Good point, Paxboy
Have a contingency strategy, write it down so that the kid can understand it and go through it with him to make sure he understands it.
Such as " When you get to HKG and change planes, go up to the stewardess when you leave the aircraft and say "I'm an Unacccompanied Minor. I have to change onto flight XX123. Where do I have to go and what do I have to do?"
"If you get to AKL and there's no-one to meet you, go to the Information Desk and say "I'm an Unacccompanied Minor, I'm supposed to be met by XXX, he/she's not here, please call them at this number"
Do this for every step of the journey where there's a process change.
It really works. I once sat next to Ludmilla, a Russian lady from St Petersburg who had flown LED-AMS-SIN on her way to CHC to visit her daughter and grandchildren.
Not a word of English (I interrogated her with sign language about caviar and suchlike in her luggage, filled out her Ag & Fish and Immigration forms and took her through Customs) but someone had minutely documented every step of the way in Russian with graphics of significant signage in English and lists of the right questions to ask.
She'd got as far as SIN without mishap, so it works.