12 year old son flying alone from Thailand to UK

[greenmonkey]

Hi all. I am British and am in the UK. My Thai wife and son (dual nationality) are in Thailand. My wife plans to send my son (by himself) on a direct Thai airways flight to Heathrow where I will be waiting to meet him. We have made some general enquiries and it all seems that it should be okay. We will book a chaperone service offered by Thai Airways (about $50 USD) whereby a member of Thai Airways staff will look after him from departure to arrival. Apparently we book this service with Thai Airways in Bangkok after we have made the flight reservation.

 

So... has anyone ever done this before and does anyone forsee any problems. I know that 4 or 5 years ago I flew out of Thailand with my son (without my wife) to go visit the UK and we needed signed paperwork from my wife to show to immigration at the airport stating that it was okay for me to take him.

 

Any thoughts / experiences about this? Many Thanks

[globalThailand]

A friend of ours did the same for their five year old!  I didn't even know it was a thing and was very surprised myself when they told me but apparently the flight chaperone thing is not uncommon.  (This was some time back - their kid is a young adult now)

 

As a parent myself I can appreciate it would be pretty nerve wracking - and personally would only consider it on a direct flight - but 12 year olds are pretty savvy these days and I'm sure the airline would take a lot of care to see he gets there safe.  Also good to check in with the kid too and see how he feels about it (which I'm sure you already have)

[VocalNeal]

On 5/10/2023 at 5:14 PM, greenmonkey said:

So... has anyone ever done this before and does anyone forsee any problems.

I haven't but loads of kids do. The airline term is "unaccompanied minor". Although he is old enough to look after himself and maybe annoyed by the whole process.