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Two children traveling on a direct flight with family on each end. Per the airline rules (Alaska Airlines), for a teenager, traveling as a designated 'unaccompanied minor' is optional. Can a teenager be the "company" for an 9 y/o so that neither are "unaccompanied minors"?

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    How old is the teenager? If the teenager flying alone would be an unaccompanied minor, then obviously two unaccompanied minors can't accompany each other. "Unaccompanied" means "not with an adult", not "alone". Commented Feb 24, 2018 at 10:56
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    @KjeldSchmidt: right, but the title says 9 and the question body says 8, so which age is it really? Commented Feb 24, 2018 at 15:24
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    Heh, interesting way to cheat around the wording ;) It's short for "not accompanied by a non-minor" though; you can't just put two or more minors together. Commented Feb 24, 2018 at 16:43
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    @LightnessRacesinOrbit Indeed. This is not the Cambridge college where you can only walk on the lawn if you're accompanied by a Fellow, and nobody's quite sure if a Fellow can walk on the lawn alone. Commented Feb 24, 2018 at 22:26
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    Thanks all! @Matthieu I completely agree. As I think you guessed, the goal here was to settle a query posed by our rule-questioning teen, not by the parents. Separately, halfway through writing I realized the 9th birthday would have passed by the travel date.
    – prototype
    Commented Feb 25, 2018 at 4:11

1 Answer 1

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According to Alaska's policy:

Unaccompanied minor service is required for all children, ages 5 through 12 years old, traveling without a parent, legal guardian, or other adult at least 18 years of age.

So this would only be possible if the teenager was 18 or over.

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