Airline Horror Story: Parents Beware!

[iamjoy]

OK, maybe "horror story" is an exaggeration, but this may cause parents to think twice before having their child fly as an unaccompanied minor. This happened on a major carrier.

My step-sister and her nine year old son live in California. My Mom and Step-Dad live here in Central Florida. They all decided to have the kid fly out here to visit Grandpa and Grandma, even if his mom couldn't come. So, Mom (a travel agent) found the ticket paying extra for a nonstop red eye flight on DL. They also had to pay the unaccompanied minor charge.

So, my step-sister gets a gate pass in LAX to take him to the gate. From what my nephew says, the flight attendants ignored him on the plane. They did not offer him a beverage. They did not offer him anything to eat (even though he had money to pay).

My step-father gets a gate pass here in MCO to meet him when he arrives. Only thing is, the airline changed the gate at the last minute. According to my step-father, they did not update the signs. So he goes to the original gate and there's nothing. Meanwhile, my nephew is waiting at the actual gate. The airline is now not sure what to do with them. Why they didn't think to call (they had contact numbers in the record) or page my step-father is beyond me. My step-nephew gets handed off to like half a dozen airline employees, finally ending up in the lost luggage department. Lost luggage! He waited for at least an hour (again, ignored) before my step-father managed to track him down.

Did I mention my mother is a travel agent? Did I mention she told this story to her manager?
It's possible there are some exaggerations in this tale, you know how kids are, but my nephew is not the kind to be dramatic like that. Besides, we know from my step-father how long it took him to find his grandson.

So, next time you're flying and the airline loses your bag, just be glad they didn't lose your kid!

[carly denise pt deux]

1. I could never trust anyone to watch over my kids, much less strangers

my kids never flew alone, I know lots of people who have kids that have flown safely, but I just could never trust anyone, I would have never forgiven myself if something had happened to them, because I was not there to fly with them, so we went everywhere together or no where.