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Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
What happens when an airline provides a hotel room for a 16 year old who misses their connection? Most hotels do not allow anyone under 18 to check in to a hotel. Do hotels make exceptions when the hotel room is paid for by an airline?
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- chunhimlai
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Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
Usually the child will be taken care by the designated ground staff
Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
chunhimlai wrote:Usually the child will be taken care by the designated ground staff
As in sharing the room with the staff member? How else can a teen not be left alone in a hotel room for the night?
Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
Sometimes there is an UM room at the airport. At least there used to be.
Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
Once upon a time, when I was an UM on EK, they kept me in their J lounge instead of letting me go to a hotel
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- PatrickZ80
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Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
If explained to the hotel what the situation is, most hotels don't make a fuss of giving a hotel room to a minor as long as they get paid for it. Would be different if a minor would walk in by itself trying to rent a room.
On the other hand, there are plenty of minors (about 16 years old) from the UK, Germany and countries like that that go on holiday by themselves to the Mediterranean without any problems. Certainly Spain is popular with youngsters going on holiday without their parents for the first time. They also book hotels and stay there for the whole of their vacation without adult supervision.
On the other hand, there are plenty of minors (about 16 years old) from the UK, Germany and countries like that that go on holiday by themselves to the Mediterranean without any problems. Certainly Spain is popular with youngsters going on holiday without their parents for the first time. They also book hotels and stay there for the whole of their vacation without adult supervision.
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- PatrickZ80
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Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
I've looked it up and according to the law the person booking the room must be 18 years or older. This doesn't have to be the same person as the person staying in the room, so an adult can book a hotel room for a minor and the minor can then stay in the room by itself. However mostly the age of the person booking the room isn't checked, so if a minor books a room chances are nobody will notice.
Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
Flighty wrote:Sometimes there is an UM room at the airport. At least there used to be.
AFAIK a 16 year old is not considered an unaccompanied minor, unless they specifically request it.
Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
Back in the day when I worked at an airline they paid two of us, of the same sex as the teenager, to go to the hotel room, in different rooms. It was nice cause you got paid while sleeping.
Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
afcjets wrote:What happens when an airline provides a hotel room for a 16 year old who misses their connection?
At least in Germany it is very simple... True case, true story - minor stranded at the airport, airline paid the hotel room, the legal guardians were contacted and asked to send in a written permission for the YoungPassenger to stay that night at the hotel.
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- flydude380
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Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
Well... when I was with a particular handling agent at a particular airport, the poor minors ranging from 12-16 were stuck in our rest area!! I used to feel sorry for them (except, when they were rude or stuck up when you tried striking a convo with them). If I was a minor and subjected to spend a night in a rest area, I would be demanding a hotel!!
Luckily, I was a capable minor back in the days that never required UM service
Luckily, I was a capable minor back in the days that never required UM service
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- DocLightning
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Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
flydude380 wrote:Well... when I was with a particular handling agent at a particular airport, the poor minors ranging from 12-16 were stuck in our rest area!! I used to feel sorry for them (except, when they were rude or stuck up when you tried striking a convo with them). If I was a minor and subjected to spend a night in a rest area, I would be demanding a hotel!!
Luckily, I was a capable minor back in the days that never required UM service
By the time I was 14 or so, I could easily navigate an airport and handle myself on an airplane. However, most airlines nowadays require all children younger than 15 to have UM service.
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- PatrickZ80
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Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
DocLightning wrote:By the time I was 14 or so, I could easily navigate an airport and handle myself on an airplane. However, most airlines nowadays require all children younger than 15 to have UM service.
That depends on the airline, some airlines got different rules than others about that. The legal age for flying without an UM program is 12, you won't find anything lower anywhere. However there are airlines that use a higher age limit. Also at some airlines it is required up to a certain age and then optional up to a certain higher age.
On Air France / KLM / Delta for example it is required to use an UM program up to the age of 15, with it being optional up to 17. On Southwest for example it is only required up to 11, once you turn 12 you have to fly by yourself since they don't extend their UM program to higher ages. It is even legal on Southwest for a 12 year old to accompany another minor that hasn't turned 12 yet. The 12 year old would then be seen as an adult.
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- DocLightning
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Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
PatrickZ80 wrote:On Air France / KLM / Delta for example it is required to use an UM program up to the age of 15, with it being optional up to 17.
I can only imagine how insulted I would have been if I had to use a UM service at 17.
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- PatrickZ80
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Re: Airline Paid Hotel Rooms for Teens who Misconnect
DocLightning wrote:I can only imagine how insulted I would have been if I had to use a UM service at 17.
True, but there are 17 year olds that can't find their way around airports. Not much, but they exist. On the other hand, there are adults that can't find their way around airports and there are young children that know it all perfectly well. Age is just a number, it doesn't say anything about maturity.
To use an UM program or not is mostly a decision made by the parents. They know their children, they know if they can handle themselves on their own. Some airlines do have age limits for their UM programs but don't enforce them too strictly.
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