherever you're listening so you never miss an episode, and drop a five-star review while you're at it 'cause it really helps other families find the show. Today's episode timing couldn't be more perfect because as this episode goes live, my son Jacob is literally on a plane to Boston by himself. He's done it before, but there's something about watching your kid walk onto the jetway without you that never quite gets old. And Jacob isn't the only one in our family with solo flight experience. My daughter Shoshana has also flown alone a couple of times now, and she'll do it again next week. So today I'm pulling from all of that experience to walk you through how unaccompanied minor travel works, what the airlines require, what it actually costs, how to use points to book the ticket, what you'll need to know at the airport, and how to prepare your kid and yourself for the experience. Let me tell you, a lot has changed since the first time I flew without an adult. Back in the '90s. One note before we get into it, I'm gonna focus entirely on domestic travel today. International unaccompanied minor travel is a whole other level of complexity. The requirements vary a ton by airline, and plenty don't allow it at all. Plus there are additional documentation and immigration considerations that deserve their own episode from somebody who knows more about it than I do. So today is all about domestic unaccompanied minor travel. Let's start with the basics. An unaccompanied minor, sometimes abbreviated by the airlines as UNMR or UM, is a child traveling alone without a parent or responsible adult on the same flight. Most airlines have specific programs designed to supervise these kids from the moment they're checked in to the moment they're picked up at their destination. The age ranges that qualify, or in some cases require this service, can vary a little bit by airline, but generally speaking, ages five through 14 are the ones who are most affected. Under five, no airline will accept a child flying alone. At 15, most major carriers consider teens old enough to travel independently, although some still offer the service as an option for 15 to 17-year-olds in case they need some extra support or are inexperienced travelers Now here's where it gets a little more nuanced and sometimes confusing. I can't stress enough that you have to look at the specific rules for the airline that your kiddo is going to fly. Even within the 5 to 14 range, younger kids, let's say 5 to 7 typically, are usually restricted to nonstop flights only. And that makes a lot of sense when you think about it. You don't want a six-year-old stuck at a massive airport like O'Hare if something goes on a connection, even with a chaperone from the airline. That could be really scary for them and unnerving for you. Kids eight and up can fly with a connection on some airlines, although still within that airline's own network. You won't be jumping to a partner airline in the middle of a trip. And those connections can only be through a hub city because a lot of the airlines have dedicated supervised lounges just for their unaccompanied minors. I'll get into the details of specific airlines in a second, but I wanna point out that United is the strictest outlier here. They require nonstop flights for all unaccompanied minors, regardless of age. Southwest also doesn't allow plane changes, but you'll hear in just a few minutes why I don't consider them overly strict. Unaccompanied minor service sometimes includes early boarding so the kid can meet the flight crew, a lanyard or a wristband with their contact information and flight details, supervision throughout the journey, and escort at any connecting airports, and someone walking them off the plane to an authorized adult at the other end. There's definitely some variation depending on the airline or even the crew. Like, one time my daughter was deplaned right at the beginning, but another time she was the absolute last person off the plane. Now let me walk you through the policies for the major domestic carriers because they're not all the same and some of the differences can basically force your hand when it comes to which airline your kid flies. We've used American Airlines the most in our family for unaccompanied minor service, so I'll start there. American requires the unaccompanied minor service for children ages five through 14 flying alone, and it's optional for teens 15 to 17. Unfortunately, my son is just shy of 15, so we had to pay for the service today even though he totally doesn't need it. And the fee isn't just pocket change. It's a hundred and fifty dollars each way plus tax, so around a hundred and sixty-five for each direction. One family-friendly thing about American's pricing is that the fee covers the whole family on the same flight. If two or three siblings are flying together, it's still just one fee. That's a real break if you have multiple kids making the same trip. Of course, I'm not that lucky because my daughter is flying on a different unaccompanied minor flight next week to a different location. In terms of routing, kids five to seven can only fly non-stops with American. Kids eight and up can connect, but only through designated American hub airports, places like Dallas, Charlotte, O'Hare, Miami, LAX, JFK, Philly, Phoenix, and a couple of others. There are no partner airline legs allowed and no codeshare flights. One thing to know about American is that you can't book an unaccompanied minor flight without working with a human being. You have to call or use the online chat function. I've done it both ways, and they both work just fine. I'd say that doing it over the phone is a little less annoying, but if you're a visual person or you don't have time to stay on the phone, then the chat can work. They'll just send you secure forms to fill out for all the flight details, your kid's information, and the credit card number. Delta's policy basically parallels American. Service is required for ages five to 14 and optional for 15 to 17, and the fee is also $150 each way. Delta covers up to four kids on that single fee, which is pretty generous. It also has the same age-based routing rules, nonstop only for the youngest kids, and connections are allowed for eight and up within the Delta network, as long as you're going through hub cities. Delta has a dedicated kids lounge called Sky Zone at select hub airports for connecting unaccompanied minors. It's a supervised space with activities, so your child isn't just sitting alone at a gate staring at the departure board. United also charges $150 each way, and the service is mandatory for ages 5 to 14 and optional for 15 to 17, just like the others. But here's the important distinction with United. As I mentioned before, they require non-stops for all accompanied minors regardless of their age. No connections, period, even if you've got a mature 14-year-old whose passport is full of stamps. So if there's no nonstop option from your city to the destination, United is just not the right airline for that trip. Unfortunately, that's a constraint that our family has bumped up against before. Now Southwest is a lot more affordable, especially if you've only got one or two kids. They charge $50 per child per direction, and they're also the most flexible. Check this out. The service is only required for kids ages five to 11 who are traveling alone. For responsible well-traveled kids ages 12 and up, you could use their young travelers option at no charge. That basically means you book a regular ticket, but if something happens and their travel's disrupted, southwest will step in to help them. You still have the option to get a gate pass on either end to bring your teen to the gate or pick them up when they land. For kids like my son, I think that's a great option. He's incredibly independent and knows how to navigate airports really well. He also keeps his cool in stressful situations. If he was gonna do this and not have a gate escort, I'd be sure to send him with his Global Entry card for legal ID, and I'd make sure his Global Entry or TSA PreCheck number was showing up on the reservation. Southwest only allows unaccompanied minor travel on nonstop or what they call direct flights, where the same plane continues on with the same flight number. No true connections that require changing aircraft. But given that they'll let kids fly as young travelers starting at 12, I can live with them not allowing connections for those younger kids. Alaska's another solid option for unaccompanied minors once they hit those tween and teen years. Their program is called Junior JetSetters. The fee is just $50 each way for nonstop and direct flights and $75 each way for connecting itineraries. I think that's super reasonable. The service is mandatory for kids ages five through 12, and thankfully it's optional for teens 13 to 17, a much more generous cutoff than the other legacy carriers. And here's something really unique. If your child has elite status in Alaska's Atmos Rewards program, the fees are waived entirely, which is kinda cool since Alaska has rewards you can earn like try silver for a trip or even gift silver for a trip. So if you're an Alaska frequent flyer, you could use one of your 55K milestones to gift your kid silver status for their trip and save that whole fee, Plus make them eligible for upgrades. Pretty cool I won't go deep on Frontier, Breeze, or Avelo. Is that how it's pronounced? Because they don't have unaccompanied minor service at all. Breeze lets kids fly on their own for nonstop starting at 13, but not until 18 on anything with a stop. That's pretty intense to me. Frontier and Avelo let teens fly on their own starting at 15, and they don't say anything about restrictions. So in theory, my son can fly down to Punta Cana for his birthday this year without an adult, which is wild. Now, obviously, since kids his age can't check into hotels, this is more about kids flying to visit family and friends, but still pretty crazy to think about, right? One other thing to keep in mind if you're sending multiple kids at the same time is that the airlines have different rules on how old the accompanying, quote-unquote, adult has to be. Remember how I said that Southwest allows 12-year-olds to travel without a chaperone? Well, that same age cutoff applies to them being the chaperone. In theory, my 12-year-old daughter could chaperone her three younger cousins all the way to Hawaii with two layovers and no adult along for the ride. I think that makes the Punta Cana example look pretty tame. Now, on the flip side, a lot of airlines don't count a passenger as an adult for an unaccompanied minor until they're actually 18, which seems like overkill in the other direction. That means when my son turns 17, I'd still have to pay the unaccompanied minor fee for my daughter if they flew United because she'll be 14 at the time. Now let's move on to how you actually book these unaccompanied minor tickets. If you're paying cash, it's pretty straightforward. Sometimes you'll need to book with a human over the phone or via chat, and sometimes you can actually do the booking directly online and just put in all the information. But a lot of people are probably wondering, can you book these unaccompanied minor tickets with points? And the answer is yes, but with some important caveats that I want to explain carefully because this has tripped me up a bit. You can absolutely book an unaccompanied minor flight using points or miles. The ticket itself can be an award redemption, but that additional fee has to be paid in cash either at booking or check-in. And here's where it gets kind of complicated. Most airlines that operate mandatory unaccompanied minor programs need to formally attach the service to the reservation at the time of booking. Obviously, they have to make sure they have staff available to guide your child when they need to. Partner booking channels like, let's say, using Aeroplan miles to book a United flight or using British Airways Avios to book an American flight, a lot of times they can't do that logistically, especially if the service is mandatory for your child's age. And if the systems can't talk to each other to correctly register the unaccompanied minor service, the booking might not go through at all, or you could run into problems at check-in. In practice, if you're sending a young kid and the service is required, you're almost certainly gonna have to book directly with the operating airline using that airline's own points program. Now, the exception comes when the unaccompanied minor service is optional for your child's age on the booking airline. This is mostly gonna apply to those older tweens and teens. If the service is optional rather than required, some partners have more flexibility completing the booking because there's nothing mandatory that needs to be attached on their end. You can try booking through the partner in that case, but you'll still owe the fee at check-in to the operating airline. I have a really current example of this playing out right now for my family. Both of my kids are flying to camp this summer on American. Shoshana's 12, so I had to book her ticket directly through American, and thankfully I got a pretty good deal with points. Jacob is 14, so American also requires the service at his age, but on Alaska it would be optional for his age. so I was actually able to book his ticket on Alaska for just forty-five hundred Atmos points. That's a phenomenal deal since the cash price for the exact flight he needed never dropped below four hundred dollars, and American would have charged us ten thousand of their miles. The catch is that when I went to check in online yesterday, I couldn't do it. I still had to check in at the airport and pay the unaccompanied minor fee. And it was American's standard $150 plus taxes rather than Alaska's $50 because American is the operating carrier and their rules apply. It was still totally worth it for the points savings, but I'll admit that I was sort of crossing my fingers that I could get away without paying the fee at all. The practical takeaway is always confirm with the airline whether unaccompanied minor service can be properly attached for your kid's age. Don't assume it'll work and don't wait until you're at the airport to find out that it didn't. But if your kid is in that borderline age range, it's worth trying to book through a partner if it's gonna save you a lot of points Now, speaking of that unaccompanied minor fee, at $150 each way on the major legacy carriers, it really adds up: $300 round trip for a single kid. So it's worth knowing which credit cards can help you offset that fee. This summer, we covered one of the kids' fees using the Splurge credit on Ronnie's Citi Strata Elite card., we had selected American Airlines as one of our options, and we were immediately credited back the fee. There are a few other cards that offer broader airline incidental fee credits that could apply in this case: the Amex Platinum and Business Platinum cards, the Hilton Aspire, the Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite, and the Ritz Carlton card from Chase. If you hold any of those, check if the unaccompanied minor fee qualifies as an airline incidental. The definitions vary by card, But unaccompanied minor fees should almost always qualify. Just make sure if you need to enroll in that benefit in advance that you take care of that before you pay the fee. Now here's the blow-by-blow of what actually happens when you go to the airport with an unaccompanied minor. First up, you wanna arrive two hours early or close to it. This is the official recommendation across nearly every major airline, and there's a reason for it. Unaccompanied minor check-in can't be done online or at a kiosk. You have to go to the ticket counter, wait in line, and speak with a human agent to fill out the unaccompanied minor form, which collects contact information for both the drop-off adult and the pickup adult. You might even have to show proof of your child's age, like a birth certificate or passport, and present your own government-issued photo ID. That process takes time, so be sure to factor it in. Once your child is checked in, the airline issues you a paper gate pass, which allows you to go through security and walk the child to the departure gate even though you aren't flying. This part is actually great, but here's the thing that surprises a lot of people. That gate pass only works in the regular security line. No pre-check, no clear, even if you and your kid both have them. To be completely honest, I do not understand why this is the case, but that's the way it goes. And this bugs me. When my sister-in-law dropped Shoshana off at O'Hare, she had to go through the regular security line at one of the busiest airports in the country. It's not a quick process. And when I picked her up at LAX, it was the same thing on my end. Wait in a long line to get the gate pass, and then go through the super slow regular security line to meet her at the gate. At a major airport, if it's a busy travel day or a holiday weekend, that could be 30 or maybe 45 minutes just to go through security. Columbus, it's no problem. Usually you're looking at 10, 15 minutes max. But New York, Chicago, LA, give yourself plenty of extra time and don't cut it close The next thing to know is that the drop-off adult is required to remain at the gate until the flight is actually in the air. Not until boarding's complete, not until the door closes, not until they've taxied, but until the plane leaves the ground.

Melissa 15:27

So if there's a delay, you're staying through that entire time. Because Columbus is a really quick airport to get through, that usually means that we're waiting at the gate for around an hour and a half. Fortunately, we haven't dealt with any serious delays, but you gotta be ready for it. And if you have somewhere to be after, make sure you build in a big buffer. I say bring a book or download some more episodes of the podcast to listen to while you wait. Pickup at the other end works the same way. The adult picking up your child needs to go to the ticket counter at the arrival airport well before the flight lands, show their government-issued ID, and get a gate pass to go through the regular security line to meet the child at the gate. The airline won't release the child to anyone except the pre-authorized adult listed on the unaccompanied minor form, and they check ID every single time. If you won't be the pickup adult, like let's say if it's a family member or a trusted friend handling it, give them the rundown on this process in advance. Don't assume that they know how it works because most of us don't know until we've done it once or twice. Now, one thing that trips up first-timers at check-in is that the unaccompanied minor form asks for contact details for both the drop-off and pickup adults. Full names, phone numbers, physical addresses, and the relationship to the child. Have all of that ready before you get to the counter. Scrambling to look up a phone number or somebody's actual address while the agent is waiting just adds stress that you don't need when you're already managing a kid and a bag and airport timetables. It's also a good idea to bring some official documentation for your kid if they look like they might be on the age cutoff for unaccompanied minor on either end. A passport, birth certificate, or Global Entry card should do the trick. That also comes in handy at security, especially if they're going through with someone who isn't their parent. Finally, tell your child what to do if something goes wrong. Coach your kid on this before the trip. If the pickup adult isn't at the gate when they land, stay with the airline employee. Don't go anywhere with anyone else and don't leave the gate area. The airline will supervise them until the authorized adult arrives and they'll call you if there's a delay. Your child just needs to know stay put, stay with the airline person and don't worry, it'll all get sorted out. That's a five-minute conversation, but it's definitely worth having. And obviously, if your kid is old enough and responsible enough, I suggest sending them with a device so they can get in touch with you, even if it's just an old cell phone that they know how to connect to the airport Wi-Fi so they can FaceTime. Now, something we figured out pretty early is that when the kids are flying solo, we skip the suitcase. Our kids fly with just a backpack as their personal item. For camp trips specifically, we ship their huge duffels ahead of time through a luggage shipping service. That way there's no suitcase to hoist into the overhead bin, and nobody has to worry about a checked bag at the destination on top of all of the other unaccompanied minor stuff. Honestly, it's just one less thing to manage when you're navigating the whole process. If your child's flying to visit family or for a trip where they need more than a backpack, obviously you gotta do what you gotta do, but just try to keep it manageable. And that goes double will be flying on their own without the official unaccompanied minor service because the last thing you want is for them to get distracted and leave their suitcase somewhere in the airport. Once your child boards, the experience is gonna vary a little by airline And honestly, by age. Younger kids tend to get more active attention from flight attendants. My kids are a tween and a teen, and at this point they're pretty much on their own once they're seated. The crew checks in, but they're not hovering, and that's completely fine when your child's a confident traveler. If yours is newer to flying or on the younger end, the flight attendants will probably be more attentive. For kids with connections, an airline rep will escort them from their arriving gate to their departing gate. And like I mentioned before, some airlines have dedicated kids' lounges at hub airports where the connecting unaccompanied minors all wait together, supervised with activities and even an escort to go buy food with their own money. That's reassuring if there's a long layover involved. All the important details travel with your child: their paper boarding pass, contact info for both adults, flight details, and a lot of times they're in a lanyard or a badge holder that stays physically attached to your child from check-in to pickup. My son calls it the necklace of shame, but it does the trick. Now, communication is something I get asked about a lot. How do you actually stay in the loop once your kid is in the air? My kids both wear Apple Watches, and so that's our primary tool. They can call or message before takeoff, when they land, and when they're at the gate waiting. They also have Apple Cash loaded on their watches, so they can grab a snack in the terminal if they need to. No credit card required and no cash to keep track of. I can also track their locations on my phone The kids will sometimes also travel with an older iPhone that they know how to connect to the airport Wi-Fi. And if you want them to have actual cellular data that's not dependent on Wi-Fi, you can activate an Airalo eSIM on an old phone that you have laying around. It gives them a data connection without needing a full phone plan. We've set this up for Jacob when he's traveling separately from us Be sure you track the flight through the airline's app or through FlightAware. That way you know about delays before anyone has to call you, and the pickup adult can time their airport arrival accordingly. One more thing worth knowing, if there's a significant disruption, let's say a diversion, a long delay, or even a missed connection, most airlines will have a dedicated unaccompanied minor phone line that you can call to get info about your child's status. It's usually separate from the general customer service line, and it's specifically for parents in your situation. Look up that number before the travel day and save it to your phone. You'll probably never need it, but if you do, you'll be glad to have it at your fingertips. How much prep your kid needs comes down to two things, age and flying experience. My kids have been in airports and on planes since they were babies. I haven't kept track, but by this point I guess they've been on hundreds of flights. They were at nearly two dozen just in the first half of this year. Navigating airports is something I've had them practice on our family trips from the time they were small. Finding the gate, reading the departure board, figuring out which terminal we need and how to get there. Low stakes practice pays off big time when they'll eventually do it solo. Even if they'll have an adult escorting them around, I think it still makes the whole thing feel less scary if they've got some practice. For Shoshana's first solo flight, which was just a quick hop home from Chicago to Columbus after visiting cousins, she barely flinched. I think watching Jacob do his trip to camp the week before made a huge difference for her. She came with me to drop him off at the airport and saw the whole check-in and gate process from the other side. And by the time we left that day, she'd basically talked herself into being ready. Here's what to pack: plenty of snacks. Put them somewhere easy to reach without digging through the whole bag. My kids are older, so they're not getting a constant stream of snacks from the flight attendants But for a long flight, having a favorite snack can definitely make the time pass by. And if your kiddo has any dietary restrictions, like my daughter who has celiac, it's extra important since you never quite know what's gonna be offered. Obviously, since this is 2026, your kids should bring fully charged devices with their favorite content already downloaded, and a properly adjusted and connected pair of headphones. If you hand them some new Bluetooth headphones, they might not know how to connect them to an old iPhone. On a long flight, you might even consider a portable battery pack, but make sure that they know the new rules about keeping them visible at all times. I recommend setting up Apple Cash or something similar if your kid has a device that allows it. If not, as a backstop, you could send a small amount of cash, but honestly, a lot of airport vendors are increasingly going cashless, so that would make me kinda nervous. Finally, you may wanna send your kid with a physical copy of key contact info, especially if they don't have a phone or watch with them, and include both the drop-off and pick-up adult's phone numbers. Put it somewhere in the bag in addition to whatever's on the lanyard just in case. Before the day of travel, go over the specifics of your kid's flight. Talk your kid through each step, just like we've done here: the check-in, the security process, finding the gate, boarding, and what happens when they land. Make sure they know to go to a uniformed airline employee if they need help, not some random person in the airport. The more the process feels familiar before they get there, the smoother the actual day goes. Now, if your kid is a newer flyer and you're thinking about sending them solo in the future, a lot of airports will offer a visitor or escort pass that allows a non-ticketed guest to go through security and spend time in the terminal. It's not just for unaccompanied minor purposes, but more like a preview. It's worth calling your home airport and asking. For some kids, walking around the airport before their actual solo trip makes a real difference in how confident they'll feel day of. You can also look into social stories, especially for younger kids. These are simply written and illustrated walkthroughs of what a flight experience looks like from start to finish. There are also kid-friendly videos and resources about airports and flying that can help demystify the experience for younger or maybe more anxious travelers. Now I wanna share a few real moments from our experience. Jacob's first solo flight was to Boston last summer for camp, a nonstop to Logan, simple and direct. He's been in airports his whole life and is as independent as they come. He handled it without blinking, and as this episode airs, he's doing it again for his second summer at camp. Hopefully, he'll be safely on the ground by the time you listen to this. Shoshana's first solo flight was that quick trip I mentioned from Chicago to Columbus. Then a few months later, she flew solo from Columbus all the way to LA on Spirit. That was a much longer trip for an eleven-year-old, but she had a commitment that kept her home for an extra day while the rest of us were already in LA. Spirit, which is obviously not an option anymore, put her in the big front row seats and handed her a huge bag of M&M's. She thought the whole thing was very glamorous. When I picked her up at the airport, she was completely unfazed and very pleased with herself, which is totally on brand for her. Now, for that LA trip specifically, since I was already in California, I hired our neighbor, a college student and the kids' former babysitter, to take her to the airport, handle the check-in, and stay at the gate until the flight departed. That arrangement worked out perfectly, and the airline didn't give the babysitter a hard time or anything like that. If you're ever in a position where you can't personally do the airport drop-off, it's totally fine to choose a trusted adult who you can brief thoroughly about what the process looks like. Just make sure they understand that they'll have to wait around until the flight takes off. Now I want to turn it over to Jacob and Shoshana and see what advice they wanna share with your kids who are about to embark on their first unaccompanied minor flight. Guys, welcome back to the show. I know that I've had both of you on before, but never together, so hopefully this'll go smoothly. We're talking all about unaccompanied minor flights today, and Jacob, we're recording this in advance because you actually will have just landed in Boston by the time this episode airs. And Shoshana, you've got another unaccompanied minor flight coming up next week. But you've both done a few of them before, so I wanted to get some of your input to share with maybe other kids who are about to take their first solo flight. So first up, Shoshana, what did you do to keep yourself entertained, especially on that longer flight that you had all the way to LA by yourself? Um, I, like, watched TV, and I also ate snacks because on the flight to LA I think it was, uh, I got pampered a lot on Spirit Airlines. I got free M&Ms, and I got to sit in an, like a really big seat in the front of the plane. So it was really fun. Sounds like it was a good And Jacob, for you, anything different in terms of keeping yourself entertained on the flight? I mainly just read and looked out the window. I didn't need much entertainment. It was only a one-hour flight. I'd suggest if it's a longer flight, bring more entertainment than that Good tips. Now, Jacob, was there any moment when you felt a little bit uncertain or nervous, and how'd you handle that? I didn't really have that feeling, honestly. I was taken care of pretty much the entire way. It was smooth, easy. And Shoshana, how about you? Well, I always get kinda nervous if I'm gonna have to sit next to a creep. Right. The seating is- And- definitely questionable sometimes. Yeah. They should have, like, head shots of who's gonna sit next to you, and you can, like, pick your seat based on that. Have you been placed in either the front or the back when you've flown unaccompanied? And who have you usually sat next to? I've sat in the front next to sweet old ladies. That sounds perfect. In, like, their 50s. I got to sit alone, which was amazing for me. And pretty much the people working there just kinda gave me my space. That was great. 10 out of 10. That sounds good. And Jacob, was there anything that you wish someone had told you before your first solo flight? just don't expect much. Honestly, it's not that big of a deal. And Shosh, for you? Eat candy So I guess that leads us into the final question I have- Snacks for you guys. Yeah, any advice on packing and snacks? Bring Cheddar Ruffles and Hershey Kisses and gummy worms. Okay, Jacob, uh, any tips on what to pack, snacks to bring or anything else? Honestly, just stuff to entertain you. It just depends mainly on the length of the flight. For like a short one-hour flight like the one I did, don't pack that much. You don't need it. But if it's a longer one, like say from Ohio to Los Angeles, maybe pack a snack, something that can keep you entertained for a while. So do you anticipate bringing snacks for your 6:00 AM flight to Boston? No. Good call. Great. Well, kids, thanks for being here with us and sharing your insights. That about wraps it up. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Family Travel Unpacked. If you found this helpful, share with another parent who's navigating this whole situation for the first time. Unaccompanied minor season is basically synonymous with summer camp and family visits, and a lot of families are thinking about this right now. If you have any questions I didn't cover, feel free to message me on socials at The Family Voyage. To get more content like this, make sure to hit follow wherever you're listening. And drop a five-star review- it's a huge help to get my show up at the top of the apps so other families can find it. I'll be back next week talking all about our amazing trip to London. You definitely don't wanna miss that one. Until then, safe travels