On 19-Mar-12 11:20, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 11:10:46 on Mon, 19 Mar
2012, Stephen Sprunk remarked:
(On another note, I flew Transatlantic with such an airline last year,
and did wonder how they cope with unaccompanied minors, who almost
certainly won't have any cards).

Just tell minors to use their cash to buy a gift card before they board.

Eventually you may come to accept that gift cards like that are only
available in the USA. It's been mentioned half a dozen times already,
but maybe if we keep saying it you'll believe it.

They can buy the cards at the airport before they leave on an eastbound
transatlantic (or westbound transpacific) flight.

How long do you think it'll take until such cards are available at the
other end of those flights? It's not a difficult concept to grasp.

I suspect the only reason they don't _already_ exist is the cost of the
EMV chip required by many European merchants. However, that will have
to be solved in the US market in a few years as well, as gift cards are
an established (and profitable) product here that won't be going away.

Even ignoring that, minors certainly _can_ have cards; I got my first at
15 and could have gotten one sooner if there had been a reason to. In
theory, a minor can't be the _primary_ cardholder since they aren't
considered competent to execute contracts, but there is no minimum age
for a secondary card. And some banks don't ask the applicant's age, as
in my case, so a minor can indeed get their own card from such banks.

That's most likely another USA thing,

Do European banks not have the concept of secondary cards? Each gets
their own card with their own name on it, and they're linked to a common
account, but secondary card holders are _not_ signatories to the card
contract and therefore are not legally liable for payment--which means
they can be minors.

Not asking applicants' age in the first place is risky, but there are
lots of stupid banks out there--or who know some applicants will be
underage and are willing to take the risk in order to buy the loyalty of
future adult customers before other banks are paying attention.

and a bit of a sledgehammer to crack this nut.

Obviously, one wouldn't open an account for a single trip. However,
millions of teens _already_ have cards, including minors, and can use
them on said trip. Those who are flying regularly, particularly
internationally, are probably _most_ likely to have cards.

S

--
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking