Unaccompanied minors stranded

To those questioning my comments, do you really not think there were other possibilities?

Re. transportation to the hotel, the airline should have utilized some kind of transportation designed for passenger transport, such as a hotel shuttle or taxi. Both the airline as well as the employee who drove was taking a huge liability risk.

Re. the hotel, there should have been at least two adults present, to both protect the children as well as protect the adults from any kind of false accusations. Also, unrelated children should not have been sleeping in the same bed, as reported by the father (assuming he's truthful about that).

while I agree in theory, where is this hotel than has enough beds for two adults and several minor children - all unrelated children in separate beds yet all in the same room (for supervision). I am thinking cots in a secure area of the airport may have been a better arrangement (albeit less comfortable). But then, we would have heard how that was a bad idea.
 
This story reminds me of a situation we encountered several years ago, but with an elderly person instead of a child. My Mom (in her late 70's) and I were flying from Florida home. It was a late flight and we were supposed to land about midnight. Due to thunderstorms our plan was diverted to another airport about a 3-hour drive away. Once we landed, we were told we were waiting for the weather to clear and then we would leave again for our home airport. After sitting on the tarmac an hour, we pulled up to a gate and were told to get off the plane. A gate agent told us that we were all rebooked on flights the next morning, but that we were on our own to either find a hotel room over night, or just sit in the airport. At this point it was about 1:30am. They did not provide hotel vouchers because the delay was due to weather. They had unloaded all our luggage from the plane and we were told to collect it on our way out.

I started explaining to my Mom that we were going to go to the Westin hotel in the airport and try to get a room. At that point I noticed another older woman who was listening in to our conversation. She appeared really lost and confused. We asked if she was okay. She starting crying and said she didn't know what to do. She didn't have a cell phone or a credit card. Her son was going to pick her up at our home airport and she didn't know how to reach him. I suggested she come with us to the Westin as I couldn't see her sitting up all night in the airport or renting a car to drive home. Once we got to the lobby, she used my phone to call her son. He was frantic since he didn't know how to reach her. We handed the phone to the Westin desk clerk and he gave his credit card to pay for a room for her. I then helped her figure out how to find what flight she was on the next day and helped her print out her new boarding pass. She had calmed down and seemed fine to spend the night alone in the hotel.

The morale of the story.....its not just children you need to watch out for. Some adults are also thrown by changes/delays in flights and not equipped to handle changes without assistance. In our case, the airline agents were of zero help.
 
while I agree in theory, where is this hotel than has enough beds for two adults and several minor children - all unrelated children in separate beds yet all in the same room (for supervision). I am thinking cots in a secure area of the airport may have been a better arrangement (albeit less comfortable). But then, we would have heard how that was a bad idea.

I actually think that a space with cots in the airport would have been the best solution. But since the hotel was the preferred option, the airline should have secured enough rooms to ensure that unrelated children didn't share a bed, which obviously would necessitate additional supervising staff.
 


I can't believe they moved those children to a hotel. There should have been an area in the airport they could have stayed in, I know airports have cots for emergencies. If they had to keep on additional staff, then so be it. There should never be one adult alone with kids in a situation like this. It's not like you don't pay for this service.

i agree with the Dad, there should be uniform rules and procedures.
 
If I was the father, I'd be freaking grateful that someone cared enough to see that my children were fed and cared for. I certainly wouldn't be whining about the airline not doing things the way I would have wanted. But I would never have put my young child alone on a flight. If he had had to fly to see his father, I would have ponied up money for a ticket for myself too, then flown back home when he was safely delivered.
 


I'd like to say that I would never send one of my kids as an unaccompanied minor, because I don't trust ANYONE with my kids, but stuff happens. I'd like to think that if I had to send two young children out of state to visit their dad I would drive them or pay for my own plane ticket to accompany them myself. But again, stuff happens. I can't really say what I would do in this situation because it's not something I've ever faced. But I have allowed my son to vacation with friends and I made sure to get him a cell phone to take with him. I needed to know that he could contact me in case of emergency. He was probably 8 years old the first time he vacationed with this other family and it was just a cheap prepaid phone that I activated for a month. Who can't scrape together $30-$40 for a prepaid phone with one month of service when it's for their kid; I don't care how poor you are (and believe me, I've been there), that's a small price to pay for peace of mind.

The way the airline handled this is all wrong. Anyone who works with kids knows that you do not allow one employee to be one on one with a kid EVER. That is a huge mistake that the airline made and it's so disturbing to me that anyone would ever do this. I hope they are sued big time and I hope they lose.
 
Just saw a blurb about this on CNN. The gist was that Delta is the only airline with a policy in place to deal with this situation. The father wants an industry-wide policy. BTW, in the CNN interview, he came across as a publicity-seeking doofus.

Maybe he should have put them on a Delta flight then.
Sorry you can't cry foul when it was you who made the decision on what airline to send your young kids all alone on. If you didn't get all the info before you put them on the plane- you are the one at fault, not the airline.
 
The way the airline handled this is all wrong. Anyone who works with kids knows that you do not allow one employee to be one on one with a kid EVER. That is a huge mistake that the airline made and it's so disturbing to me that anyone would ever do this. I hope they are sued big time and I hope they lose.

They were not one on one alone with a child. There were six kids
Carter and Etta and four other kids stayed in a room at the Atlanta airport for about four hours and were taken to a hotel by a Frontier employee about 5 a.m.,

Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-flight-diverted-unaccompanied-minors-20180808-story.html

I would think that in order to file a lawsuit, one would have to show some sort of harm or damage. The kids were well taken care of, housed, fed (although maybe not to the parents' standards) and delivered safely. If I were on the jury for this sort of case, I would be in favor of the airline.
 
I'd like to say that I would never send one of my kids as an unaccompanied minor, because I don't trust ANYONE with my kids, but stuff happens. I'd like to think that if I had to send two young children out of state to visit their dad I would drive them or pay for my own plane ticket to accompany them myself. But again, stuff happens. I can't really say what I would do in this situation because it's not something I've ever faced. But I have allowed my son to vacation with friends and I made sure to get him a cell phone to take with him. I needed to know that he could contact me in case of emergency. He was probably 8 years old the first time he vacationed with this other family and it was just a cheap prepaid phone that I activated for a month. Who can't scrape together $30-$40 for a prepaid phone with one month of service when it's for their kid; I don't care how poor you are (and believe me, I've been there), that's a small price to pay for peace of mind.

The way the airline handled this is all wrong. Anyone who works with kids knows that you do not allow one employee to be one on one with a kid EVER. That is a huge mistake that the airline made and it's so disturbing to me that anyone would ever do this. I hope they are sued big time and I hope they lose.

You hope the people that took the time to care for someone else's children is sued and loses? Says a lot.
 
Just want to clarify if he was 14/15 he wasn’t an unaccompanied minor and the airline has no responsibility for him. “Unaccompanied minors” usually go through 11 or 12, pay a special high fee, and under the terms the airline does have responsibility for supervising them.

Entirely possible. What is the airline saying they fed the kids? I'd think the father would be certain of the facts before he comes out in the media with the accusations the way he did today, but anything is possible.

Will airlines provide 18+ adults with meals and hotel rooms when delayed due to weather? I know they provide vouchers due to delays for reasons like staffing and mechanical, but do they compensate for weather typically? Honest question, I don't know the answer. I realize the airline is assuming the responsibility when taking on unaccompanied minors, but maybe it would be in some airlines' best interest to not allow it at all.

There is a difference between an 18+ adult and and <18 adolescent though - the adolescent doesn't have the option to book a hotel room on their own even if they had the resources to do so, so they are out of luck unless they have contacts in the city.

We ran into that situation a little over a year ago with my then 16 year old. She and her 17 year old boyfriend were attending a week long forum in Ottawa and while waiting to board the flight home, they learned that their flight was cancelled due to fog in Halifax. They were flying Air Canada which is the biggest airline in Canada, who merely rebooked them on a flight for two days later and didn't offer any assistance, even thought the airline's policy states: "Youths travelling alone (ages 12 to 17), for whom the parent or guardian has not requested the Unaccompanied Minor service, will be taken care of by our agents. We will also arrange for accommodations, meals and transportation if needed." I couldn't even get through to their customer service line to get help - it was while Toronto Pearson was going though renovations and their customer service was overwhelmed with multiple delays due to weather and construction. Fortunately, her boyfriend's mom got through and got them on a flight to Moncton for the next day and got a family friend to put them up for the night. Both kids had IB exams coming up later that week and needed to get home.


M.
 
As a parent who kids have visited grandparents out of state. I've flown to pick them up and flown back with them due to the fact they are minors. I would never send my minor kids unaccompanied period. Especially now days with how airlines treat adults, seat bumps, and even crime in the sky involving few cases of sexual assaults with minors. This is a parenting problem, not an airlines one.
 
You hope the people that took the time to care for someone else's children is sued and loses? Says a lot.
But who were these people that took the time to care for someone else's child? What I see is a company that put people's children in a risky situation, a situation that left them vulnerable to abuses. There was no policy in place to deal with this so it sounds like they decided to just wing it. As a parent I can make risky decisions when it comes to my kids' wellbeing but I'll be damned if I let someone else do it for me. Did they ever come out and say WHO they decided to trust with these kids? Does that person have proper child abuse clearances? How did they come to the decision that this person was suitable to be left alone and unsupervised with vulnerable children?

Who was the idiot who decided to put this one person in charge of these kids? There should have been at least two employees with them, and they should never be behind closed doors, or in someone's personal vehicle. They should have never left the airport. I don't remember where I read it, but I thought the kids were being kept in some kind of lounge area at the airport before they were taken to the hotel. Send someone out to purchase cots and sleeping bags, station a couple of employees to care for the kids, and keep the damn door open and/or security cameras on them. Every airport has food services, send someone to McDonald's for some Happy Meals to feed the kids at the airport.

I understand that you disagree but I can't see this as anything other than negligence, I am livid on behalf of these kids. I don't care that apparently no abuse occurred, my problem is with the fact that the airline continued to put these kids in situations where abuse could freely occur. In my head I keep going over what could have happened and it makes me sick. Someone needs to step up and make sure this never happens again.
 
Negligence? Maybe on the parents part. Afterall, they are the ones who let their 7 and 9 year old travel alone. Did they go over what would be done if a flight was cancelled, or were they happy to pay a cheap fair and send their kids on their way?
Did they even give their kids a cell phone?
If there was no policy in place then the airline went above and beyond for parents who had no problem letting other people be responsible for their children.
 
They were not one on one alone with a child. There were six kids


Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-flight-diverted-unaccompanied-minors-20180808-story.html

I would think that in order to file a lawsuit, one would have to show some sort of harm or damage. The kids were well taken care of, housed, fed (although maybe not to the parents' standards) and delivered safely. If I were on the jury for this sort of case, I would be in favor of the airline.

One adult, alone behind closed doors or in a private vehicle where their conduct can't be observed is negligent, I don't care how many children were in their care at the time. I've worked with kids for years and I've never been put in this kind of situation. And I would never allow myself to be put into that situation, not with strangers' kids. Did it say anywhere that this person was properly cleared to work directly with kids? In my state that would require a child abuse clearance and mandatory training in recognizing and reporting child abuse. I have to renew my training every 2-5 years (depending where I was working and in what capacity I was working with kids) for the last 15 years and it is stressed at every training that we should be careful about putting ourselves in a position where we are one on one with kids because it leaves us, people who work closely with children, vulnerable to lawsuits, it puts our livelihood at risk. So I'm thinking that this random person who was put in charge of these kids is not someone with clearances. I'm not saying that they are necessarily a bad person who abused the kids; in fact I hope that this person was sweet and motherly and able to comfort these kids who were probably terrified. But I think what the company did was negligent, Frontier put the kids in a situation where they were in danger of being abused, and I hope they either quickly come up with a good policy to cover this kind of situation in the future so they can avoid litigation or I hope they are sued for a whole bunch of money. They obviously need a lesson on how precious and valuable the children in their care are.
 
Just want to clarify if he was 14/15 he wasn’t an unaccompanied minor and the airline has no responsibility for him. “Unaccompanied minors” usually go through 11 or 12, pay a special high fee, and under the terms the airline does have responsibility for supervising them.
Actually it depends on the airlines and many airlines 14 it's still required to pay fees etc. I'm also pretty sure that you can choose to pay the fees and do the unaccompanied minors thing even after 14/15 if you choose to.
 
One adult, alone behind closed doors or in a private vehicle where their conduct can't be observed is negligent, I don't care how many children were in their care at the time. I've worked with kids for years and I've never been put in this kind of situation. And I would never allow myself to be put into that situation, not with strangers' kids. Did it say anywhere that this person was properly cleared to work directly with kids? In my state that would require a child abuse clearance and mandatory training in recognizing and reporting child abuse. I have to renew my training every 2-5 years (depending where I was working and in what capacity I was working with kids) for the last 15 years and it is stressed at every training that we should be careful about putting ourselves in a position where we are one on one with kids because it leaves us, people who work closely with children, vulnerable to lawsuits, it puts our livelihood at risk.
They weren't one on one with kids.
So I'm thinking that this random person who was put in charge of these kids is not someone with clearances. I'm not saying that they are necessarily a bad person who abused the kids; in fact I hope that this person was sweet and motherly and able to comfort these kids who were probably terrified. But I think what the company did was negligent, Frontier put the kids in a situation where they were in danger of being abused, and I hope they either quickly come up with a good policy to cover this kind of situation in the future so they can avoid litigation or I hope they are sued for a whole bunch of money. They obviously need a lesson on how precious and valuable the children in their care are.
Do you send your kids to school? Sunday school? Field trips? Sleep overs? You know the kids are "in danger of being abused" in every one of those situations? Don't give me this "but the teachers have been screened" line. All that means is they haven't been caught doing anything.

I agree they should have never left the airport. But I think Frontier was trying to make the best out of a bad situation.
 
Someone needs to step up and make sure this never happens again.

Well when you find out how to control the weather, let me know.

The only other people who could have made sure this didn't happen are the parents, who elected to not travel with their children. The unaccompanied minor fee for Frontier is $110 per child per leg (nonstop) on top of the fare. It could not have been that much cheaper than 2 adult RT tickets for a dropoff/pickup - in fact it was probably more expensive.
 

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