Unaccompanied Minors

Well shipping them as an UA isn't exactly shipping them alone, I have sent dd at 11 across the country and she was walked on and off the plane by staff, so hardly a risk there. I also flew myself to Europe at 13 and was not a UA, no one walked me anywhere. I did fine. I do think a childs personality should determine at what age they should fly alone, heck, I know an adult who will not fly solo, so I imagine there are kids who would be nervous about it.

I am not sure why you caught flack? Perhaps your friends do not know what flying UA means. Here they have to be attended from hand over to hand off, and id produced by recievers ,, very safe. You pay for the service here, I think its about 150 extra dollars for a domestic flight, I have no idea about international.

Its not like the child can get off in mid flight and wander away,,

As for behaviour , my dd told me some of the other UAs were little brats on her flights( there are always about 1/2 dozen in summer).. One dds last flight she was steaming mad as stewardess put a little brat beside her and expected my dd to entertain her.( child had been seated two rows behind but they moved her beside dd after first hour) .I have never seen my dd so steamed. Five hours with a monster she said! ( Cosmic payback perhaps,, LOL, although dd has never been that horrid)

Takes one to know one :-))
Of course, it is perfectly safe, otherwise I wouldn't have done it.
The eight year old is self-confident, laid back and charming. We knew it wouldn't be difficult for him.
My other grandson, 10, however, is another story. He is a little genius, and tends to worry about EVERYTHING, he truly carries the weight of the world on his little shoulders, and it is because of him, that I pose my question.
The eight year old managed to capture the hearts of he entire crew, they didn't want to give him back . .
But, the 10 yr old . . I worry about him a little bit,
wondering how I can ease his anxieties, hence my question.

As to why I caught flack: I am assuming that the notion is just a little far out for most people.
Again, and again, the topic of child abusers and kidnappers comes up.
Honestly, I feel 'safer', entrusting my precious grandchild to a flight crew, than to his Kindergarden teacher, if that makes sense to you . .

Speaking as a little one who got "shipped" a few times, I found it infinitely preferable to traveling with my parents. I also behaved better on the flight- I cut down on the whining and did my best to act "grown up".

I started flying solo at 12. During my Spring Break from school, I went to visit my grandmother in Florida. I knew my way around an airport by then and what shared ride service to take from the airport to my grandmother's apartment. (She did not meet me at the airport.) I didn't need any help from the airline's employees.

The only tough part was that in those days, the cheaper flights were those that left after 9 PM and that was the one my father booked. (He's in the Guinness Book of World Records as the cheapest man on the planet.)It was kind of weird arriving in Miami after midnight. I didn't get to my grandmother's until after 1 AM as the shared ride service made numerous stops before mine. (At least it was a door to door service.)

I've been traveling solo ever since.

The first time my son flew alone at age 9, though he liked it and was excited by it and did ok, he also had a lot of fears about the plane crashing and no one that he loved would be there with him. I wish I would have listened to him a bit more back then. He went on to fly again at age 12 by himself and that was ok then. This is something that each family needs to decide on a very individual basis and I don't think anyone else can know that child like the family does and so it isn't really their business.

Corinna, as you stated, it depends on the child. My daughter (17 now) started flying Ua at age 8 to Virginia and Texas and she loved it. When she was 12 or 13 she absolutely hated having to fly as UA because of the attention they give you and she thought she knew what to do. Her brother at the age of 12 or 13 flew UA to Paris to stay with a family there. We never thought twice about these choices because as a family we have traveled more so than others. The one son had flown to Paris twice before his solo flight.
We have had friends express concern that we let our daughter drive 3 hours by herself to visit her grandpa. It really depends on the child. Good luck with your 10 year old. Perhaps a Sony PSP handcuffed to his wrist (so he doesn't lose it) will help pass the time on the plane