Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by Romeo from Toronto on September 3, 2007:

Maybe it's just me but why send a child that young ANYWHERE unaccompanied? Did the parents have something more important to do that they should put him on a plane and hang a tag around the boy's neck telling any weirdo who might happen by that he is unaccompanied? And why are they blaming the airline for the fact that the kid's parents are screwups? The potential for something going wrong seems too great to take that kind of chance with a seven-year old child.

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Kids travel by themselves all the time. Why should the parents spend thousands of extra dollars to fly with him, turn around and fly home, and then fly back to get him later, when the airline agrees to look after him? Or, more fundamentally, why argue that the parent has to be with the child at all times, all day every day? Because that's what you're really saying here.

It's unclear who's at fault here: the airline for "letting" the boy out of their sight, or the kid for sneaking out. Fundamentally, the airline is, since they had accepted responsibility -- but that doesn't mean the kid is blameless. -rc

Posted by Scott, Texas on September 3, 2007:

Of course the airline staff isn't blameless. But to whatever extent the kid is at fault, that part of the blame has to be shared with his parents. They have the responsibility to teach him appropriate respect for themselves, and for those they share their parental authority with. And if they can tell they haven't done that, they shouldn't put the child in a position where the things they haven't taught him put him in danger.

I put my two sons on an airplane by themselves for the first time earlier this summer. And before I did, my wife and I got the full details of the UM rules for the airline, and did a detailed roleplay of how everything was going to work, so there'd be no surprises. We made it crystal clear that they were to obey the instructions of the gate agent and flight attendants without question or delay. And if I hadn't been 100% sure that would actually happen, they would not have gotten on that plane. (Naturally, everything went perfectly smoothly.)

(And regarding the tag--that's for the airline staff to quickly ID who they're supposed to be keeping an eye on. These kids are never alone; there's a physical hand-off from delivering guardian to gate agent to flight attendant to gate agent to receiving guardian, with a paperwork packet showing a signature at each step of who's taking charge. There's no way for an unidentified stranger to take the child at any point in the process--the child would have to exit the process on his own initiative first ...)

Posted by Todd, New York on September 3, 2007:

I actually had a similar incident to the one mentioned in your last newsletter. I have permanent custody of my autistic 10-year old nephew who had not seen his grandparents in approximately 5 years. My ex-wife is a flight attendant for Northwest Airlines and, since she legally shares custody, was able to provide unaccompanied travel for him by me paying an additional $75.00 for the flight crew to watch after him. He is relatively "high functioning" requiring only minimal assistance and direction. His initial flight, that included a plane change, was uneventful and he was acquired by my parents upon arrival. I did mention to the ticket agent that he was autistic and was assured by the agent that it would be placed in his profile.

Upon his return flight, my 20 year old son went to obtain him and was told that his flight was delayed. My ex-wife called and stated that she had received "an ass chewing" by the transfer location for not having him designated with "autistic" issues. I then verified by using his online verfication credentials that he was indeed on the returning flight. However, once I arrived at the gate and attempted to obtain a gate pass to retreive him, I was told that there was no record of him being on any Northwest flight. The ticket agents attempted to review the existing passenger list on the incoming flight and were once again unable to verify his ever having boarded a Northwest flight. My ex-wife was scheduled to depart later in the evening and happened to stop by the supposed arrival gate and was told the same, that he wasn't on any Northwest flight.

She happened to have the caller ID information from the earlier "ass chewing" call and happened to contact the originator of the call and was told that he was indeed on the arriving flight. Needless to say, he did arrive on the flight and we were able to obtain him. However, while waiting at the baggage claim, the lady (and I should say, "saint") that happened to be seated next to him on the flight approached me and told me that he had been a joy on the flight and that she had noticed within minutes that he was "mildly autistic", and that it should have been evident whether or not it had been in his profile. She also stated that he had been no trouble on the return flight.

I must say that I was very disheartened with the professionalism and technical capabilities of a supposedly "premier airline". I don't believe I or my nephew (or other family members) will be taking advantage of any Northwest promotions or "employee benefits".

Posted by Donna, Petoskey, MI on September 4, 2007:

I see no problem with having young children travel on a plane. However, I disagree with the Canadian flight attendant that the UM should be the last person off the plane. Traveling alone is traumatic enough without making him or her wait until everyone has disembarked. It makes more sense to let the UM off first. It would be much less stressful for the person(s) picking up the UM, also.

Posted by Tanya, Atlanta GA on September 4, 2007:

We had a similar incident early this summer with our daughter, who was 14 at the time. It was the first time we'd allowed her to fly alone, going from Atlanta to Fort Smith, AR to visit relatives. Delta required an extra $100 for the unaccompanied minor fee ($50 each way), which we were told included an escort on and off the plane, and waiting until the assigned relative showed ID to pick her up.

The trouble started immediately after we checked in! We were assured that a flight attendant would be waiting for her at the gate, and she wanted to exert her independence by walking alone to the terminal. Thank goodness we decided to walk with her, because the plane left 20 min early without her - even though they were supposedly aware than a UM was heading their way. We spent nine hours in the Atlanta airport waiting for the next nonstop flight to Ft. Smith. During the ordeal of booking the later flight, the Delta reps were awful: one of them actually said "I would never let *my* child fly alone!" A letter of complaint to Delta got us three $150 vouchers, which is actually more than I expected.

Happily, the Ft Smith airport is so small and friendly that her arrival and return trip went off without a hitch.

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I remember Way Back When, when extra fees were to pay for extra services, rather than a way to gouge the customer without providing anything in return.... -rc

Posted by Lisa, Ohio on September 4, 2007:

Now hang on one minute. There is a HUGE difference between having an UM who is 10 or 12 or older, and having one who is seven years old. An older child can be expected to look after themselves, and in fact, can be legally left alone at home by the parents. But a seven-year-old?

Furthermore, I don't agree that a flight attendant is a good parent "substitute" (as a school teacher is), nor should they be expected to be! Having custody of a small child...is that a major part of their job description?

Common sense should tell a parent whether a child is old enough to travel alone...I just don't think any seven-year-old could possibly be mature enough to deal well with it.

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I did fine with it at 8. I have a photo of myself wearing the tag.... -rc

Posted by DinaFelice, Larchmont, NY on September 4, 2007:

When I was 17, I went on my first solo flight...to Spain. I did NOT speak Spanish yet (I was going to be attending a language immersion program), this was my first solo and also my first flight where I would have to make a connection -- I was kind of nervous. My mother was petrified.

She made arrangements that, while I wouldn't be designated as an unaccompanied minor, I would get a bit of extra help navigating a strange airport. Well, I identified myself to the crew when I boarded and everything seemed fine. When we landed in England (where I would pick up my flight to Spain), I identified myself again (I was getting pretty nervous by this point) and asked what I should do. I was instructed to get off the plane and wait at the bench at the end of the ramp.

I did as instructed and waited. And waited. And waited. After about 20 minutes, when it was clear that nobody else was getting off of the plane, I tried in vain to find a flight attendant from my flight. After another 10 minutes, I finally found an airport employee (it was difficult since I didn't dare leave visual range of the bench) who had never heard of someone meeting a minor and showing them where to go.

In the end, I did a fine job of navigating the airport, made my connecting flight with time to spare and was a seasoned solo traveler for my return flight (when one of the flight attendants asked me if I needed help since she had a note associated with my ticket). But I wonder what would have happened if I had actually needed help or if I had decided to wait until someone found me.

Posted by Steve: Boulder, CO on September 4, 2007:

I think that the most difficult thing that a parent has to do in this modern world is to interview, and do substantial research on, the people that we entrust with our children, such as daycare facilities. To not ever have the chance to talk with the flight crew member(s) that are supposed to ensure the safety of a traveling child is truly an amazing leap of faith for any parent, ESPECIALLY a seven-year-old.

I think that your tag of "But hey: at least the kid's suitcase got there OK" is unfortunate, in that it shows some inability to understand a parent's soul-tearing terror of realizing that their child is missing. Perhaps this is something only a parent would understand.

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A seven-year-old parent? Now there's a scary thought. As for the tagline, it's exactly what I supposed the airline would say. "Hey, here's his suitcase! We got it to the right place, and on time! The kid? What kid?" I'm pretty sure most people "got it". -rc

Posted by Steve: Boulder, CO on September 5, 2007:

"A seven-year-old parent?" What the heck are you talking about, Randy? Read my post again. I, of course, was talking about the parent of a seven-year-old and the leap of faith necessary to entrust a child to strangers... Also, your story has nothing about the child being found, except for the perhaps implication that the parent "grumped" instead of being terrified, so I so your whole story was skewed by that... And your tagline didn't even imply that the "airline" was the one making the comment.

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Take it easy, Steve, it was a joke. You wrote: "...flight crew member(s) that are supposed to ensure the safety of a traveling child is truly an amazing leap of faith for any parent, ESPECIALLY a seven-year-old." You missed the "of" in "parent OF a seven-year-old", and instead wrote "any parent, especially a seven-year-old". You thus wrote about seven-year-old parents. I obviously understand that wasn't your intent, but that was the logical structure of your sentence.

The entire point of the posting here is about how the newspaper screwed up the reporting ("read it again!"), and didn't mention that he was found, so it's a bit much to complain about that now, especially in a reply to that posting! And again, I'm sorry you didn't "get" the tag, but I'm pretty sure the majority did. I didn't say I was quoting the airline, I said it was what I supposed they might say. Please slow down; you'll absorb more points that way. -rc

Posted by Mike from Dallas on September 5, 2007:

Amazing. I was sure that most of the comments would criticize the parents for not investigating the airline more thoroughly. One even made a comment about "common sense." I have traveled repeatedly to every continent except Antarctica (something I plan to rectify in my lifetime). And I can tell you that people everywhere are NOT essentially the same. "Common sense" is NOT common, not even in different regions of the same country.

As for the parents doing "more", let me refer you to an incident years ago in which a little 10-year-old girl asked permission to sleep over at a friend's house. Kids do this all the time. The next morning the little girl was missing. A few days later, her dead body was found. {Deanna Seifert, Warren, MI May 1992} Apparently a family relative who had drug problems was upset at the family and wanted to take revenge. He snuck in during the night to kidnap the family's daughter and got the wrong girl. When he discovered his mistake, he killed her.

The hue and cry from the community was, WHY didn't the dead girl's parents investigate the family more, before giving permission for a sleepover? It was a normal family with a whacko relative from another family. Short of an FBI security clearance, a background check would not have revealed anything. So we have comments about parental involvement that would border on the extreme. We are not the CIA nor have their resources.

On the other extreme, we often have NO parental involvement. Interestingly, my wife is an Asset Protection agent in a large department store and many of the apprehensions involve minors (notably teens). In such cases, she will contact the parents prior to the police, and it's amazing how many parents will defend a 14-year-old's actions with "He doesn't realize what he's doing." We don't need more Ritalin, just more parental values in self-discipline.

So does that alleviate the responsibility of the air crew when a child decides to slip away on his own? Well, basically, yes. As I've told people in my own profession, "Help me to help you." I can't help those who are determined to do the opposite. And you would be surprised how many are.

And I've flown enough airlines around the world often enough to know which ones I like and which ones I'd avoid if there were any way possible. The comment about Dolta doesn't surprise me at all. And Northworst is a nightmare. They not only lose baggage, but they lose (adult) passengers as well. I had to transfer in Seattle to get to Orange County airport. So imagine my surprise when I got off the plane and saw the sign that welcomed me to LAX. Imagine my further surprise when I checked with the gate about the error and, as he looked up my information, told me that I hadn't even landed in Seattle yet. He was insistent; I could not possibly be in LA because I was scheduled for Seattle and hadn't landed yet. Much to the snickers of the passengers around me, who apparently got it even if the Northworst agent didn't.