Southwest Airlines has both increased their fee, and made it easier to book unaccompanied minor travel - you can now book travel for children traveling as unaccompanied minors online. There is a lot of paperwork that goes along with booking young travelers as unaccompanied minors, so having a feature where you can do so online could be a huge timesaver at the airport.
I know from having worked at check-in, it can take anywhere from 5 minutes to about 20 minutes to fill out all the forms in person, so being able to do this from home instead of the airport seems a huge bonus.
With Southwest Airlines, children 5 to 11 traveling without an accompanying passenger who is 12 or older must travel as unaccompanied minors (UMs). UMs may only travel on nonstop flights, connecting flights are not allowed.
Southwest Airlines' Teresa Laraba, Senior Vice President of Customer Services spoke about the impetus for the online booking tool for unaccompanied minor travel - "During a recent audit, we identified several opportunities, including the creation of an online booking tool for UMs and an enhancement in the Employee training that comes along with handling our young passengers who are flying solo."
Now to the fee hike (which, even with the increase, is still lower than several major airlines). The UM service charge has increased from $25 to $50 each way.
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