Home Alone! Children flying to and from Australia on their own

There are various options to sending your children, even the younger ones, on their own to Australia

I got asked the other day if it was possible to send children on their own on flights to Australia — in this case it was for a 12 year old to visit her grandad in Sydney (not for a holiday!). So I have done a bit of research, and it seems that children from the age of 5 (!) can, in theory, be dispatched off Down Under on their own...

I looked up a handful of airlines, and while they all have slightly different rules and age ranges, it seems that, in general, children can fly on their own as an 'unaccompanied minor' if:

• they pay an adult fare
• you call in advance and book the unaccompanied minor service (it has to be 'reserved')
• someone drops them off, and stays at the airport until the plane departs
• there is someone to pick them up directly at the airport the other end
• there is not a long stopover en route (more than a few hours)
• there isn't a change of airline en route

Here are some links to specific airlines and their rules for unaccompanied minors:

• Virgin (flies to Sydney) takes children on their own from ages 5-15, and you can organise a nanny with them if you need one.
• Singapore Airlines (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane) will take unaccompanied minors up to the age of 16.
• Emirates (Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane) also take from 5 years upwards on their own... and from 12—16 years old is on a request-only basis for the unaccompanied minor service.
• Another option is to send a Nanny with your child if you can't take the flight with them yourself. I found these Norland-trained Nannies who do just that — Airline Angels.