Flying cross-country solo at 12, with a connection!

Posted by SkydexFlyer@reddit | GenX | View on Reddit | 40 comments

In April, 1986 (just a few months shy of my 13th birthday), I wanted to visit my grandparents for spring break. They lived in Arkansas and I lived in Seattle. My father worked for an airline which allowed employees and their families fly for free. Of course, this was provided there was space available on the plane, which was never a guarantee.

The only instructions I had before I got on the flight was to find a TV monitor when I got to Salt Lake City and look for Tulsa and see where the gate was, then find a map, and find the gate. There was nobody escorting me on/off the plane, nobody in the airport to meet/guide me, and it just felt perfectly normal to me. In fact, I was quite proud of myself when I found the connecting gate and checked in with the gate agent who gave me the stand-by list card. I then waited for my name to be called so I could get my seating assignment. Since the flight was pretty full, I was seated in the back, in the SMOKING section. I was 12! This makes me laugh now, as it sounds so ridiculous, but to me, it wasn't a big deal.

I arrived in Tulsa, where my grandparents met me as I got off the plan and drove me two hours to their home in Arkansas. I had a great week and managed to do the same flying back home to Seattle. It was a huge confidence booster for me and I'm glad I was able to have this experience. I cannot imagine allowing a 12-year old to do this nowadays, but, it was definitely a different time and seems like a typical GenX experience growing up.

Did anybody else have unsupervised solo travel experiences earlier than what would be permitted nowadays?

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Calendar-Careless@reddit

There hasn’t been a smoking section on a plane since 1970 something. Good try. Make it more believable

SkydexFlyer@reddit (OP)

Wrong. You clearly never flew in the 1980's. A simple Google search and you could have found out when smoking was banned on US carriers . Please don't dispute something if you don't have correct information.

MidwestAbe@reddit

What do you mean permitted today?

My 11 year old nephew has flown alone this past year and he will be going again this year at 12.

With no supervision or assistance from staff? My point is that when I did this, nobody was there to help me. I was on my own completely.

Not after 12. And even at 11 all they do is just kinda check on you.

For goodness sake. Kids in Tokyo ride the subway alone at 8 or 9.

We weren't that special.

SufficientOpening218@reddit

yup, age 11, Detroit to Denver, changed planes in Chicago with a 90 min layover!

JT-Av8or@reddit

We still have it. I’ll a pilot, we have unaccompanied minors all the time.

With no supervision or guidance from staff?

SnowflakeSWorker@reddit

I started flying solo at age 5, with connections. All of us little kids had those wings pinned to our shirts, so the stewardesses knew who we were I guess.

I almost missed a connecting flight when I was 12, because I went to the wrong gate, and sat near a boy my age- he asked me if I was going to the same school he was, in a completely different state than where I was headed!

Wahoo-Is-To-A-Fish@reddit

Oh yah. Cross-country, with a connection in the OLD Atlanta airport that was a like a freaking maze. I think I did it the first time when I was 9 or 10. But TBF I had flown a lot as a kid and was pretty familiar with the protocol and I was fairly with-it mature child.

At age 13, I was on a flight as a UM that had a fairly serious mid-air catastrophe and had to divert right after take off. Complete crapshow. Everyone was distracted because it was an emergency landing and 1 flight attendant had a life-threatening injury and lots of other people hurt. PAX got off the plane in this random airport and there was literally no personnel anywhere. Everyone was sort of aimlessly wandering around. This was before cell phones. I figured out how to use our long-distance account and a pay phone (yes, I am older than dirt) to call my parents to let them know we were OK, and then I called customer service for the airline and negotiated an alternate flight from the new airport somehow. In retrospect I am somewhat amazed at myself, but eh, GenZ raised ourselves so we were all basically adults at 10 LOL.

Despite all that, and even with things be different these days, I still would have sent my own 12yo on a similar journey, but I think SW was the only one that allowed younger kids to travel, and I think they even restrict UMs to direct flights.

Historical-Fish-1665@reddit

wow. now that's a story.

I was 14 and we moved to Amsterdam for 6 months. My Dad was over there a year working, and Mom wasn't having it. She was obviously missing him terribly. Came home one day and she said "I asked the school board what was the earliest day you can leave and still pass, and what the last day is you can report for 9th grade and still pass. Your Dad will be home tomorrow and we're moving to Amsterdam." I didn't even have a chance to tell anyone at school. We were on a plane 2 days later.

I had my own hotel room at age 14 in Amsterdam almost the entire time we were there. All I had to do was help out my Dad a couple hours a day and eat dinner with my family. We did do a lot of amazing weekend trips. For reals I wandered the city, rode the trams, bought a switchblade, bought beer-yep the guy sold it to us. Went into the Bulldog at Leidseplein in 1986, and flipped through an album of weed samples. No one said a word to me. It was slow mid day. We lived right next to Vondel Park, and back then in the summer was topless sunbathing all over the park. I was in heaven. Chef at the small hotel played Roxanne every damn day, and I realized the Police were better than Mr Mister and what good rock was. It was kinda boring, but definitely kinda awesome and one of my friends came over for 3 weeks because our fathers worked together. (that's when we bought beer).

I got back to 9th grade in late October having missed all the hazing by seniors. Turns out I had 4th period with the 4 hottest girls in 9th grade, and I was the only male in the class-they literally pulled their desks up around me when I sat down. I was in heaven. All my friends knew it the next day. No memory what the subject was to this day.

squirtloaf@reddit

I flew solo across 5 states out to my uncle's house in Boston for the Bicentennial. I was 9.

I have mempry flashes of my mom dropping me off at the gate and getting some flight wings.

That part was much easier back then. Anyone could go to the gate. It was just waving by and having someone at the next city.

Camaschrist@reddit

My best friend and I often rode the Grey hound bus from Portland to Seattle to stay with her family. From the age of 7 up my sister and I would ride the bus into Portland and spend the day exploring. My dad would usually meet up with us after work and we’d ride home with him. We were latchkey kids so pretty much we were allowed free reign anywhere.

Conscious-Phone3209@reddit

Same at age 7. My dad would sit me behind the driver and tell him my stop one state over and mom would meet me there !

lobaybliss@reddit

Greyhound bus NYC to Tampa at 14. Yikes when I think back

accidentallyHelpful@reddit

Parallel trip: Summer after 6th grade I flew from SFO to NY (and back) to visit family for a month and see the touristy things in NY and NJ

Sat next to a nun in a habit on the way out, and she immediately began some prayer and went through the rosary the entire flight! I couldn't interrupt her and I had no idea if she knew something specific, so I felt nervous and protected at once

She gave me her peanuts

Available_Wolf1059@reddit

When I was 10 i flew solo from Tennessee to Detroit to visit family for the summer. Ended up doing each summer until I was about 15 and never had any issues traveling alone on a flight.

lunicorn@reddit

I was 12 when I did this. California to Nebraska with a layover in Denver.

EnjoyingTheRide-0606@reddit

My very first flight (1978), I was 9 and my brother was 7. We flew SF to Chicago alone. My brother kept the barf bag over his mouth the whole flight!

BuckyGoldman@reddit

When I was 8 and 9, my brother was 11 and 12, our parents wanted us to experience Travel. NOT far, only 200 miles from Houston to San Antonio, but at 8 we flew on a Plane to my grandparents (alone/together without our parents) and the next year we did the same trip on a Greyhound Bus. However, we never got to experience a Train.

doghouse73@reddit

I flew from Ohio to California to visit my aunt when I was 10, same year as the Olympics ‘84.

KyotiKill@reddit

When I was 8y/o me and my then stepbrother who was also 8y/o were sent to Texas from Arkansas on Southwest airlines in 1988 for summer vacation at his aunt and uncle's.

Wasn't cross-country technically, but it was to us.

purplepeopleeater333@reddit

My parents were split up with Dad in PA, mom in FL. From the time I was 3 I flew solo back and forth. My big sister was with me and we usually didn’t have a connection unless we flew Delta and stopped in ATL. My Dad was an Eastern guy so that was our usual airline. But the flight attendants always kept an eye on us.

pythongee@reddit

I flew from Virginia to California as a 9 year old in 1975. I got to visit the cockpit somewhere over the Midwest. Simpler times.

orangedrinkmcdonalds@reddit

Navigated ORD myself at that age.

Fritz5678@reddit

I was an airline brat, too. When I had just turned 11 in the late 70s, flew from SFO to IAD through Chicago on a redeye. It was just a stop, so I didn't have to change planes. I remember waking up to a storm at one point in the flight. Then having the OJ in the little plastic cup where you peeled the top off. I was a pro at flying by that age, because I had flown every summer from birth.

mishakhill@reddit

I had a funny variant of this: went to Space Camp in sixth grade, flight from Pittsburgh connecting in Atlanta. In Atlanta, the entire flight was unaccompanied kids going to Huntsville, plus a few counselors Space Camp had sent out to accompany the flight.

DrKlahnsRightHandMan@reddit

I haven't thought about it in years, but my brother and I flew to my grandparents for a few summers. Mom was working on a graduate degree in another state over the summers for a few years. I was 9 or 10 and my brother was 5 or 6 the first time. I remember stewardesses keeping an eye on us and someone escorting us to our connection gate the first trip or two. I clearly recall expecting the same when I was 12 and my brother was 8, but no one seemed to care or notice, so we just assumed we were on our own and did it ourselves from that point on. I've always assumed that 12 was the threshold for requiring assistance at that time (mid to late 80's). It would've been nice to get a heads up before we left though.

AutomaticStructure68@reddit

12 is plenty old enough, our generations and ones before did all sorts of things. Some how more recently. 11-12 y/o are being treated like 4 y/0

togocann49@reddit

By 12 years old, I did just about everything by myself. My father had passed, my mom was in hospital on a lengthy stay. Heck, I even worked, bought my own groceries, and paid rent to the landlord, as well as the utilities. Things were definitely different back then

curiousleen@reddit

Yep! My parents sent me solo from Iowa to Texas when I was 11. I remember a stewardess keeping an eye on me during layover and helping me make my connection.

largos7289@reddit

LOL this is why we are the way we are. I did a few flights from here to Mississippi to visit family but there was always a i guess stewardess in a way looking out for me on the plane. I just remember my mom saying he's flying solo, he's 13, i got wings, a bag of peanuts and a coke.

Glass-Nectarine-3282@reddit

I visited my grandparents in Florida from Boston when I was 7, and flew by myself. That was back in the day when you could be at the gate both coming and going, so I'm sure it wasn't that stressful. I have a memory of a memory of seeing my parents waving goodbye at the gate. I wonder what poor bastard I sat next too?

-Granby-@reddit

Yup. I was 11 and flew from Florida to Massachusetts and then back by myself. No escort. Nothing.

KatieMay0101@reddit

Almost identical situation to you. I was a month shy of my 13th birthday in 1986. Parents drove me from Upstate NY to the airport in Toronto and put me on a plane to London. Told me when I get there to just get off the plane and someone will meet me and promised I would know they were there for me when I saw them. My Mom had 4 sisters and they weren't sure who was picking me up yet. I hadn't met any of my aunts so I had no idea who I was looking for once I got off the plane. Walk out to the area and there's this crazy looking woman in bell bottoms, giant 1970's sunglasses, wild hair and she's doing this weird dance while singing Ka-Ka-Ka Katie (my name). She got my attention, embarrassed the hell out of me, and yeah, no question on my part. I knew this crazy woman was there for me.

PlantMystic@reddit

Yes. I was a bit older at 17. But, I was very sheltered and had never been anywhere on my own like that. 1987 and flew to meet and visit my brother and wife where he was stationed in the military in Mississippi. I was from the northern midwest, where it ws not as hot, MS was over 100 degrees lol! I had a stop and transfer in MemphisTN (I think?) and boarded a puddle jumper to Biloxi. The only problem was, we couldn't land b/c of a plane crash. I remember getting car sick circling around and around until the dropped us off in Mobile AL. There, we boarded some buses that would take us to Biloxi. Only partway there, one of the buses broke down lol. All of us younger people kind of gravitated to each other and hung out and talked. I never had that before and it was nice. Somehow we got there, but what an adventure! Some of the ppl on our group were Military and afraid of being late back. So was my brother who was waiting for me in Biloxi. The trip back went better lol.

ThatOldG@reddit

I used to fly from Key West to Atlanta every summer from 7-12 years old the first time my uncle flew with me then every year after I did it myself.

The first trip he showed me how to find my next flight after that I was on my own until I got to Atlanta where my aunt and uncle would be waiting.

Our generation got sent off on Homeward Bound type shit that would get parents put in jail for today.

Reasonable-Coconut15@reddit

My mom was a flight attendant when I was little, so same deal on the flying.

Starting when I was 5, she would walk me onto the plane in Denver every Friday night, send me to my grandparents in Kansas City, and they would get me as I got off the plane. I did this every weekend, school break and vacation until she didnt work there anymore years later. She knew all the attendants, and I was one of those 35 year old little kids, so I was all good. Loved those times!!!

Some airlines still allow unaccompanied minors to fly, but its more expensive and a bit of a process, but my stepson came out to see us many times this way within the last few years. He is also a 35 year old stuck in a kids body, however. 😄