Parents air-mail kids for holidays

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 17, 2004

Parents air-mail kids for holidays

Parents with busy schedules have discovered that "mailing" children to relatives during the Spring Festival may be the best option.

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Parents with busy schedules have discovered that "mailing" children to relatives during the Spring Festival may be the best option.

Li Ying, an employee at a Beijing IT firm, just "mailed" her 11-year-old son to Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou Province, on Thursday.

"I have lots of work to do in Beijing during the Spring Festival this year but my parents down in south badly need to cuddle their grandson," Li said.

"I decided to let my son fly alone to give him a chance to learn self-reliance."

However, Li's son will not feel lonely in the air because dozens of his peers will also be flying solo, with stewardesses looking after them.

Recognizing a rise in the number of kids travelling alone, many airlines have launched special services for children between 5 and 12.

Air staff take care of those children during their flight, help them find baggage after landing and hand them to their relatives at the doorway of their destination airports.

The Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou of South China's Guangdong Province has received an average of more than 100 children travelling alone every day since January 11, airport staff said on Friday.

The airport in Guangzhou, one of the country's economic and employment hubs, saw a record 147 kids arrive alone on Thursday.

Most of them came from big cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Chongqing.

Some airlines have even established special lounges for children and elderly people travelling alone, airport staff said.

Kids travelling alone all wear special marks or hanging bags provided by airlines. They can get toys, books or snacks at the special lounges while waiting for their planes, airport staff said.

Officials with Air China have warned parents not to send much carry-on baggage with their children and to clearly label it.

Parents have also been asked to choose day-time flights for kids travel alone kids to guarantee easier trip. And those kids need to reach airports at least one-and-a-half hours in advance to do checkups.

Since many airlines have limited spaces for children travelling alone,up to five per flight, parents need to apply for the special service two or three days in advance.

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