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submitted 2 years ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Spirit Airlines issued an apology after putting a six-year-old unaccompanied minor on the wrong flight.

The child was set to fly on Thursday from Philadelphia International Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Florida, to visit his grandmother, WINK-TV reported.

Instead, the boy was “incorrectly boarded” on a flight to Orlando, Spirit acknowledged in a statement on Saturday.

The statement did not address how the error came to take place - during a busy holiday travel day.

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[-] kogasa@programming.dev 37 points 2 years ago

There was no family to go with him. Unaccompanied minors can fly under the supervision of airport staff, usually for a fee. Which must already be terrifying enough for the parents even if they didn't know "losing your kid" was an option.

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/special-assistance/unaccompanied-minors.jsp

[-] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I flew to Europe unaccompanied in the 90s at around age 12. They put a lanyard on you, you're first on the plane and last off, and a flight attendant takes you between connecting flights on a cart. There's very little unsupervised time. It's not like you can get off the plane.

I would imagine there's even more supervision, more technology as well, than when I did it. Which makes a fuckup like this fairly astounding.

[-] half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 years ago

Right? As an adult I couldn't get on the wrong flight if I tried. It's baffling that they wouldn't need to scan a wristband or ticket or whatever for an unaccompanied minor to 1) confirm & document their presence on the plane like everyone else and 2) make sure they are sent to the right fucking place. Also confusing because you'd think that when the first staff member shows up to the wrong gate with the kid and tries to hand them off, the flight crew would be like "wtf are you talking about, we dont have an unaccompanied minor schesuled on this flight?" I get that people make mistakes but this isn't some shit like accidentally "replying all" to an email distribution list. It's hard to fathom how something like this could happen if even the most basic and common sense procedures were followed.

[-] kogasa@programming.dev 3 points 2 years ago

I did it either domestically (US) or possibly US to Canada. All I remember is there was food, which made it way better than flying with my parents.

this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2023
352 points (98.6% liked)

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