My 16 year old daughter thinks she is old enough to travel from the West Coast to Beijing and back, changing planes in Seattle. She would be met by her aunt in Beijing, not staying in any hotels. What do you all think about her safety in airports and on the flights? She does not want to go on the unaccompanied minor program. I have flown to Asia many times, but the last time was quite a few years ago and I no longer know what the trip would be like for her.
Thanks for your input!
Reply to this Since she is only going to be in the airports, she should have no problem. The airports are quite safe. There are police and military everywhere, and with Beijing being such a modern city with many foreigners things are well looked after.
Reply to this Hello James 😊
She will certainly be safe at airports with all the secuity that is in them.
Airlines do however have conditions for carrying unaccompanied minors. Your will likely have to sign something accepting all expenses if the designated person is not there when she arrives. They would then fly her back and you would have to pay for whatever it takes to get her to you accompanied by an adult and I dont think they would do it the most economical way.
I dont know what happens with changing planes. Would they expect you to provide a guardian to be with her in the airport where she takes the connecting flight? A question for the airlines.
Let me know how it goes . All this is useful to know, because I have a child too and might be in the same situation in future.
Mel
Reply to this Thanks for the input! Since I first posted, the trip has been accomplished--she is now home, safe and sound. In addition to the Seattle-Beijing leg, she stopped for a week in Tokyo where she found that her visa card would not work so had to borrow a few yen from a helpful person to make a phone call. On the return, her cell phone was stolen in the Seattle airport. So yes, I think airports are reasonably safe, but I would have done my homework better about cards and would have tried harder to make her understand that you have to keep your belongings under your close control at every second. Lessons learned!
Jim
Reply to this She is a budding traveller for sure James. 😊 She has done well, if all that happened was a missing belonging here and there and a credit card that would not work! I even had the credit card problem, after years of travel experience.
Reply to this 
