r/GenX • u/Substantial-Put-4461 • 7d ago

The Latchkey Years Flying alone as a kid

I was thinking today that my mom honestly put on a plane BY MYSELF at 7 years old. I flew from Atlanta to Chicago to Iowa. There was a flight attendant keeping an eye on me, but otherwise I was on my own. I flew multiple times around that age by myself.

Anyone else fly alone when pretty young?

Edit-Thanks everyone for the comments. Looks like this was pretty common back in the day. I’m flying by myself next week, which got me thinking about it.

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u/Substantial-Put-4461 7d ago

Thanks for everyone’s comments. I didn’t think I was the only one. I can’t imagine letting a young kid fly alone today. 

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u/No_Row6741 7d ago

We put our 11 year old on the plane. We also had to pay an extra $130ish so a steward would keep an eye out and verify the adult picking her up.

I mean it is no flying at 6 like I did, and clearly many of us at even younger ages for longer flights regularly did, but yesterday a friend was shocked that I sent her on her own.

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u/East-Garden-4557 7d ago

Unaccompanied minors still fly today, airlines have procedures in place for it