Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Continental Airlines flies ten year old girl to the wrong airport
About a month ago, we wrote about an airline serving an unaccompanied minor a large cup of coffee. If you thought that was reckless behavior, you are going to be outraged by what Continental Airlines did to a minor traveling under their supervision. The airline had been paid to accompany a ten year old on a flight from Boston to Cleveland, a pretty simple task, especially since this is just a 45 minute flight.
Sadly, the airline staff are apparently not capable of reading signs, because they put this poor girl on the wrong flight.
Instead of flying to Cleveland, Continental Airlines flew her to Newark. To add insult to injury, they then called her grandparents asking them to come pick her up, even though their paperwork showed an Ohio address and they were calling an Ohio phone number.
It took Continental Airlines 45 minutes to discover their terrible mistake, helped by the fact that 2 grandparents were at an airport to pick up a child who was actually 450 miles away.
Continental refunded the unaccompanied minor fee, and put the kid on a plane to Cleveland within an hour. The whole story boggles the mind - they put a kid on the wrong plane, nobody noticed an extra passenger on the wrong plane, nobody noticed a missing minor on the correct flight, and nobody noticed they had received a ten year old girl at an airport where she was not supposed to be.
As always, this is just one side of the story, hopefully we'll get a response from Continental Airlines telling their side of the story.
Gallery: More horrible travel accidents from around the globe
**Update!!** According to the Boston Globe, it now appears that two unaccompanied minors were lost by Continental Airlines! One young woman was accidentally sent to Fayetteville, Arkansas instead of Charlotte, NC while the other was sent to Cleveland instead of Newark. Whether these happened on the same day at the same gate is unclear right now -- the Globe seems to have conflicting statements --- but to have lost two minors over any period is surely a disaster!
(Via Consumerist.com)
Reader Comments (Page 7 of 7)
deb Jun 17th 2009 8:04PM
Is everyone not getting it. The American People are being used and abused
by everyone and everything we pay for. We have become stupid, unquestioning
idiots, fat and ready to be plucked. Get rid of the lawyers. No more rules without
clear consequences, that only makes them rich. Make a rule, make a consequence. Not a lawsuit. Stand up, complain, demand satisfaction. Not
violence, just firm voices. We have become cowards. We are paying for it and
our children will pay even more. STAND UP. Deb
Laura Jun 17th 2009 8:05PM
Once flew Continental from Salt Lake City, UT to Oakland, CA. It was supposed to be a non-stop flight, but about two hours into the flight the pilot came on the system and says that there will be a slight change in plans. Seems that the pilot for some stupid reason, thought we were supposed to stop first in Denver, CO. I guess when they got into the air he pointed the airplane in the direction of Denver and put the craft on autopilot and took a nap. When he got up we were a half-hour out of Denver and requesting landing instructions. That's when he found out he wasn't supposed to be going to Denver. What an idiot! What was supposed to be a three hour flight home took over 5 1/2 hours that day. I'm definitely never flying Continental ever again.
Jessica Jun 17th 2009 8:11PM
It's not irresponsible on the part of the parents because they were told that their child was being taken care of, and that all necessary precautions were put in place. They paid for the privilege most likely, as well. The airlines have it set up so that an airline employee, presumably an adult who can read, accompanies the child to the plane. It's not that difficult to read a sign, a ticket, and to take the kid to the correct place, is it really? Why should a parent think that an employee who is ASSIGNED to the child would make such a careless, stupid mistake? Each and every employee who screwed it up should be fired, because we have more at stake than even a child's safety. Remember 9/11? With all of our tax dollars and airline fees going towards counterterrorism, airline employees who are not on the alert and can't READ or THINK should be fired. We have plenty of responsible and educated people who would love to have a job in this era, and would care about the safety of a child as well as our country.
wer Jun 17th 2009 8:27PM
you stupid idiot I just told you that the continental web site says there are airports where parents cannot go with their children to the gate not only that there have been postings herte where it has been said where parents cant go to the gate r u a total fucking idiot
Former Flight Attendant Jun 17th 2009 8:30PM
I was a flight attendant years ago, and I always felt terrible for the young kids who were flying alone. Often they would be so frightened that they would get sick. We usually had them sit in the front row, so we could keep an eye on them, but we didn't have time to sit with them during the flight. It's not that we didn't care, we did, but we had to serve the whole plane full of people. I am not blaming anyone, but as a mother, I would never have let my kids fly alone. I know it's tough for the parents and expensive to fly, and maybe sometimes there is no choice, but this can be really scary experience for young kids, even when everything goes as planned.
jeets Jun 18th 2009 5:00PM
Oh, My God! What is this world coming to? How dare the airline do this great injustice of sending the girl to the wrong city? C’mon people. What the heck is wrong with you? Better yet, what the hey is wrong with the reporter? This is another non-event, non-newsworthy story put out as a big controversy to keep people divided and arguing over every single detail of life.
Big deal. A mistake was made and the girl went to the wrong city. So what? If it had been a one-stop flight, she could have had to go to that city anyway. To err is human. When it was discovered, the airline did what it had to do to correct things. Yeah, if I was running the show, I would have given her a free ride. So they only gave her a refund on the error part. I would give a below average mark on that test paper.
But did anything bad happen? Was she sexually molested, raped, tortured, held captive, physically abused? No! She just went for an extra long ride.
Oh, wait a minute! She was physically abused. They gave her a LAAARRRGGGEEE cup of coffee. Imagine the pain she will have to endure for the rest of her life. Indeed, to give a young person a cup of LAAAARRRRGGGEEE coffee full of caffeine is disgraceful. They should have given her a Coke or Mountain Dew. Ooops! They have caffeine. How about some chocolate? Ooops! Some caffeine there too. Maybe they should have brought in a dietician so she would be properly nourished for the extra few hours she was away from home.
To the writer of this story, if your mind is boggled by this, find another job that requires little thinking.
Yolanda Jun 19th 2009 2:22AM
Exactly, irresponsible people who always blame others for their mistakes will no doubt blame the airline for the mishap; responsible adults AND responsible parents will undoubtedly be saying : where were the parents of this child the hour prior to boarding the plane in which they sit at the gate and wait... alone? This poor kid was obviosuly not ready to fly solo because she could not figure out that at the gate they post the flight number and the city to which the plane leaving from that gate is going to. I feel so sad for her, hopefully she will have no long-term issues of trust and being afraid thanks to her irresponsible parents/guardians that left her all alone to her fate! They should be given some sort of pusnishment, that's for sure!
Savvy newyorker Jun 27th 2009 3:57PM
You know what, I don't understand or completely believe this story at all. I have two grandchildren who fly unescorted. They have been doing this since they could age 7 or 8 I think . I had to physically escort them to the plane, they were wearing a big tag that said where they were from and where they were going. NO EMPLOYEE TOUCHED THEM IN TERMS OF BOARDING. This was Jet Blue. Does Continental just grab children and place them on planes. Where are the people who took them to the airport? Jet Blue insists that you put them on the flight and that the guardian or who ever pick them up with id. Is this a fake story.