"ALL" Aboard, except the parents

A conversation that I have had a few times with different people from time to time, is the subject of children flying without parents. The other day when I was at the airport with my folks, there were 12 children traveling to Seattle alone. Some might have had siblings, but no adult and certainly no parent.

I am not sure why this bothers me so much, but it does. I just can't imagine placing my child on a plane alone to visit a grandparent or whomever, knowing the history of the airline industry. Cancelled flights, delays, emergency landings, etc.

I have a hard time with all of these scenarios, let alone a child. I think of all of the "what if's" and I get that sick feeling in my belly.

So, that leads me to another point, or apology.

My sister got invited to a party in Maine for her best friend. I said that she should go, and that I would watch the kids, she could just go overnight and come home. She politly passed on the offer, and OF COURSE what did I do... Continued with MY reasons why she should go, not paying attention to the underlying reason why she didnt want to.

She didnt want to travel without them incase something happened. I know only to well this feeling as I last year was to travel for my job to St.Paul, and had a panic attack while boarding the plane, and couldnt get on. Needless to say, I never made it to St.Paul and lost my job. BUT I did make it home safe, and that was the most important thing to me. So, I get that 100%, and as i said before I am trying to "talk less and listen more".

So, knowing two parents who dont want to travel without their kids, how is it that many can and do?

I would love to hear the otherside of this conversation to get a better perspecitve, maybe I am missing something.