<p>My just turned 16 yr old is taking her first alone air trip. She has plane changes in Memphis and Atlanta. All flights on Delta. Anything she should be aware of? She has plenty of time between flights.
When I told her that her flight was stopping in Memphis. She immediately said “BBQ capital of America”. She has been watching too much Food Network. Her layover is early am so doubt she is going to get any BBQ.</p>
<p>Make sure she checks the seat and seat pocket for lost or dropped items (ipods, phone, wallet) before she deplanes.</p>
<p>Does she have a cell phone, a credit card, and $20 in cash?</p>
<p>If she has two plane changes, do you have a plan for if she misses one flight?</p>
<p>Each leg is 2 flights. Memphis is the layover on the outbound and Atlanta on the return. I know on the outbound she is in Memphis early AM so could get another flight. The homebound I am not sure but it is something worth checking.
Checking seat pocket is good.
Cell phone, and cash. Credit card No.</p>
<p>The reason for the credit card is that–should she be stranded overnight–she may need it to pay for a hotel room. Only happened to my son once. In Houston.</p>
<p>I think if she needed a room - you could call and pay for it with your card. Have her look at the layout of the airports too, although she probably won’t need to go any distance. Remind her that gates can change so to be sure to check on the gate for the connecting flights - and that the flight crew can help her with that info as well - they will know it before the the first plane lands.</p>
<p>I think she would prefer to stay in the airport before going to a hotel alone. Also on the return flight the first leg is short and if there is problem with the 2nd flight hopefully they will know it before she takes off. Also checked there is a late night flight from Atlanta back to her sister in Florida if necessary.
How easy is the Memphis airport? As of now it looks like the arrival of first flight and departure of 2nd are in same concourse.</p>
<p>Lately Delta has taken to changing gates MULTIPLE times (especially in Atlanta). Just make she continues to check the departure screen. </p>
<p>I assume you can somehow communicate to Delta that she is flying alone. (or is this just for really young kids?)</p>
<p>I assume she has flown before and she will be just fine. (as long as she doesn’t lose her cell phone or run out of battery) Make sure you send her charger along. Both Memphis and Atlanta have wall outlets in their departure gates and Atlanta has a cell phone charging station, but I don’t recall where it is located.</p>
<p>I’m an airline employee. I just helped a visibly shaken 16 year old the other day. She was understandably nervous – flew all by herself from Puerto Rico, to Dallas-Fort Worth, to Los Angeles, to Idaho that one day! She even had to change to a different airline (i.e. totally different terminal, in other words) in LA! Poor thing.</p>
<p>She asked me a question, and when I began to answer her, she began to cry. Broke my heart. I wanted to give her a big hug. She told me she wasn’t at all nervous when she set out from Puerto Rico, she was just excited. But when she got to DFW (her first stop) and had to find her connecting flight to LAX, she got really scared that she might get lost or somehow miss the flight.</p>
<p>In light of all that, my advice is this …</p>
<p>(1) Please tell your daughter that if she gets worried or nervous, she can always ask an employee for help. We stand out like sore thumbs, with our uniforms and all. And like the rest of the older adult population, most of us are parents. So it’s highly likely she’ll tug at the heartstrings of whomever she asks for help – especially if they know she’s nervous or scared or homesick while she’s asking!</p>
<p>(2) Everybody likes to handle these kinds of issues differently, but if it were my kid, I’d bring up the idea that, even if she doesn’t feel nervous now, she might well feel nervous later. For my kids, it helps if they think out that sort of thing ahead of time. They can know ahead of time that it might feel like an exciting adventure now, but when it comes time to change planes in whole new terminal, they might suddenly feel afraid. Talking with my kids about stuff like that doesn’t always keep the fears at bay, but it does put a cap on the anxiety once those fears start to come. It “normalizes” the experience – so they don’t have to worry about being embarrassed or ashamed on top of their fear. They’re like, “Oh yeah, this is what we talked about at home. Mom said I might feel this way. I am in fact scared, but this feeling is temporary.”</p>
<p>(3) And lastly, I’d be sure to tell her that nothing (well, short of stranger-danger, which she is surely old enough and smart enough to avoid) is irreparable. Even if her worst fears come true and she misses her flight or gets lost or can’t find her way – she can always ask for help and there will be a way to recover. Airline employees are not going to leave a 16 year old girl in a bind. There are almost always other flights, etc. She WILL get back on track, even if her worst travel fears come true!</p>
<p>Good luck to her! And you!</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure no hotel would let a 16 year old check in and stay there by themselves…at least no hotel I would want my daughter at!</p>
<p>Thus—snooze time in the airport. But I am sure everything will be fine. Our kids are way more savvy than we were at that age!</p>
<p>There are two ways for her to fly. One is as an unaccompanied minor. That costs extra, but they would assist her more if there are any problems with flight cancellations, etc. The other is to fly as an adult. My older teens have flown both ways- the first way gives me peace of mind, but they don’t want to wear the sticker anymore that “brands” them as a teenager. </p>
<p>The disadvantage of flying as an adult is that if she is stranded, no airline will put her in a hotel since she is a minor, and she will be left to her own devices in the airport (whether it is overnight or what). If you pay the unaccompanied minor fee, they would put her in an airline hospitality room or whatnot (depending on the airline). </p>
<p>Also, make sure you tell her to keep the luggage receipt in case her bags get lost if she is checking bags. Delta once lost my older teen’s luggage on a trip where she was by herself heading to a camp on the opposite coast and she did not receive it for 24 hours.</p>
<p>Make sure her phone charger is with her, not in the checked in suitcase, my daughter and i made that mistake in our last trip and when we got delayed both phones were almost dead.</p>
<p>If she has to change terminals in Atlanta, have her mentally walk through the process of using the trains.</p>
<p>also make sure she calls you when she arrives at the airport to make sure she’s okay.</p>
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<p>I agree. I go through Atlanta frequently. Not one of my favorite airports because of the train system. I would advise her to go straight to her next gate and then once she is sure of where it is (and see’s the flight listed on the gate board), then she can mosey around a little bit. Also, these days many flights start boarding 30-45 minutes before scheduled departure (depending on the size of plane) and they often close the gate 15-30 minutes before departure. Tell her to be in the gate area no later than 30 minutes, just to be on the safe time.</p>
<p>There are always helpful airport/airline employees around. Tell her not to hesitate to ask for help if she feels confused. I take. on average, a dozen flights per year minimum and still get confused at times. She shouldn’t have any issues with this type of flight and these airports but you never know.</p>
<p>From Memphis:
How easy is the Memphis airport? Very very simple. Only three small terminals which make traveling there quite easy.</p>
<p>Mom60, I sent you a pm.</p>
<p>Many airports actually close at night. Many others do not allow sleeping the airport, no matter the reason. (My mother was arrested in the Denver airport some years back. It wasn’t that she was sleeping; it was that she hit the police officer who woke her up.)</p>
<p>The hotel doesn’t need to know your daughter is 16. They just need to know that the credit card in her hand matches the credit card that was used to make the reservation. I agree that this is a last resort.</p>
<p>post#15 good advice. Have her download the terminal maps for Memphis and Atlanta so she can see where the Delta gates are. I would start daily checking the flight status of her flights (into and out of Memphis and into and out of Atlanta) for about a week before she travels. Sometimes you can see a pattern of which gates in Memphis and Atlanta her flights use. Good luck :)</p>
<p>My kids (teenagers and young adults) travel alone often. Every once in a while they miss a flight, they call me, and we start the mad scramble to figure out what the next available flight is. They get in line at the counter while I look up flights. When they get to the front they can ask for a particular flight that I can already tell has seats available. When my kids are traveling I keep my cell phone handy, and try to be near a computer when I know they should be transitioning to another flight. </p>
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