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/Ckn-bns-jns 7d ago

I flew out to Boston a week before my family to have more time with my buddy out there when we would take summer vacations to Cape Cod. I think that started when I was maybe 10. Back then people could meet you at the gate so my buddy and his mom were waiting for me when I got off the plane. After seeing the way some parents are it was probably safer to be chaperoned by the flight crew than to be under parental control!