Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Travellers are used to lost luggage, booking errors and on-board delays - but now an American airline is being sued for mixing up two children and sending them to the wrong cities.
One of the boys’ mothers has filed a lawsuit against JetBlue Airways for the mistake, saying she suffered “great emotional distress, extreme fear, horror, mental shock, mental anguish and psychological trauma”.
I flew on a plane by myself at age 6. I was delivered to the airline gate at the beginning of my journey and retrieved by a family friend at the destination. It was a fun adventure and perfectly safe. I was supervised by responsible adults at all times.
The airline shouldn't have made this error, but a lawsuit over it is ridiculous.
Children used to ride trains similarly - my Dallas cousins would be put on the train to Little Rock by their parents, and met by their grandparents or aunts and uncles. The conductor would offer some supervision. This was back in the 1950, and the children were about seven and five. Nowadays, the same thing happens with air travel.
I have to wonder how these two little boys were put on the wrong planes at the start of their journeys - were they on direct flights, or did they have to change planes mid-trip? Perhaps the errors occurred during their transfer. Surely whoever took the children to the originating airport would have stuck around to see them onto the planes (it's possible to accompany children or the elderly to the gate - you just have to go through security and obtain a pass. I did it with an older relative who had become ill while visiting me).
The language difference may have added to the confusion, although with the flights originating in a Spanish-speaking country, obviously some airline staff member should have been bilingual.
When I've seen unaccompanied minors on planes, they've worn nametags with the pertinent details - name, destination, etc., and have been physically escorted onto the plane before other passengers and escorted off by a flight crew member, usually a flight attendant. Five year olds are certainly old enough to provide their names and info about where they are going and who is supposed to meet them. Once again, if someone at the switched destinations had spoken Spanish, the confusion would have been immediately apparent from speaking with the children themselves.
I'd also sue the airline, if this happened to a child of mine!
Last edited by CraigCreek; 10-04-2016 at 09:01 AM..
I flew by myself at five and six years old also. Every summer my parents would put my on a plane and fly me to see my cousins and then my aunt and uncle would stick me back on the plane.
The mother is an idiot for suing, it was a mistake.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
