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Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

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Re: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

#101

Post by mgarfias »

ajtaylor wrote: post #91
venus wrote: post #29

What is this hysterical nonsense? Fine, UA should have called the mother to let her know what was going on. Someone screwed up. But they obviously went to a lot of effort to take care of the kid, putting her up in a hotel to wait for the next flight, with a UA employee of the same sex chaperoning her. The case was seized upon by what appears to be a professionally outraged busybody trying to "monetize" shrill complai…

From your tone, I'll assume you aren't a parent. The parent purchased a ticket with a specific itinerary plus paid extra for a chaperone. If my daughter was flying alone and my wife got this kind of call from her, you can rest assured that she would move heaven and hell to get things sorted out. From personal experience, never underestimate the power of a mother protecting her child. PublikDemand aside, United failed…

I am a parent. I totally and completely agree with the outrage. This isn't 1984 when I was flying between kansas and new york any more (got rerouted to LGA from JFK once, dad found out about it at the JFK gate and FREAKED). We have instant communications these days. USE THEM.

Re: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

#102

Post by rogerbinns »

3327 wrote: post #51
petenixey wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a complex business but this error wasn't caused by complexity. It was caused by a combination of dreadful management, low quality standards and bad reporting. There are so many examples of people being badly treated by United that as awful as this story is, it's probably also acting as a nucleation point for the general anger and disappointment they have created. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Breaks_Guita…

agree, I flew with United this past month, long story short, my boarding pass got confiscated by ground crew, when I claimed i wasn't happy with their service for another matter, and only when I threatened with calling the police was it given back to me at the gate. I wrote to customer service but canned response was the best I got. Never flying them again. US airline industry needs a serious disruptions - end of sto…

Also don't forget that foreigners can't come in and shake things up either due to protectionism enforced by law. In the land of the free, this sort of nonsense happens a lot. For example car dealerships are also protected by protectionist laws. In most locations you couldn't open a hospital that saves people money due to certificate of need regulations that mean you can't reduce the profitability of existing hospitals!

Re: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

#103

Post by kenjackson »

venus wrote: post #88
kenjackson wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"But they obviously went to a lot of effort to take care of the kid, putting her up in a hotel to wait for the next flight, with a UA employee of the same sex chaperoning her." How is that a lot of trouble? Isn't that what they were paid to do? Isn't that the minimum obligation? Sure they could have put the kid in a suitcase and kicked it down the Mississippi, but that seems like a high bar for outrage. If they don't…

> "Over the next 2-24 hours you may or may not know where your child is and we have no obligation to let you know as long as they eventually get to their destination" That is actually pretty close to my expectation? Isn't it close to yours? Let's rewrite to remove the snark: "We will transport your child safely from A to B, accompanied by our staff at all times. We expect it will be according to the itinerary provide…

Honestly that's not even close to my level of expectation. If you change flight plan you must notify me prior so I can decide where my child goes. Having my child spend the night in a hotel alone with a stranger without informing me is not acceptable.

Re: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

#104

Post by ajtaylor »

venus wrote: post #98
ajtaylor wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From your tone, I'll assume you aren't a parent. The parent purchased a ticket with a specific itinerary plus paid extra for a chaperone. If my daughter was flying alone and my wife got this kind of call from her, you can rest assured that she would move heaven and hell to get things sorted out. From personal experience, never underestimate the power of a mother protecting her child. PublikDemand aside, United failed…

> United failed big time. First by changing the itinerary (I've never had this happen to me) This happens pretty often if you are a frequent traveller. Things go wrong! It may be an inconvenience but it is certainly not a "fail". > and second by not contacting the parents Right. So that's what this is all about. Someone at United Airlines forgot to make a phone call, or couldn't get through, or maybe the number was i…

You doubtless fly more than me so I'll take your word for it regarding itinerary changes.

You still don't get it about the contact. It's a child traveling alone. Should the airline just throw them to the wolves?! Or assume that everything will be ok? No, they should not! The parent paid EXTRA (and many airlines require the unaccompanied minor fee) to ensure the child would arrive as expected. It was their absolute obligation to inform the parents when things changed. Why the hell didn't the chaperone call the parents? If United couldn't find the number, the child certainly knew it!

And it's not just about "someone forgetting to make a phone call". The parents asked for updates and got stone walled by Customer "Service". That was salt in the open, bleeding wound. So yes, it's absolutely deserving.

If the airline doesn't want the trouble with unaccompanied minors - DON'T SELL THEM A TICKET. By taking the parents' money the airline willingly assumed the obligation. What more is there to discuss?

Re: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

#105

Post by venus »

kenjackson wrote: post #103
venus wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Over the next 2-24 hours you may or may not know where your child is and we have no obligation to let you know as long as they eventually get to their destination" That is actually pretty close to my expectation? Isn't it close to yours? Let's rewrite to remove the snark: "We will transport your child safely from A to B, accompanied by our staff at all times. We expect it will be according to the itinerary provide…

Honestly that's not even close to my level of expectation. If you change flight plan you must notify me prior so I can decide where my child goes. Having my child spend the night in a hotel alone with a stranger without informing me is not acceptable.

> If you change flight plan you must notify me prior so I can decide where my child goes

So what you want is the illusion of control. You want someone to ring you, tell you about the change of plan, so you can say "yes". Or if she misses her connecting flight and has to stay in a hotel, you want to say "yes" to that too. What else are you going to do? "Oh, I can't have her staying in that hotel. Charter a flight back for her immediately!"

I have to say, I find this pretty incomprehensible. And I love how none of this is about the child - it's all about managing the neuroticism of panicky helicopter parents.

Re: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

#106

Post by Cabal »

venus wrote: post #29

What is this hysterical nonsense? Fine, UA should have called the mother to let her know what was going on. Someone screwed up. But they obviously went to a lot of effort to take care of the kid, putting her up in a hotel to wait for the next flight, with a UA employee of the same sex chaperoning her. The case was seized upon by what appears to be a professionally outraged busybody trying to "monetize" shrill complai…

Also worth pointing out that Courtney Powell is not a mother, despite the letter stating the contrary. But I guess lying to United isn't really a big deal.

Re: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

#107

Post by pavel_lishin »

thedragon4453 wrote: post #99
pavel_lishin wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the facts so far seem to point to that conclusion.

I disagree. I think that there are probably no more than 5 kids flying by themselves on any given flight. I'm not even expecting a 1:1 ratio - I expect that for those 5 kids, there is maybe 1 person in charge of them. Those 5 kids are generating $750 in revenue. The expense for a chaperon is whatever a seat costs, plus that employee's expenses. I'm going to guess that they make a profit on the service (not to mention…

I don't know how chaperone services work, to be honest, but if I were paying for it, I'd want the chaperone around in the airport, not on the plane itself. A kid can wander off and get lost, or get kidnapped, or hurt themselves at an airport, they're not exactly going to get off the airplane halfway through the flight.

> If you buy a car and drive it off the lot and the wheels fall off, you don't say "well, I guess they should have charged me more."

But the company should say, "We should have spent more money building this car, and thereafter charged more for it."

Re: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

#108

Post by bmelton »

8ig8 wrote: post #96
darkarmani wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All they had to do was notify the parents. Why was that so hard?

I have no idea how many unaccompanied minors fly in a given day, but I suspect that it is relatively few. As a result, no one has ownership of the minor. Training for these situations is low priority. You're right, a phone call goes a long way in these situations. It's simple, but I'm guessing that training is limited so people just don't know the protocol.

Having flown my daughter solo (not via United though), I can state with certainty that generally, 'unaccompanied minor' policies are pretty strict.

They require that the parent that purchased the ticket for the child drop be the same person that drops the child off, presents ID, and fills out a ton of paperwork at the time.

Similarly, you must designate a person to receive the child at the other end, and that designated person is the only one allowed to receive the child (even if they have an emergency or something), and they must also present ID.

I had a hard time because I used a nickname for my designee (whom I've only ever known as 'Lynn Cooper', when her legal name was 'Jerry Lynn Cooper', and her driver's license showed 'Jerry Lynn Cooper'. They refused to release her initially and it took three calls to untangle and I, the father, but not the person who dropped her off at the airport initially, was not allowed to verify that 'Jerry Lynn Cooper' was the same 'Lynn Cooper' designated, despite being on a conference call with all parties.

So yeah, if we have to go through all that, they should probably be held responsible for making a phone call on a reroute.

Re: Why did United neglect to tell parents of a minor she was rerouted?

#109

Post by courtneypowell »

Cabal wrote: post #106
venus wrote: post #29

What is this hysterical nonsense? Fine, UA should have called the mother to let her know what was going on. Someone screwed up. But they obviously went to a lot of effort to take care of the kid, putting her up in a hotel to wait for the next flight, with a UA employee of the same sex chaperoning her. The case was seized upon by what appears to be a professionally outraged busybody trying to "monetize" shrill complai…

Also worth pointing out that Courtney Powell is not a mother, despite the letter stating the contrary. But I guess lying to United isn't really a big deal.

Uh, I most definitely am a mother to a ten year old son.
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