need help - child custody q - Long distance travel

[Ozboc]

Greetings guys - I am very soon moving out of sydney and moving down south - about 7 hours drive. I have been going through the process of mediation with the x ( as this is the go now before you go to court ) its been a 4 month pain in the arse.....

I have my final mediation in a few weeks before they determine if i get a certificate to take her to court- during this mediation i will be telling her of the move from sydney. ( and expected visitation)

My question is how old must a child be to fly on a plane by themselves - obviously mother will drop him to airport 1 - i pick up from the other end and vice versa- do they need a Minder on the plane ? or is that what the plane staff can do - He will be flying with REX as this is going to a country town - not a major town - tried to ring Rex - its like trying to ring M Jackson for a chat ...

would prefer to hear from people that do this / have done this or have a friend that is doing this - i need to go to mediation with facts not hearsay- so possible Pm me ?


thanks

Busaboc

[Avante]

Not sure of the rules now mate but ive been traveling on planes by myself since i was about 7, they just get a hostess to look after you and take you on and off the flight , mind you thats about 23 years ago lol. Best bet is just to ring the airline you intend to use and ask.

[BabyBusa]

Hi there

This is directly from the Rex Airlines website:

UNACCOMPANED MINORS
Children above 5 but under 12 years of age when travelling alone must travel as UNACCOMPANIED MINORS (UMNR). However teenagers aged 12 but below 15 years of age can voluntarily request to travel as UMNR, if desired. Children below 5 must be accompanied by an adult.

Bookings for UMNR should be made through the internet or via the Rex Customer Contact Centre on 13 17 13. If you are purchasing your ticket through a travel agent, you will need to call the Customer Contact Centre to confirm that the flight can accept your UMNR request. For safety reasons, the maximum number of UMNR per flight is limited by law. In addition, Rex reserves the right to refuse the carriage of any UMNR at its absolute discretion.

An administration fee of $33 per minor per sector will be charged for UMNR travel. To change an adult booking to a UMNR booking and add UMNR details via the Customer Contact Centre, a $55 charge per minor per sector is applicable.

CONDITIONS OF CARRIAGE OF UNACCOMPANIED MINOR (UMNR) (to be read in conjunction with Rex's Terms and Conditions of Carriage)

The conditions and requirements below must be met for UMNR travel. The booking of UMNR travel implies that the below conditions are understood and accepted by the Parent/Guardian/Responsible Adult:

Before the flight
The UMNR must have already been checked-in and be ready for boarding not less than 45 minutes (Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide airports) or 30 minutes (regional airports) before the scheduled departure time.

The sending Parent/Guardian/Responsible Adult must fill up the UMNR wallet (instructions) upon check-in.

The sending Parent/Guardian/Responsible Adult must remain at the departure airport until the aircraft has departed. This is to ensure that the UMNR is not left abandoned should there be a last-minute cancellation of the flight. The UMNR may be handed over to the Police if this happens.


During the flight
The UMNR must be able to travel without constant direct supervision and must not need any special services including any medical assistance during the flight. The UMNR must carry on board appropriate medication if the UMNR has any life-threatening allergy or other similar conditions and must be capable of self medication. Rex staff is strictly prohibited from administering any medication to the UMNR. No food will be served if food allergy is declared at check-in.

NOTE: REFER TO THE TERMS OUTLINED IN THE MEDICAL CONDITIONS UNDER THE REX SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS SECTION OF THE WEBSITE.


Hope it helps and good luck.

[Ozboc]

Thanks guys for your reply - especially Kathy - is exactly the info i needed -- my son is now 5 and will be 6 in Jan -

Thanks again ~!

Busaboc

[Ruffy]

Been through this with my 2 - unaccompanied minors are charged at full rate, no cheap fares for you unfortunately as they charge for supervising and then they put them in a room with a playstation

Cheers Ruffy

[ROD]

Just flew back from Tassie last week and i had 8 children seated behind me with no parents and aged all under 10 ,i thought F____ing great all i need right now.
But if i only had the chance to meet there perants when we arrived i would have mentioned how well they were looked after and how well behaved they all were

[ohdear]

***

[Heidi1]

The law is changing (THANK GOD), in the ACT there is the presumption of a 50/50 split and you then negotiate from there. There is no longer the assumption that the woman gets the kids and the guy has to beg for every moment with them. A few friends are working inside that system at the moment, and it works really well IF you can communicate with the other partner. Kids need their dads, the system was shit. Gender has no bearing on the ability to raise children. It makes me MAD.

[Concious]

Been through this with my 2 - unaccompanied amateur are answerable at abounding rate, no bargain fares for you abominably as they allegation for authoritative and again they put them in a allowance with a playstation


_________________
International travel insurance

[CeeJay07]

[quote='Concious' pid='193758' dateline='1254985336']
Been through this with my 2 - unaccompanied amateur are answerable at abounding rate, no bargain fares for you abominably as they allegation for authoritative and again they put them in a allowance with a playstation


who is this "concious" and is he/she aware of that little invention of plain bloody english??

Abominably Yours
CJ03

Just had alook at his profile and for bike, he listed "Honda"....wrong website genius. Go google abominable Hondas or something similar.

[SubRX]

Hi, I've been flying 2 to Sydney and 2 from Sydney, and then the return flights, each holidays for the past 3 years. We only have the smaller Qantas plane to the regional airport.

Once booked, we would fill out an Unaccompanied Minor Declaration. We would hand this to the check-in. They would then call us as the last to board the plane and the hostess would walk out with them. He/She would then look after them the whole way and then walk them off the plane at the other end to the awaiting parent. You have to show ID, complete the Declaration and they hand over the kids.

If the other party is not there to collect them they will retain the kids and possible fly them back to the original airport for collection by the sending party. Got to know the hosties fairly well. They would drop off 2 and collect the other 2 for the return flight. Kids loved it, we knew that they were in safe hands and being looked after.

Now that 3 of them are over 12 there is no need for the Declaration and the other can travel with her sister without us having to fill in the declaration for her, just turned 11.

Gets a little tricky if the person you nominate as collecting them is not the one that turns up to collect them, but the form has everyones phone number on it. They don't just let the kids go because they know the collecting party.

Hope this helps.
Dave

[Lucky 85]

Just remember to take their birth certificates with you as I have had trouble with this in the past not letting them board the plane without indentification.

[fasterfaster]

Just remember to take their birth certificates with you as I have had trouble with this in the past not letting them board the plane without indentification.

Ditto also on the pick up of child ................ it's amazing how motivated airport security gets when an irrate father starts bouncing a boygirl type hostie of the walls because his reply to insufficient ID is "Well you can't have him then"
Went thru the process every six weeks for years, the experience was so bad it drove me to obtain the means to "fly myself"
I genuinly feel for you Sir as those that have been thru it will know how much each time as you watch them go, tears at the heart.
One can only add here that no matter how hard or costly it gets hang in there, my experience started when my son was 9 months old and at 14 years he came to live with me. Hence regular contact is so important if you wish for your child to grow knowing you.
I could write a novel on the situations that occured during this time frame and have often thought of doing so, as the judicial system certianly still to this day fails to give the father equal recognition.

[Camel]

My eldest is 19 now, did the unaccompanied minor travel thing between NQ and Perth since she was five. Just don't be late to pick them up or they dump the kid at the oversized baggage claim counter! Fuggin Perth traffic. Could have got there with hours to spare if I'd taken the Busa.