Unaccompanied minors stranded

Sorry, but I do think that all the mandates should apply to anyone who works with children in a professional capacity. Especially someone like an airline employee who is supposed to oversee their care and safety when they are away from their parents. I admit that it makes it tricky that different states have different rules.

Pedophiles seek out jobs where they will be working closely with children, in a "trusted authority figure" capacity. Not all teachers, daycare workers, Sunday school teachers, summer camp counselors, mall santas, etc. are pedophiles, but many pedophiles will try to work in those positions--at least until the first time they are caught. Then--hopefully, if everyone is doing their jobs correctly--the child abuse background checks will catch them before they ever start working with kids again. But if we don't do child abuse clearances on everyone working with kids, how can we know what their background is?


There should be mental health evaluations too......
 
Sorry, but I do think that all the mandates should apply to anyone who works with children in a professional capacity. Especially someone like an airline employee who is supposed to oversee their care and safety when they are away from their parents. I admit that it makes it tricky that different states have different rules.

Pedophiles seek out jobs where they will be working closely with children, in a "trusted authority figure" capacity. Not all teachers, daycare workers, Sunday school teachers, summer camp counselors, mall santas, etc. are pedophiles, but many pedophiles will try to work in those positions--at least until the first time they are caught. Then--hopefully, if everyone is doing their jobs correctly--the child abuse background checks will catch them before they ever start working with kids again. But if we don't do child abuse clearances on everyone working with kids, how can we know what their background is?
But these airline employees aren't hired to take care of children, so the chance that this one is a pedophile who is then also going to do something bad to these particular children is very, very, very low. (Even pedophiles don't molest every kid they ever see) It's not like each airline keeps childcare workers at each airport just in case of unaccompanied minors getting stuck.

I would also hazard a guess that most major airlines have background checked their employees and do not hire known sex offenders.
 
Sorry, but I do think that all the mandates should apply to anyone who works with children in a professional capacity. Especially someone like an airline employee who is supposed to oversee their care and safety when they are away from their parents. I admit that it makes it tricky that different states have different rules.

Pedophiles seek out jobs where they will be working closely with children, in a "trusted authority figure" capacity. Not all teachers, daycare workers, Sunday school teachers, summer camp counselors, mall santas, etc. are pedophiles, but many pedophiles will try to work in those positions--at least until the first time they are caught. Then--hopefully, if everyone is doing their jobs correctly--the child abuse background checks will catch them before they ever start working with kids again. But if we don't do child abuse clearances on everyone working with kids, how can we know what their background is?

Surely you see the difference between teachers (and others) who actually work with children on a daily basis, and an airline employee who does not. You can't equate the two professions.
 


IMO, these kids are too young to be flying alone. Airline policy also is unorganized. Parents need to accept responsibility for their lack of preparedness "in case of emergency", no cell phone? Really? Our sons are 31 and 23 now, I would never have considered putting kids that age on a plane alone back then, and I certainly would not do it now. You don't have to look too far for dangers of airports. There was recently a story where a foreign tour group(think from Asia) flew into Regan Airport, DC. One of the girls, think she was 14(maybe 12) was kidnapped by a woman in the airport and left the airport. Heard on the news a day later that the girl was eventually reuinited with her parents(HOW SCARY AND AWFUL) thank goodness. Think generally that children are somehow less threatened by women strangers than males. Again, many stories out there about women and men targeting public areas like malls for women that they can use as prostitutes. Two cities that have beent was discussed on these boards was Myrtle Beach and The Palisades Mall in Nanuet NY. There are crazies out there, watch your kids diligently.:scared1::scratchin
 
IMO, these kids are too young to be flying alone. Airline policy also is unorganized. Parents need to accept responsibility for their lack of preparedness "in case of emergency", no cell phone? Really? Our sons are 31 and 23 now, I would never have considered putting kids that age on a plane alone back then, and I certainly would not do it now. You don't have to look too far for dangers of airports. There was recently a story where a foreign tour group(think from Asia) flew into Regan Airport, DC. One of the girls, think she was 14(maybe 12) was kidnapped by a woman in the airport and left the airport. Heard on the news a day later that the girl was eventually reuinited with her parents(HOW SCARY AND AWFUL) thank goodness. Think generally that children are somehow less threatened by women strangers than males. Again, many stories out there about women and men targeting public areas like malls for women that they can use as prostitutes. Two cities that have beent was discussed on these boards was Myrtle Beach and The Palisades Mall in Nanuet NY. There are crazies out there, watch your kids diligently.:scared1::scratchin

The details of the DC airport at not 100% clear. It is not entirely certain that it was an abduction.

Again, all of this is generally not just snatching children off the streets and out of airports. That is fear mongering. Usually, it is someone at least tangentially known to the child.

In this case, there is no evidence that the children in the original story are not COMPLETELY fine. The worst case is they skipped dinner one night.
 
Sorry, but I do think that all the mandates should apply to anyone who works with children in a professional capacity. Especially someone like an airline employee who is supposed to oversee their care and safety when they are away from their parents. I admit that it makes it tricky that different states have different rules.

Pedophiles seek out jobs where they will be working closely with children, in a "trusted authority figure" capacity. Not all teachers, daycare workers, Sunday school teachers, summer camp counselors, mall santas, etc. are pedophiles, but many pedophiles will try to work in those positions--at least until the first time they are caught. Then--hopefully, if everyone is doing their jobs correctly--the child abuse background checks will catch them before they ever start working with kids again. But if we don't do child abuse clearances on everyone working with kids, how can we know what their background is?
I disagree that anyone becomes a flight-attendant or airline gate agent in hopes of one day having the opportunity to spend a night in a hotel room alone with vulnerable children. I understand what you’re saying but it simply does not apply to the situation we’re talking about.
 


The details of the DC airport at not 100% clear. It is not entirely certain that it was an abduction.

Again, all of this is generally not just snatching children off the streets and out of airports. That is fear mongering. Usually, it is someone at least tangentially known to the child.

In this case, there is no evidence that the children in the original story are not COMPLETELY fine. The worst case is they skipped dinner one night.

Exactly. What has been said make it seem as though it was the parents plan all along to go to the airport and "abduct" her. They used the trip as a way to get her into the US.
 
IMO, these kids are too young to be flying alone. Airline policy also is unorganized. Parents need to accept responsibility for their lack of preparedness "in case of emergency", no cell phone? Really? Our sons are 31 and 23 now, I would never have considered putting kids that age on a plane alone back then, and I certainly would not do it now. You don't have to look too far for dangers of airports. There was recently a story where a foreign tour group(think from Asia) flew into Regan Airport, DC. One of the girls, think she was 14(maybe 12) was kidnapped by a woman in the airport and left the airport. Heard on the news a day later that the girl was eventually reuinited with her parents(HOW SCARY AND AWFUL) thank goodness. Think generally that children are somehow less threatened by women strangers than males. Again, many stories out there about women and men targeting public areas like malls for women that they can use as prostitutes. Two cities that have beent was discussed on these boards was Myrtle Beach and The Palisades Mall in Nanuet NY. There are crazies out there, watch your kids diligently.:scared1::scratchin
She wasn't abducted, she was with her parents the whole time https://abc7ny.com/girl-who-went-missing-from-dc-airport-found-safe-in-queens/3871104/

On Friday afternoon, the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority said Ma was found safe and was in the custody of her parents.

The girl's parents came forward after seeing their daughter on the news and said she was never lost and she had been with them the entire time.
 
Exactly. What has been said make it seem as though it was the parents plan all along to go to the airport and "abduct" her. They used the trip as a way to get her into the US.
Ive not heard of this incident but it certainly serves to reinforce the fact that “stranger danger” is a very, very small risk, no matter what the circumstances.
 
No way would I put my kid on a flight alone, not unless totally and absolutely necessary.
'I' am responsible for my children. The buck stops here.
Those kids didn't even have a phone????

As far as traveling as an accompanied, or UNaccompanied, child... Yes, it is fair and should be expected that the airline be compensated for that service.
The problem lies in that, IMHO, it should be strict policy that they require a ticket for ANY unaccompanied minor under a certain age to have those services and charges.
It shouldn't be a choice of whether the parent/guardians should be able to decide not to pay... Or for the airline to decide not to provide those services.
 
Ronandannette....
Sorry, but the fact that this one case was an orchestrated and purposeful 'parental abduction' does NOT, in any way at all, mean that I would not worry about stranger danger.

Abduction and sex-trafficking, especially of vulnerable, and certain 'highly-desireable' young tween and teenaged girls is a very, very, real concern.
Those are the 'facts' that I would be concerned about.

The one thing/incident has absolutely nothing to do with the other.
Don't confuse things in order to further 'reinforce' an agenda.
 
IMO, these kids are too young to be flying alone. Airline policy also is unorganized. Parents need to accept responsibility for their lack of preparedness "in case of emergency", no cell phone? Really? Our sons are 31 and 23 now, I would never have considered putting kids that age on a plane alone back then, and I certainly would not do it now. You don't have to look too far for dangers of airports. There was recently a story where a foreign tour group(think from Asia) flew into Regan Airport, DC. One of the girls, think she was 14(maybe 12) was kidnapped by a woman in the airport and left the airport. Heard on the news a day later that the girl was eventually reuinited with her parents(HOW SCARY AND AWFUL) thank goodness. Think generally that children are somehow less threatened by women strangers than males. Again, many stories out there about women and men targeting public areas like malls for women that they can use as prostitutes. Two cities that have beent was discussed on these boards was Myrtle Beach and The Palisades Mall in Nanuet NY. There are crazies out there, watch your kids diligently.:scared1::scratchin
No, TEACH your children to be smart, confident, independent, to trust their instincts, situational awareness. That is our job, not to hover and put them in a safe bubble until we release them into this world. Dangers in this world do not dissipate when they turn 18, they actually increase.
 
The details of the DC airport at not 100% clear. It is not entirely certain that it was an abduction.

Again, all of this is generally not just snatching children off the streets and out of airports. That is fear mongering. Usually, it is someone at least tangentially known to the child.

In this case, there is no evidence that the children in the original story are not COMPLETELY fine. The worst case is they skipped dinner one night.
Their flight was supposed to land around 10:30 but was diverted. I assume they had already had dinner.
 
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.

Yes, obviously. But my question in my post which you quoted was what an airline's policy is for housing and feeding an 18+ adult when delayed due to weather. I realize a child doesn't have the same resources, so that means the airline then becomes responsible for caring for the minor in addition to assuming the liability/responsibility of getting them safely from point A to point B. I have to wonder if its actually worth it to a company like Frontier, who likely didn't make much money on the transaction after the expenses incurred from the kids as well as the staff who had to stay with them, and they are now getting bad publicity because of it.
 
I have no first-hand knowledge of this but the bolded makes absolutely NO sense. If all the provisions and protections of flying as an unaccompanied minor are made for children even though it hasn't been purchased with the ticket, why on earth would anybody actually pay for it? :confused:

It's my interpretation was that they weren't getting all the provisions and protections of a paid unaccompanied minor, but they should have gotten more help than they were given. So they should have gotten assistance in getting accommodations and food, but we might have had to pay for those things. In this situation - which was pretty extreme since we were talking about a two day delay in returning home - they didn't give them any assistance at all other than rebooking their tickets to a future flight. We were able to work around it with out their help, but it was pretty crappy service.

Same child (17 at the time) flew (also on AC) to Kingston via TO this year on her March break. She was denied boarding on the Kingston leg because they had overfueled the plane and was able to deal with that situation on her own without any more assistance than the random adult passenger on the same flight who was in the same boat. They were both rebooked to a flight 2 hrs later and given food vouchers and compensation. A couple of hours delay is one thing - a couple of days and nights is more complex, especially for a minor.

Now she's 18 and has her own credit card for emergencies, so hopefully she can manage less complicated flights home from Ottawa for the next four years....

M.
 
No, TEACH your children to be smart, confident, independent, to trust their instincts, situational awareness. That is our job, not to hover and put them in a safe bubble until we release them into this world. Dangers in this world do not dissipate when they turn 18, they actually increase.
Like I said, my opinion, kids this age shouldn't be on a plane alone! There is a time and place to start "letting go" and these kids are too young, AGAIN, my opinion! Never was a "helicopter Mom", our kids are quite successful, thanks! Thankfully we've done something right so far. Think I'm quite aware of what happens when they turn 18, both kids lived away at college, one did an internship in NYC, the other is living in NYC with a great career!:goodvibes
 
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