[stresswife]

so, it's about to be time to buy the kids plane tickets once we get our income tax refund..

DH buys a ticket to denver, where he gets the kids, three tickets from denver to dallas then for return its three tickets from Dallas to Denver then one ticket for him back to dallas..

that just seems like a lot of extra money and tickets when the kids could just fly out here and us buy round trip tickets for them for the return...

he can't buy any roundtrip tickets for himself because you can't combine a roundtrip with two one ways

the kids are going to be 8 and 6 is that old enough to fly alone?(obviously with a attendant)
I remember flying when I was 9 to Ohio alone..
Is it cheaper?

last year DH had to spend the night in Denver because there was no flights back to dallas until the next day and BM had to have the latest time for her to pick them up because apparently she can't get up early..

[mom2more]

Have you talked to bm about the kids flying alone? My sd flew alone last summer and we were able to walk her to the gate and wait with her until she boarded the plane. Her grandparents were waiting for her at the gate when she got off the plane by them. She is a teenager though.

[stresswife]

I'm sure BM would say no, she treats them like they're babies in a lot of ways and in ways she needs to remember they're children she forgets.
just added it up, and it's going to be about 1300-1500 dollars freakin stupid.
not that the kids aren't worth it, but I HATE seeing that much money just gone on just getting them here.. we could use that money to take a nice family vaca..

[mom2more]

Ya thats a lot of money

[Stepmom2Be]

I would say that since they are TOGETHER, it would be better for them if they flew alone. They have attendants that stay with them the entire time. And they would be together so they wouldn't be scared and alone.

[plan4fate]

I grabbed this from American Airlines.. BUT.. it's the same for Air Canada too.. I was just looking at this the other day since my 9 year old cousin wants to come visit me, and I'm not going to fly up to get her.

Reservations For Unaccompanied Minors
Children under 5 years of age may not travel alone under any circumstances. Another passenger at least 16 years of age must accompany them. AA reserves the right to request documented proof of age for the adolescent accompanying a child under the age of 12.
Children 5 through 7 years of age must travel with another passenger at least 16 years of age or they will be considered Unaccompanied Minors.
Unaccompanied Minors in this age range may only travel on flights not requiring a change of aircraft. They also cannot travel alone on certain American Connection® flights operated with aircraft not requiring a flight attendant.
Children 8 through 11 years of age must travel with another passenger at least 16 years of age or they will be considered Unaccompanied Minors.
American Airlines, American Eagle, and AmericanConnection do not accept unaccompanied children when their itinerary includes a connection to/from another airline, including codeshare and oneworld partners.
Unaccompanied Minors in this age range will not be accepted for co-terminal connecting itineraries (such as changing from New York LaGuardia to New York Kennedy) because an unaccompanied child under 12 years may not use ground transportation unescorted.
Please note that no reservation will be accepted for an unaccompanied minor traveling on an itinerary that includes the last on-line connection to any American Airlines, American Eagle or AmericanConnection destination.
Passengers 12 through 17 years of age are considered Young Adults. Use of the Unaccompanied Minor service is not required for young adults 12 through 17 but is available upon request (subject to the same charges and provisions).
Children who will be traveling alone will be required to use the Unaccompanied Minor service subject to a $100 charge each way. The charge will be assessed for each individual unaccompanied minor. Two or more unaccompanied children from the same family (immediate or extended), traveling on the same flights, will be assessed a single charge.

What I gather is it costs an extra $200 in each direction for the fee and they have to have a non stop flight.

Does that save you anything?

[Ember Rose]

Try flying them Southwest. The minor fee isn't super huge with them if I remember correctly. And since there's two of them I think their ages are okay.

[Keakie]

No clue, but this is the kind of thing we need to learn more about too. It's not an option for dh not to fly with my dsc right now, with the youngest being barely 4 and the oldest kids being too old for a travel companion (we're not comfortable having the older kids be responsible for the littles at this time) but it's good information to have for the long term.

[stresswife]

with the flight attendant it would save about 300$ but DH brought it up with BM last night and she FLIPPED OUT.
*sigh* ughhhhh

[CJRPete]

To be fair I'm not sure I would be crazy about my 6 year old flying by himself even if he was with his 8 year old sibling. But I am sure if she stayed reasonable something could be worked out too.

[SSGMama]

We refused to entertain any questions about SD flying alone anywhere. Shes 11 now and I still wouldnt put her on a plane alone, and I consider her a seasoned flyer. Aside from her father being a helicopter pilot, we have lived all over the place and flown home to visit (military family) for the past 9 years. But seasoned or not, I still would not allow her to fly alone, even as a middle school student. Maybe we will revisit the conversation again when she is in highschool. I understand it causes extra $$ on the part of the non-cusotidial parent, but I wouldn't blame the BM for not wanting her 6 year old on a plane without an adult that loves her.

Maybe some form of alteration of the custody order can be done where you either get more time, or there is a split in the cost of travel in exchange for something else the BM woudl want?