Breeders: Airlines should do more for brats traveling alone

More breeder airline demands:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TRAVEL/11/23/unaccompanied.minors.ap/index.html

Keep working more hours, CF people! Millions of breeders depend on us.

Good lord, I travelled by myself on planes when I was as young as 8 years old. It was no big deal. That Danny kid is going to grow up to be a wimp with a Helicopter Mom like that.

"But Susan Cole said the episode left her angry and her son crying."

What was he crying about? He wasn't stranded or anything; Southwest just wouldn't let him board early.

Good grief. I regularly flew twice a year unaccompanied because my dad had custody during the summers.

He always booked me on non-stop flights. He notified flight attendants that I was alone. I typically got on the plane LAST and left the plane LAST so that a flight attendant could accompany me. (I don't know if he paid extra for this service or not, since this was the 80's and airlines still cost $$$ and offered many services). My father kept tabs on my flight by calling the airport and arrived on time. Had he ever been late, he would have called the airport and left a message for me.

Had I ever needed to be put up in a hotel at the age of 15 or 16, I would have called a parent to let them know. Hopefully the airline would have given me a meal ticket, so I'd have gotten food at the airport before going to the hotel. Then I would have gone to the hotel and locked the door. I'd have read a book quietly in my room, ordered a wake-up call, and gone to bed. The next morning I'd have gone back to the airport and gotten on my flight.

Older teens can do this kind of stuff on their own, especially since airlines and hotels typically have people who can help you out if you don't know what to do next. Do parents honestly think their older teens are not capable of doing something as mundane as calling their parents for advice, following directional signs, and asking for information?

Wow, are these kids RETARDED. Seriously, by the time you are 12, you should have the skills needed to fly by yourself. You should be able to tell the difference between airport employees who can help you, and the random stranger who would probably molest you (or help you find proper assistance), you should be able to read signs, and follow directions, you should be able to use a phone to inform your relations of your flight status, and you should be able to do all this without having an emotional breakdown. But then again, when parents are frightened of everyfuckingthing, they have a tendency to pass that particular neurosis on to their children, crippling them emotionally and making it impossible for them to function without their parents.

"It truly is the one commonality that every designation of humans you can think of has, there's at least one asshole."
--Me

When you've come from a foam-padded world and everyone has pandered to your every need - including wiping your ass for you - it's only natural that you are nothing but a useless slab of flesh when you travel on your own.

Airlines, clearly, should provide someone to read all of the signs for these little darlings and tell them where they need to be next and when. Maybe even somebody to accompany them to the bathrooms to wipe their little asses? We can't *POSSIBLY* expect them to do it all on their own, now, can we?

I am sure that the boybrat will really enjoy knowing that his moo is out there saying he was crying like a toadler. She all but assured that he will get his ass kicked regularly for being a spoiled, spineless little wimp.

I've flown alone since I was 8 back in 1972 due to my parents being divorced. My late-father lived in Lake Tahoe; I lived in San Francisco. The summer of '75 when I was 11, I flew to Panama alone. My paternal grandmother lived in the Canal Zone and I spent the summer with her. I felt so cool and "grown up" flying internationally and on a 747! I had arrived. I never remember an escort making certain that I got to the right party. I just knew what I was supposed to do. What is next in this era? Demanding the airlines hold the hand of 16/year-olds flying alone despite them being old enough to fuck and drive a car?