The service that simply does not exist
The section you cannot copy from anyone, because the whole point is an absence.
Almost every airline a family in the United States has dealt with sells an unaccompanied-minor program: you pay a fee, a staff member meets the child, walks them through the airport, sits them near the crew and hands them to a named adult on arrival. It is such a standard product that most parents never question that it will be there. Viva Aerobus does not offer it. The airline states plainly that it has no unaccompanied-minor service, so there is nothing to add to the booking and no employee whose job is to look after your child.
Read that consequence all the way through, because it is easy to underestimate. It does not mean a young child simply pays no fee and flies the same way. It means a child who travels without an adult has nobody from the airline responsible for them at any point: not at check-in, not at the gate, not in the air, not through immigration, not in the arrivals hall. That is why the rest of this page is strict about which children can be alone at all. When a child is too young or a trip too complex for that to be safe, the only correct answer on Viva is an adult on the same booking, traveling on the same plane.
Who can actually fly alone, and where
The route limits that decide whether a solo child is even allowed on the flight.
Because no one from Viva supervises a solo minor, the airline draws hard lines around when a child under 14 may travel without an adult at all. Those lines are about the shape of the trip, not just the child's age.
A minor under 14 may fly solo only on a direct domestic flight, or a direct flight to or from Colombia, Costa Rica or Cuba. Any other international routing for a solo under-14 is out.
A solo minor under 14 cannot be on a connecting itinerary, and Viva's self-connect product, Escala Express, is explicitly not allowed. There is no staff to move a child between two flights, so the airline does not permit the trip in the first place.
From 14 the route restriction above eases, but the airline still provides no supervision, and documents may still be required. Do not assume a 15-year-old is treated like an adult everywhere; confirm the specific trip with us before you book.
What a solo minor cannot do on Viva
The refusal list, in the open, because meeting it at the counter is the expensive way.
On an international trip the minor handles their own immigration and customs formalities. No airline representative walks them through the process, so the child has to be capable of it alone before you commit to the routing.
A child flying alone cannot be treated as the guardian of a younger sibling. Two children traveling together does not make one of them the adult, so a pair of minors without a grown-up is not a solution.
A solo minor cannot bring a pet, an emotional support animal or a service animal. If the animal has to fly, an adult has to fly, because the child cannot be the one responsible for it.
Exit-row seats require an adult able to help in an evacuation, so decline any tempting extra-legroom upsell for a child's seat. It is not eligible and the seat request will be refused.
The authorization letter that changes by route
The document trap that catches families at the border, spelled out.
A minor needs a notarized authorization letter, and the detail that trips people up is that the exact document set is not one-size-fits-all. It differs by the border you are crossing. A domestic Mexican flight, a Mexico to United States flight, and flights between Mexico and Colombia, Costa Rica or Cuba each call for a slightly different combination of documents. Prepare the version for the wrong route and a correctly notarized letter can still be the reason a child does not board.
Viva publishes an official form for the authorization letter, which you can find at Viva's authorization-for-minors form. Use it, have it notarized, and pack it as a physical original alongside the child's identity documents. Because minors' exit and entry requirements are set by governments as well as the airline, and because they change, confirm your specific route with the relevant consulate and with us before travel. This is a call worth making a week early, not a form to sort out in a departures queue at dawn.
Infants and seats: who needs a ticket
The lap-versus-seat decision that changes the price and what you can bring.
Viva's seating rules for young travelers are straightforward once you know the age line. Every child aged 2 to 17 needs their own paid seat, the same as an adult. A child under 2 has two options: travel free as a lap infant, or occupy their own paid seat.
The trade-off is worth understanding before you book. A free lap infant comes with no baggage allowance of its own, so everything the baby needs travels on the adult's allowance. A paid seat, on the other hand, lets you use an FAA-recommended car seat or child restraint system, which many parents prefer for a squirming toddler on a full flight. Neither choice is wrong; they simply cost and carry differently. Tell us the child's age and how much you are bringing, and we will lay out which option actually works out better for your trip before anything is charged.
Before you book, the checklist
Six answers now prevent a child being refused at the counter.
- Is the child truly flying alone? Viva has no service to supervise them, so an adult on the plane is the safe default
- Under 14 and solo? Direct flight only, and only domestic or to and from Colombia, Costa Rica or Cuba
- No connection in the plan? A solo minor cannot be on a connecting or Escala Express itinerary
- Authorization letter prepared for the right route? Use Viva's official form and have it notarized
- No animal and no exit-row seat for a child traveling alone
- Seats sorted: a paid seat for each child 2 to 17, and a lap-versus-car-seat decision for an infant under 2
Assume the answer is an adult on the ticket, then work backwards. Because Viva has no chaperone service, the safest starting point for any young child is that a grown-up flies with them, and you only move off that if the child is genuinely old enough and the route genuinely qualifies. When you call us, that is the first thing we test, before we look at a single fare, so you never build a trip around a service that was never on offer.
Frequently asked
Does Viva Aerobus have an unaccompanied-minor service?+
Can a child fly alone on Viva Aerobus?+
What documents does a minor need to fly Viva Aerobus?+
Does a child need their own seat on Viva Aerobus?+
Contact options
Reach Viva Aerobus directly, or let us check every rule against your itinerary.
Contact Viva Aerobus directly
The airline's own channels, free.
These are Viva's own channels; confirm current rules for minors at vivaaerobus.com, where you can arrange the trip yourself at no cost. Note that delayed or damaged baggage is handled by email and the online portal, not by phone.
More Viva Aerobus help
Related guides.