Here’s an airline service fee increase that’s sure to get the attention of families on a budget: apparently the list of rate hikes includes unaccompanied minor fees.

Divorced families with visitation court orders in particular find themselves in this situation. I know that in Michigan the divorce agreements these days commonly specify the parents have to live within a certain distance of each other … and I am very glad my Ohio divorce papers did not have such a clause. A lot can happen before the kid turns 18 that you never expected.

Both my ex-husband and I left our hometown in order to find better jobs. Yes, we did end up in different cities, and eventually different states. That’s life. I don’t think it should be necessary to explain to a judge when you have a child custody agreement, “Gee, whiz, I’m moving to another city BECAUSE I HAVE A JOB!!!” The only requirement in that case should be to switch over to a visitation calendar that takes the distance into consideration.

Anyway, I digress. The fact is many parents who are either under court order for a long distance visitation or who want their children to visit other relatives in another state are putting unaccompanied minors on airplanes.

I ran into that situation the first time my daughter flew. She was a teenager traveling alone on behalf of one of her volunteer committees. I couldn’t afford to tag along, because that travel would have been on my own dime. You can bet I was pretty nervous, but the unaccompanied minor program was more hands-on than we needed and there were fees involved. I settled instead for a free gate pass at Detroit Metro where I could personally walk her to the gate and wait with her for the plane; an adult from the committee met her at her destination; and the kid kept her cell phone charged so we knew where she was.

As CNN reports today, unaccompanied minor is one of the airline fees that has bumped up.

But they’ve got some tips:

Fees for unaccompanied minors are nothing new. But the rise in this particular charge is unprecedented, and as a parent, I’m calling for a reality check. Alaska Airlines jacked its price from $30 to $75 a few weeks ago. Spirit hiked its unaccompanied minor fee from $50 to $75. Not to be outdone, many legacy airlines raised their fees to $100, in some cases doubling them.

Again, many airlines blamed the rise in these fees on higher fuel costs. Which absolutely defies logic. How much more fuel does it cost to transport a featherweight unaccompanied minor, as opposed to, say, the average overweight American? Run the numbers. At $100 per flight, that’s an awfully expensive babysitter, considering that the going rate for a sitter is around $10 an hour.

How to get around it: Fly with junior this summer. If you’re sending two kids to visit the relatives, you might as well come along. You’ll pay the airline the equivalent in unaccompanied minor fees if you decide to stay home. Plus, you’ll be able to keep an eye on your offspring.