Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
My exwife lives in Tennessee with my child and I live in Texas. I am responsible for flying her to me and she is responsible for her flight back home. For the past 5 years I fly down and fly the both of us back home which is 3 plane tickets I pay for and the same for my ex. In my decree it states that after the age of 5 our daughter can fly unaccompanied as long as its a non stop flight and we are at the airport waiting to pick her up at the gate. My daughter is 10 1/2 and we still fly with her. I want to let her fly alone since at the age of 12 Soutwest Airlines no longer considers them an unaccompanied minor and will not have a flight attendant with her at all times. I believe we should let her get used toflying alone before then. My ex is flipping out and refuses. I want to stand my ground but there is one paragraph that makes me hesitate on enforcing what the decress says. "Flight Arrangements- It is ordered that Charles E. Charbonneau shall make airline reservations for the child only on major commercial passenger airlines on flights having no change of airplanes between the airport of departure and the airport of final arrival. It is further ordered that Charles E. Charbonneau shall make airline reservations for the child on flights that depart from a commercial airport near the residence of Robin E. Charbonneau that offers regularly scheduled passenger flights to various cities throughout the United States on major commercial passenger airlines."
My question is, The airport in Knoxville (closest to her) only has nonstop flights to Houston (an airport 4 hours from me) and cost upwards of $570 plus a $100 chlid fee whereas San Antonio (the airport nearest to me) offers nonstop flights that are in the $100 to $200 range without a child fee but that only flies to Nashville (an airport 3 hours from her). For the last 5 years we have only flown her between San Antonio and Nashville since Southwest offers the best prices and flight options. If we enforce the decree and schedule the child to fly alone per decree and we are responsible for the flight from her residence to ours, do we have to fly her from the airport closest to her or can it be the airport closest to us like we currently do? Would she have any ground to fight us on that? Less tickets mean we can fly her down more often and I feel my ex is trying to keep that from happening.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Since you have used Southwest for such a long time, you have a good argument that Southwest is an acceptable carrier. Also, the decree requires nonstop flights to an airport near your ex. It does not require you to make reservations to the airport nearest her or nearest you. Also this only seems to apply to the flight back to Texas.
Before doing anything. I suggest you contact a travel agent to help you research this and explore options.
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