What you need to know if your child will fly alone.

Millions of unaccompanied children between the ages of 5 and 12 (called "unaccompanied minors," or "UA," by the airlines) travel on the major airlines every year. Airlines usually accept these children as passengers but impose restrictions and sometimes extra fees. Before you put your child on an airplane unaccompanied by an adult, learn what the airlines require, what your obligations are as a parent or legal guardian and what you can do to minimize problems during your child's trip.

Airline Requirements and Obligations

Most airlines impose restrictions on unaccompanied minor travel. Here are some of the common ones:

• Some airlines allow younger children to travel only on nonstop or direct flights.
• Many will charge a fee of $30-60 if an airline employee must assist a minor in order to change planes.
• Most require the parent or guardian to fill out a form detailing the child's name, age, medical considerations and other relevant information.
• Most require the parent or legal guardian to agree that the airline will not take any special responsibility of guardianship during the flight.

Airlines are careful to make clear that they have no obligations to the child before or after the flight. If no parent or guardian is available to pick up the minor at the end of the flight or even in the middle of a trip if a connecting flight is canceled or delayed, some airlines will turn the child over to the local child welfare authorities or the police.

Also, airline personnel cannot turn over an unaccompanied minor to a waiting parent or guardian without seeing the adult's identification and matching it with the information on the form filled out before departure.

Parent and Legal Guardian Requirements

Parents and legal guardians are responsible for bringing the child to the departure gate and having an authorized parent or guardian pick up the child on arrival. (In this situation, a "legal guardian" is simply the adult designated by the child's parent -- not someone appointed by a judge.)