Many parents, including myself, would be irritated if a 12 or 13 year old had to travel as an unaccompanied minor so it's certainly a situation every parent has to evaluate. Considering the child is only checked on occasionally during flight and there's not really much else to the service I don't see why it would be necessary for my child. Southwest's unaccompanied minor service also does not allow for connections that involve a plane change which could be a limitation for some parents if kids older than 11 were required to travel as unaccompanied minors. --TheMiddleSeat
... View more