travel for tweens

[moonwise]

Last night, I was asking my mother whether my two younger cousins were going to go down to Florida this summer for a visit. The sisters are 13 and 16, respectively (younger one may be 14; I am not sure.) My mother indicated that the older one might be getting a job for the summer, but the younger one might still be interested.

Because my aunt and uncle are financially strapped (he has MS and is on disability; she doesn't work (she should but that's another story)) my parents pay to fly them down and back. For reasons I can't fathom, they have been flying the girls out of Atlantic City on Spirit Airlines. AC is easily a three-hour drive for my aunt, as opposed to Newark, which would be more like 45 minutes.

I mentioned to my mother that if the younger one did want to come, maybe they could fly her out on JetBlue, because Spirit sucks for threatening to charge people for carry-on. We got into a side discussion over penalizing everyone vs. enforcing carryon rules, but my mother was mostly resistant to the younger flying out of Newark because it is a big and confusing airport. If you are not familiar with Newark, then in a nutshell: Terminal C is enormous and might be confusing, but the only airline that flies out of that terminal is Continental. Terminal B is a complete unknown to me, as I've never used it. JetBlue, my parents' favorite, flies out of Terminal A, which is the oldest and smallest part of the airport. JetBlue itself only uses two of the gates, A20 and A21. When you go into security, you pick the "branch" that has your gate in it, and there are only about six gates per "branch."

So, here's the question. Do you think that 13-14 is old enough to go through Terminal A alone? It seems to me that the younger should be quite competent to find the JetBlue gates on her own, especially if Mom is there to help her find the right "branch" before she goes off to security. What do you think? Is my mom being paranoid, or do I expect too much from a young teenager?

Comments

[tiggymalvern.livejournal.com]

Your mum is being paranoid. Unless she is IQ-challenged, your cousin is more than capable of looking at TV screens and following signs.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I thought so, too, but for some reason making my aunt drive all the way down to AC is preferable to younger cousin having to be a little independent.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I'd ask the lady over at Free Range Kids - I think she'd agree that this is plenty old enough to travel safely with this much support.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

Lenore Skenazy is my hero.

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

I think that a 13 year old would be able to deal with getting to the gates (once she's escorted to security), at least if she's given a map and told what to do. Getting to baggage for pickup might be a little harder but if she's given clear directions and follows the signs to baggage, she should be okay. She'll need to know where she'll be picked up since no one can't go to the gate anymore.

BTW, terminal B is pretty small, too, and it's not that hard to find your way around it. I agree that C is really huge and easy to get lost in.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

You understand where I'm talking about, so you know that once you get into your security area, there's nowhere to go but straight. I think she'd be carrying on luggage, and my parents would be escorting her through Orlando, so that isn't even an issue.

They'll figure it out, one way or another.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think she'd be fine. I have flown exactly four times, once in Newark, and I didn't have any trouble once I figured out where the map was. IIRC, at least some of the airlines even have cute little lounges for kids where they can check in if they're confused/lost.

[mebil.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. A 13 year old is capable of being on her own. Unless the child was raised in a very protective family where the child's ability to function independently has ceased. There is a growing trend in this country called Helicopter Parenting. These parents are severely over-protective and try to run the child's life. The biggest difference between when I was a kid and now is that the child expects the parents to do this role. Not healthy.

Send the kid on her own. Learning independence is vital to becoming an adult.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I'd say that my cousins' family (and mine, for that matter) encouraged dependence, especially by the girls, so maybe walking 100 yards down a ramp by themselves is a big deal. :P

[sleepherealone.livejournal.com]

She should be fine, my brother's got a few years on your cousin but he's still a teenager and has successfully navigated SFO and a couple Canadian airports alone with no problems.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

You have to learn sometime!

[maeveth.livejournal.com]

I'd say she's more than competent to go through on her own, but if your mom is still too paranoid, there is a caveat that will allow an adult to accompany an otherwise unaccompanied minor to the gate itself. (I learned this rather to my dismay when a drama-queen parent decided to pitch an epic drama fit and DEMAND her precious child be given priority for a standby seat instead of, you know, waiting in line like most human beings. To her credit, poor girl seemed utterly mortified by her mother's antics.)

[arafel.livejournal.com]

The security does allow a parent to escort a minor to the gate, yes, so it puzzles me as to why this problem was even manufactured in the first place.

[maeveth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the part that had me scratching my head. If she's really that freaked out...just go with her. Simple as that. It sounds like it's stupid easy to find the appropriate gate though.

I will say I would probably go and wait with my daughter -- but most of that is my innate flight-schedule-related paranoia that's born from having my last plane trip fucked six ways from Sunday by the weather and almost getting stranded in JFK. But that's totally just me-as-person, not me-as-parent.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Maybe the kid's insisting she can do it herself?

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I don't think so - my aunt has raised her daughters to be clingy. The younger one is more independent than the older, but I still don't see her insisting on going it alone. Either way, they'll figure it out. It just blows my mind that to save the girls the experience of going through a relatively simple terminal, their mother drives them three hours one way to a rinkydink airport.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Oy vey.

[ssilverfish.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with that particular terminal, but I'm sure she'll be fine. Even if she gets lost, it's not like she'll be able to get on the wrong plane or anything. They won't even let you into areas where your ticket doesn't suggest you should be. I wouldn't worry about it unless she was pathologically shy or something like that.

[arafel.livejournal.com]

This young lady is very bubbly and not-shy, so she ought to be fine. Her older sister might have been more of a worry.

[cjblackwing.livejournal.com]

As long as she's careful regarding creepers and such, I think she'll be fine with the navigating and security and whatnot. It does depend on the airport (I wouldn't let a 13-year-old go through JFK alone, for example, just because it's a navigational nightmare for me -_-) but your description of Newark sounds pretty safe. ^^

[arafel.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't want to navigate JFK myself either!

[cjblackwing.livejournal.com]

It terrified me even though I was with my parents... nuff said. XD

[jaina.livejournal.com]

A is super easy. They'd be fine.