Unaccompanied minors travelling in 2022

Guys i need urgent advice / help if anybody can provide. Has anybody recently sent their kids under 16 to India on their own? Which airline and what is the process?

Any advice with Air India specificallY?

Hi,
I had sent my daughter(10 yrs old) by United. They charge 150$ for escort service and that includes upto 4 kids. You need to call them while booking the ticket and mention that you want escort. While departing from US , you (parent) would get a special gate pass which would allow you to walk all the way to the gate and wait till flight is in the air. In India, the escort will make sure immigration formalities are completed and the kid is handed over to the person you designated (with ID verified etc). While departing from India you don't get special gate pass but rest of the process is similar. There were no issues and we were not that stressed as it was a direct flight (EWR-BOM).
I had tried to enquire same for Air India but did not get clear answers from their customer care agents. They told me I need to go to some Air India office 3 days before departure which did not sound accurate. Not sure if anything has changed now since TATA acquisition.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other qns.
Dev

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Originally Posted by dev2010

Hi,
I had sent my daughter(10 yrs old) by United. They charge 150$ for escort service and that includes upto 4 kids. You need to call them while booking the ticket and mention that you want escort. While departing from US , you (parent) would get a special gate pass which would allow you to walk all the way to the gate and wait till flight is in the air. In India, the escort will make sure immigration formalities are completed and the kid is handed over to the person you designated (with ID verified etc). While departing from India you don't get special gate pass but rest of the process is similar. There were no issues and we were not that stressed as it was a direct flight (EWR-BOM).
I had tried to enquire same for Air India but did not get clear answers from their customer care agents. They told me I need to go to some Air India office 3 days before departure which did not sound accurate. Not sure if anything has changed now since TATA acquisition.
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other qns.
Dev

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Thanks Dev. did you send your daughter this year?

For last week or so I am struggling with Air India. No luck so far. I get different answers every time I call them. They are too casual. I want to use AI because of the direct flight but scared that there shouldn't be any drama last minute. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by qesehmk

Thanks Dev. did you send your daughter this year?

For last week or so I am struggling with Air India. No luck so far. I get different answers every time I call them. They are too casual. I want to use AI because of the direct flight but scared that there shouldn't be any drama last minute. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience.

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This was in 2019. This year she is going again but luckily we are able to send her with a family we know. That can be another option as many people have started traveling

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dev2010

This was in 2019. This year she is going again but luckily we are able to send her with a family we know. That can be another option as many people have started traveling

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Thanks. So finally we decided on Qatar airways. The process to request assistance is fully online and simplest. You buy a ticket and then request assistance online separately. Emirates is the next best / friendliest option. Delta bad experience. Air India just ahgast! (no surprises though) :)

p.s. - Price is included. No separate charge for unaccompanied minors.