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Horrific!
But, I'm sorry. But what the heck are parents thinking putting their 5 year old on a plane by themselves. Ludicrous!
If the airline didn't think they could deliver the kid to the right destination they could have said so. Once the kid is in their custody don't you agree that they have a responsibility to take him where they said they were going to take him? That seems pretty basic.
I think it's amazing airlines even offer unaccompanied minor programs with all of the lawsuits and problems they have. I just don't see how the extra money is worth the airlines taking on that liability.
Horrific!
But, I'm sorry. But what the heck are parents thinking putting their 5 year old on a plane by themselves. Ludicrous!
For decades now "unaccompanied minors" have been put on airplanes world wide, both local domestic and international flights.
Airline policies vary and or have varied over the years. Usually some sort of escort meets the child places him or her on the flight and "signs off" to the airline hostesses who will then keep an eye on the charges for duration of flight. Upon landing stewardesses "hand off" to another escort who will take the child to be met by the designated adult. Some airlines now or in past assigned a stewardess as an escort for the entire flight.
Just because some of you had your parents drop you off at a terminal when you were 5-6 years old doesn't mean you do that today. Times have changed and this is not the 1970's. There are a lot more people on this planet which means there are a lot more criminals and predators.
You are a FOOL and and an incompetent parent if you let you 5 year old child on a plane without adult supervision. Who is supposed to watch your child? Some stressed out flight attendant? If you are not going on the flight with your child then don't let your child go on a flight that young. This is just baffling how stupid parents are. A 5 year old child can barely spell their name and you want to send them on a flight alone? Idiots. If I were the airlines, I counter sue the parents for being negligent.
If the airline didn't think they could deliver the kid to the right destination they could have said so. Once the kid is in their custody don't you agree that they have a responsibility to take him where they said they were going to take him? That seems pretty basic.
That's a pretty silly question. Of course it's their responsibility. Does anyone think otherwise? The issue is what happens when there is a problem.
A simple wrist band or name tag with the child's name, flight number, destination and passport number would have avoided this situation.
As long as someone is in charge of the child (stewardess, pilot- co-pilot), then I see nothing wrong with a child traveling alone shorter distances. Overseas or across country? No! too long a flight for a child to not have a parent present.
Just because some of you had your parents drop you off at a terminal when you were 5-6 years old doesn't mean you do that today. Times have changed and this is not the 1970's. There are a lot more people on this planet which means there are a lot more criminals and predators.
You are a FOOL and and an incompetent parent if you let you 5 year old child on a plane without adult supervision. Who is supposed to watch your child? Some stressed out flight attendant? If you are not going on the flight with your child then don't let your child go on a flight that young. This is just baffling how stupid parents are. A 5 year old child can barely spell their name and you want to send them on a flight alone? Idiots. If I were the airlines, I counter sue the parents for being negligent.
There are lots of families who need the service. As I said one six or seven year old I used to run into make a monthly run between Cleveland and LA. I never knew the underlying cause but I suspect it was driven by custody after a divorce. My children had a few dozen flights by the time they were 6. They were familiar with airlines and procedures. My middle kid would even have enjoyed getting misplaced. Would have had a grand time picking on the adults for losing her.
The parents of today are actually pretty weird when you get down to the facts. My kids for instance protect their children much more than they were protected...yet all the statistics point out it is a vastly safer society today then when they were children. My kids will admit to this but just claim "times are different".
I believe this kid had a correct ID band on the wrist but the document package hung around his neck was wrong. I would suspect the two kids were processed together and the packages got swapped.
This is the one part of the post 9/11 safety precautions that is not so good for parents. I didn't fly alone until I was 9 but still going to the Atlanta airport was a huge deal. Having my parents walk with me to the gate was so great and having my sister/other relative meet me on the other end, equally awesome.
Also parents have to pay extra for this, it's a required extra service fee. So it's not as if this is just some bonus the airline is doing, they did pay for service fee.
We do need to remember that the Kid (Both of them) were Never left alone to wander around and find there way thru a airport. JetBlue had a Adult with the child the entire time.
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