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Unaccompanied minor told to drink coffee by Northwest Airlines employee - gets sick
We'll file this one under "lawsuit in the making". When Payton Parkerson was on her way to see her mother, she was flying as an unaccompanied minor - something she'd done several times before. This trip would turn out to be quite different.During a layover in Detroit, she mentioned to the Northwest Airlines employee accompanying her that she was tired. Instead of providing a listening ear or a friendly smile, the employee told her to go and get herself a cup of coffee.
Now, millions of people grab a cup of joe at the Airport Starbucks every day, but Payton is 8. That's right - this 8 year old who was being assisted by Northwest Airlines (their service costs $100) was told to go get some coffee, and pay for it herself.
Of course, with that much caffeine in her system, Payton got sick, and threw up twice on her flight. Thankfully a pediatrician was on board, and was able to take care of the poor kid.
Northwest Airlines issued the following statement: "We are continuing our investigation as the story you have provided us doesn't match our records".
No idea what that means, but as with all stories, there may be a different side to this one.
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Filed under: News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
tort reform May 5th 2009 1:39PM
Oh no, a precious little snowflake had a tummy ache!!
Caro May 10th 2009 2:37PM
This is not just a "tummy ache" problem. There can be much more caffeine in a coffee than a soda, and caffeine that is more readily absorbed. A child drinking coffee, depending on the beans and the brew, could potentially ingest enough caffeine to trigger heart failure. This could easily have resulted in a fatality if the child had any kind of heart arrythmia to begin with, and even with a normal functioning heart could have caused serious health issues in a child that young. I will state for the record that I flew not long ago on a flight seated next to a young girl that was supposed to be "escorted" by the airlines. She was taken to a seat in the waiting area between flights totally out of sight of airline personnel, on the other side of a wall from them in fact, and told to stay there. No one watched her or checked on her, and she was 8 years old. When the connecting flight was cancelled due to engine trouble, I helped her get another flight, because the airline personnel had forgotten she existed. I also paid to call her father and let him know she would be coming in on a different flight, as the airlines did not do this. I should mention that I was a total stranger to this girl, who was 8 and flying for the first time. I asked the airlines rep what they would have done if I hadn't secured this girl the last seat on the last plane to her destination that evening. The rep said casually that they would have put her up in a hotel for the night. When I asked more questions, I discovered they would have put her in that room by herself, with no adult to watch over her! She would have been terrified, poor girl. Parents, please don't let your children fly by themselves, anything could happen to them. If I had been a perpetrator I could have walked off with that girl, and no one ever would have known what happened to her. What's worse, she would have gone with me, because she saw me, I'm sure, as the only helpful and friendly face in the whole ordeal. She saw me as safe, and I was a stranger. I understand that the parents think it's safe because the airlines charge as if they are actually providing a service. I wouldn't have known the truth if I hadn't seen it for myself up close and personal. Shame on the airlines for collecting a fee for nothing, and allowing parents to think it is safe and that their child will be looked after.
meredith May 9th 2009 1:58AM
You regularly serve kids coffee? even 2 year olds. Wow I hope you're not and never will be a parent. It's bad enough that the poor kids suffer with stupid parents with NO common sense and severe lack of good judgement! Caffine is BAD for kids. Their systems can't handle the effects of the drug caffine. Caffine even bothers adults systems. Jesus you people need to grow up an take some common sense classes.
no, lets think for a sec May 9th 2009 2:12AM
No. Simply no. The child had a tummy ache. that does not warrant putting undo burden on our court systems to rule what should be common sense. Hence my previous nom de guerre. The child had a poor flying experience, not a life altering illness.
What is a childhood without a few bruised knees? Now, perhaps your judgment could be best suited for cases of real concern?
pat May 5th 2009 4:57PM
i have kids all the time on my plane ask for coffee and their parents let them. what is the difference in a coke and a coffee anyway? i have had to serve coffee to kids as young as two years old and in a sippy cup.
Sparkles May 8th 2009 5:01PM
The difference is the parents allowing it or a stranger offering it. Some parents allow their children to have a sip of wine with dinner. That is very different from a stranger offering a child alcohol. An eight year old is way too young to travel alone, BUT the airline took on that resposibility when they took the money. Anyone who is left in charge of young children should know better than to offer them anything to eat or drink.
Bbbbb May 8th 2009 5:18PM
You are without a brain to serve so young a person coffee. Caffein is a highly potent drug for so young a person because of there central nervous system at that age. Sleep for children is the answer; they are growing and become tired easily. -Da!
Marie May 8th 2009 7:09PM
I totally agree, Pat. Us kids use to drink coffee at his age. Most kids start out with lots of milk and sugar flavored by the coffee. New Yorkers use to flavor the baby's bottle with coffee too. It is my favorite drink.
courtney May 9th 2009 12:41AM
2 years old ,you have a problem
Scarlet Morgan May 10th 2009 2:39AM
First of all, I don't believe this happened quite as it was reported. I believe the employee likely told the kid to go get a drink . The employee likely said something like "See Starbucks over there?....You can buy a drink there. Without more instruction the kid likely thought the employee wanted her to buy coffee and did. Once the kid returned with the coffee, the employee realized the choice the kid had made, but also knew coffee wasn't going to kill an 8 year old, so she said nothing more. That's what sounds sensible to me. I strongly doubt the kid said "I'm tired, and the employee said, go get some coffee." Even if I'm wrong and it happened just as the kid reported, it's no big deal....Coffee isn't illegal for kids to drink and has less caffeine in it than some soft drinks.
ClmsnGrl May 5th 2009 7:38PM
Never too young to start drinking coffee!
Stijn May 6th 2009 4:50AM
Unless that kid is allergic to caffeine that coffee was a great option. I'm sure she didn't feel tired anymore.
Sha May 8th 2009 3:35PM
God, I guess Child Protective Services should go to places like Colombia and take all the children away because kids there are given *gasp* coffee as soon as they can walk. I was told as a kid by my aunt that I could not have the coffee the adults were drinking because it would "stunt my growth". Hmm, well, I finally did sneak some of that growth-stunting coffee and I'm all grown now and I'm 5'8"- and I'm a female! This crap is laughable. Suing over anything these days. People, get a grip.
JEAN May 8th 2009 2:09PM
AT AGE 17 MONTHS, AND DEATHLY ILL, A GRANDMOTHER BOILED SOME COFFEE UNTIL IT WAS A HEAVY SYRUP, FED IT TO ME IN A SPOON, AND THE ATTENDING DOCTOR TOLD THE FAMILY IF THE GRANDMOTHER HAD NOT DONE THAT, I WOULD HAVE DIED. I AM NOW IN MY 70'S AND HAVE ALWAYS HAD AT LEAST ONE CUP OF COFFEE PER DAY SINCE THAT TIME. I DON'T KNOW THE BRAND OF COFFEE USED BACK THEN, BUT GUESS THAT MATTERS NOT IN THESE TIMES OF SUCH BRILLIANCE.
Jib May 8th 2009 7:28PM
what were you deathly ill from? Caffein withdrawals?
Caro May 10th 2009 2:38PM
This worked because caffeine IS a drug, and is both an expectorant and an emetic. In other words, in concentrated doses it will cause you to cough up phlegm, and in larger concentrated doses (boiled til most of the liquid is gone) it can be used to induce vomiting. Useful enough when you don't have cough syrup or syrup of ipecac on hand in case someone is poisined and you WANT them to vomit, or in cases where someone is drowning on their own lung secretions, but not what you want to give an 8 year old for any other reason. Yes, we probably all had a little sip or two of coffee as children and we lived, but the key here is that we drank it usually diluted with water or milk and we sipped small quantities of a weak brew, not one that had probably sat on a burner all day and concentrated. It is doubtful that many of us as children were given a cup the size of today's coffee cups and were told to have at it, and while we are at it to drink a lot to keep us awake.
michele May 8th 2009 2:12PM
Sounds to me like a setup. Look for lawsuits against the airline, the poor schmuck who got stuck "accompanying" this kid AND Starbucks. There are two sides to every story and something about this one smells.
Personally, I think the airlines should drop their "unaccompanied minors" programs. If an adult known to the child can't fly with him/her, then the kid should not be on the plane. In this day and age, there are too many problems that can arise from a child being assigned to a stranger, even if that person is employed by the airline for that purpose. Too many accusations ( whether true or untrue ) can be levied. It's not a responsibility the airlines should take on.
As for the coffee? I've seen parents at sporting events pouring that stuff into their kids to make them "perform" better. It's insane. I know this much, if the girl involved in this incident had never had coffee before, she would NOT have finished it. Especially with kids, it's an aquired taste.
Before the media jumped all over this story, they should have considered the entire picture BEFORE crucifying an adult who may be the victim of a fabricated, well-thought-out plan. JMHO
SuLu May 8th 2009 8:32PM
ditto!
Gigi May 8th 2009 6:59PM
Some families do not have any choice but to allow their children to fly as Unaccompanied Minors. As part of my divorce decree, my children were court-ordered to fly to see their dad twice a month at his expense. Would you expect that (on a teacher's modest salary) I fly them to him and return home on a Friday, and then fly back on Sunday just to return them -- or to for me to bear the expense of four hotel nights each month in the city that he chose for relocation? Sending them at ages 8 and 10 tore me apart. However, my children flew Southwest Airlines exclusively -- with no Unaccompanied Minor fee -- and were always treated like gold. Southwest had strict procedures regarding who could receive the children after each flight, and required that the flights be nonstop or one-stop with no change in aircraft. I will always be grateful to the crews of Southwest for their excellent and caring service for the years in which my young children were required to be in their care. [In this case, Northwest should have had the cell numbers of the child's parents, called them about the child's tiredness if there was anything but a nap to be suggested, and followed the parent's instructions.]
Rita May 8th 2009 7:50PM
I agree Michele...who would send an 8 year old on a plane by themselves? If somebody is ignorant enough to send a small child off on a trip alone, they should expect something could go wrong. She probably got air sick ....duh.. that's why there's barf bags in the back of every airplane seat.Now I guess some poor flight attendant will be fired for this b.s....It shouldn't even be legal in the first place.If a parent left their child in a car unattended for 2 minutes while running into a market to pay for gas, they could be charged with child endangerment!! But you can send them across country with a plane full (and airport full)of strangers ALL ALONE??? Crazy.