We have had some of our customers in the past need to change the flight that they booked for their son or daughter. Before Covid-19, some of the airlines charged what we thought was an exorbitant fee for simply changing one or both of the dates of travel.For example, Delta used to charge $200 PER KID flying! So if a parent needed to adjust the date and had three children flying, he or she needed to pay $600 PLUS the increase of airfare if there was any.

Fortunately for us who needed to give the bad news to our customers and the parents or grandparents who needed to pay, things changed when Covid-19 arrived and stayed. Airlines who booked flights for minors realized that it just wasn’t fair anymore. Parents simply didn’t know if their child would be able to fly when the time came. All airlines waived the dreaded change.

Here ar Weflykids we shoot out quotes via texts and give options to people wanting to fly their child over the phone. At times, the parent had booked a flight for their minor already with an airline and was checking with us just to be sure that they got a decent deal. And once in a while they were shocked to hear our price! So they would ask if they could cancel their booking and book with us! If it was less than 24 hours since they booked that flight for their kid they would receive a refund. If not that change fee often didn’t make the change worth it.

So far most airlines still do not charge for changing an itinerary for a minor. And hopefully it will stay that way. So don’t be afraid to check with us even if you have booked that flight for your child days ago. There’s a chance that our price will be lower and our service will definitely be better!

The year 2022 so far has been difficult for many of our customers wanting to fly their son or daughter to another part of the country. Everyone knows about higher gas prices which have not only raised prices at the pump, but also airfares. As a result, many kids who need to fly alone will not see their other parent this Spring Break. As an example, it’s not unusual these days to give out quotes for $1200 round trip which does include the unaccompanied minor service fee. And that isn’t necessarily for longer coast to coast flights.

Here is the airfare for a flight from Texas to South Carolina: https://www.aa.com/booking/passengers?fromMetaSearch=true&bookingPathStateId=1649268375932-116&ischangedfare=false&ischangedservice=false&locale=en_US&c=MSE%7CKYK%7C20170213%7CDST%7CDST%7CWEB%7C%7CSNN%7CNNN&trackingid=kayakclickid%7CLOyrC27C1aO9RwL8_7UfzA If the child is 14 years old, the American Airlines policy of requiring minors of that age to pay for the unaccompanied minor service would apply. This means that in addition to the $860 airfare the parents would need to add an additional $300 for the chaperone fee. For many of us that is just too expensive for a flight for our son or daughter to spend just one week with their mother or father.

OUR ANSWER IS…

So is it EVER too early to book a flight for your son or daughter? By now you know to answer to that question. However, you might be surprised how many times we have heard a mom or dad ask us if we think that the price will go down! Evidently there are many people out there who don’t understand the basics about how airlines set their fares.

Simply put, airlines roll out their first fares usually anywhere from 7-11 months in advance. You might want to book a flight for your child one year in advance because you think it’s going to be super cheap. But airlines don’t work that way. They need to wait to see what the price of fuel is going to be along with other factors before setting the fare.

So the phrase ‘the early bird gets the worm’ fits when booking flights. Once those first low fares get purchased, fares jump up to the next level of pricing. Once those get booked, it jumps to the next level and so on. There always seems to be a few seats left if a person really wants or needs to be on that specific flight. BUT what you usually notice is that those few remaining seats costs many times more than the original low fare.

For more information on this topic please read our other blogpost: https://weflykids.com/why-flights-were-so-expensive-for-kids-this-past-christmas/

Throughout our almost seven year history we have spoken to over 10,000 parents and some grandparents about options on how to fly a child alone. So you could say that we have a bit of experience! It always surprises us when a parent starts the conversation with, “I’ve been searching and studying on the web for a couple of weeks…”, or “The airline agent told me…” and the information they have is incorrect. So with the experience we have earned booking flights for over 3,000 kids here are some answers to the most common question we have been asked…

The first thing that people want to know is if their child can fly at all alone. Some parents are surprised when they hear that their 10 year old son can fly without them when most airlines start offering their unaccompanied minor services at the early age of 5! One of the things that I say which creates trust when speaking to a customer is the fact that I flew my son alone to Frankfurt, Germany from San Francisco when he was 5 years old. This usually produces a “Wow…OK!” This often helps put the parent more at ease about allowing their child to fly without one of his or her family members.

The fact is that most US airlines do fly kids starting at age 5 without one of his or her parents accompanying him or her. All of these airlines have in common the rule that for kids who are age 5-7 the flight must be a nonstop flight. This is where Weflykids can help because at times there aren’t any direct flights from and to the desired airports or cities. That’s when we can start flowing our creative juices and try to find a solution that hopefully works out for everyone involved.

It’s been awhile since we wrote on our blog so Happy New Year 2022 to all of our old and new to be customers out there! Many of our customers during this last travel season were shocked, as we were, at the quotes they received from us. One customer actually booked a flight for her teenage daughter who DIDN’T need the airline’s unaccompanied minor service. It was from a small airport in Oregon to Kansas City for $1200! Well, at least it was roundtrip LOL! So why were airfares so high this past Christmas season?

Truth to be told, many bookings for kids were priced about the same as during past years and seasons. So what happened and what is happening with the airlines that they are charging more than ever for their flights? Well, for one thing we know that we are experiencing inflation. That means that basically everything from the fuel that airplanes use to the peanuts offered on Southwest costs more for the airlines which translates to higher fares. Secondly, the airlines are still feeling a bit bearish after getting hit hard since March 2020. That means that they still are not using their full fleet. So just like everything else that is bought and sold, there was and still is a high demand for flights compared to the smaller supply…

Finally, as always we recommend you set up your next flight for your kid be it for Spring or Summer break ASAP for the reasons explained above. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you either by text, phone or by filling out our form on our website soon!

This post was stimulated by yet another call from a parent who described her recent negative experience booking a flight with one of the major airlines operating in the US. Here at WeFlyKids, it completely baffles us how many airline agents simply don’t know the basic rules regarding booking flights for kids. For example, this mother was told that her 6 year old could fly on the airline’s one stop flight to visit the child’s grandmother in Texas. When the mother and child arrived to the airport, they were told at the counter that she indeed could not get on that flight because it wasn’t a nonstop flight. Okay…well, there weren’t any nonstop flights to that airport in Texas. And since it was of course past the 24 hour window eligibility for a refund, she could not get a refund!

The fact is that only about 2% of the flights booked by airline agents are for unaccompanied minors. How many times has a parent while listening to an agent (often difficult to understand because of a thick accent) heard, “Let me check to see (the rules) if your child can fly alone on this flight”? Admittedly, some of the details are difficult to remember, but failing to know that a six year old flying alone must fly on a nonstop flight with every airline is a bad joke.

Here’s another recent story from a disheartened mother. She told us that when she booked her flight with the airline, the agent forgot (or didn’t know!) to tell her that the $150 each way for the unaccompanied minor fee needed to be paid sometime before the flight. So she arrived to the airport with her child. And yes, it was yet another shock to a parent at the airport to find out that she needed to pay a total of $300 for the roundtrip and she simply didn’t have that amount on her card. The agent at the airport had no choice but to cancel the flight for the unaccompanied minor. She then told them to book another flight at a later date.

To be fair, there are many airline agents who know their stuff. They would never book flights for kids like the agents described above. But we think that it’s surer and safer to book with a professional who only books flights for children flying alone. Our agents know the rules and fees for all the airlines through and through. That way, the parent has the best chance to hear about more than one option for flying their kid and has someone on the other line who they can actually trust.