I read a book about raising daughters, "What a Difference a Daddy Makes." (Yes, yes, I know -- but I know so little about the opposite sex that I didn't think it could hurt.) The point is, the author said he never let his children fly alone -- even if it meant crisscrossing the country himself for no other reason than to play chaperone on United or, worse, AirTran.

At first I thought he was crazy, but I began to wonder whether I would do the same when my own daughter comes to "flying alone age" (11 months, is it?). My wife, Dana, flew alone as a child and now takes a measure of pride that she slipped away from her steward captors, hopped off the plane in Chicago and called her parents while eating a hamburger. Her parents ordered her back to the plane immediately.

I just read this story and think my indecision has come to an end. It seems an 8-year-old girl was flying solo on a Southwest flight and, because there are no assigned seats, ended up next to a touchy businessman -- I'm talking about you Ronald Evan Mays, 46, who lives in Palm Harbor, Fla., and also likes child porn. Mays was convicted of abusive sexual contact with a child, because he generally acted like a sicko.

This story aside, what do you think -- is flying alone safe for kids? If so, at what age?