US Airways loses track of 2 teens

[drrstrav]

The agent being employed by US makes US at fault by stating the info, wrong or right. If the agent told the parent it was ok and booked the minor with connection, who do you blame? I agree about booking the flight with double connections and a change of airline enroute was foolish. The agent should have put up a red flag then and there. But US flight from SAN-PHX was late, (go figure). That is the only way I will ever travel US again, nonstop.

DL terminal in PHX is in T2 while US is in T4, hence, the PAX needs to take the shuttle bus for connecting. I guess, that was another complication.

 

[N903AW]

DL terminal in PHX is in T2 while US is in T4, hence, the PAX needs to take the shuttle bus for connecting. I guess, that was another complication.

Did you give those teens directions drrstrav?? Well no wonder they got lost! Delta is actually in Terminal 3, North Concourse.

 

[JS]

Are you for real? Did you ever hear that flying is NOT a right but is a choice and a luxury? Cant afford it? Sorry, for your circumstances in life but dont blame the airline.

I didn't say it was a right, but on the other hand, it is most certainly not a luxury.

What your post is saying is that if the father had paid $1,000 for the same ticket, then there would have been an agent to meet the two kids in PHX to tell them what their itinerary change is. I think not -- US messed up by saying they will have someone meet them in PHX and they failed. It has nothing to do with the price of the ticket, and you know it.

 

[tadjr]

/rant/
Had a 14 year old the other night booked TPA-LAS-ONT on US (leaving at 920pm arriving ONT about 130am) then connecting on DL ONT-SLC-BIL leaving around 6 or 7am. We're talking a 14 year old who is expected to spend about 5 hours overnight in the ONT airport. What the h&ll are these parents thinking setting up a flight for their kid like this? I personally would like to see NO unaccompanied kids on any flights nonstop or connecting until they turn 18. Even though we ARENT responsible for them if they are 15 or over, we still usually end up taking care of them when things go wrong. The parents dont want to take care of their kids, but let something go wrong and its all the airlines fault for whatever happened. People, you need to take some responsibilty here for your kids. If they arent capable of taking care of themselves if something goes wrong, then dont send them alone. Same thing for grandma with alzheimers. If you arent concerned enough to fly with them, dont spaz on the airlines when something happens. We cant babysit everyone. Sounds like the kids here WERE pretty capable of traveling on their own and did what they thought they were supposed to do. Problem was the change of plans enroute and not getting the info to them. At 16 years old though they are not to be escorted and US technically had no liability in not getting them on the new flight, although it would have been nice if they had been able to intercept them in PHX and reroute them. Who knows who was called and what info they were given to try to get them updated in PHX. Also we're only getting one side of the story here and its already resulted in dad getting half off the kids trip next time.
/end rant/

 

[JS]

/rant/
Had a 14 year old the other night booked TPA-LAS-ONT on US (leaving at 920pm arriving ONT about 130am) then connecting on DL ONT-SLC-BIL leaving around 6 or 7am. We're talking a 14 year old who is expected to spend about 5 hours overnight in the ONT airport. What the h&ll are these parents thinking setting up a flight for their kid like this? I personally would like to see NO unaccompanied kids on any flights nonstop or connecting until they turn 18. Even though we ARENT responsible for them if they are 15 or over, we still usually end up taking care of them when things go wrong. The parents dont want to take care of their kids, but let something go wrong and its all the airlines fault for whatever happened. People, you need to take some responsibilty here for your kids. If they arent capable of taking care of themselves if something goes wrong, then dont send them alone. Same thing for grandma with alzheimers. If you arent concerned enough to fly with them, dont spaz on the airlines when something happens. We cant babysit everyone. Sounds like the kids here WERE pretty capable of traveling on their own and did what they thought they were supposed to do. Problem was the change of plans enroute and not getting the info to them. At 16 years old though they are not to be escorted and US technically had no liability in not getting them on the new flight, although it would have been nice if they had been able to intercept them in PHX and reroute them. Who knows who was called and what info they were given to try to get them updated in PHX. Also we're only getting one side of the story here and its already resulted in dad getting half off the kids trip next time.
/end rant/

You have got to be kidding me. This is an airline, not a dance club.

A 16 year old can drive a car alone, ride a bus or train alone, and work an unlimited number of hours. A 15 year old can drive a car accompanied and work a limited number of hours. And you want to treat a 16, or 17 year old (even more absurd) young adult the same as a four year old, requiring Mommy to hold their hand in order to step foot on your exclusive airline?

 

[YVINTERN]

You have got to be kidding me. This is an airline, not a dance club.

A 16 year old can drive a car alone, ride a bus or train alone, and work an unlimited number of hours. A 15 year old can drive a car accompanied and work a limited number of hours. And you want to treat a 16, or 17 year old (even more absurd) young adult the same as a four year old, requiring Mommy to hold their hand in order to step foot on your exclusive airline?

Atleast this way we would be avoiding "you know who" types on our flights until they re 18...then we gotta deal with "you know who" till he retires from being a frequent flyer or gets sick of flying...

 

[Dont call me Shirley]

Atleast this way we would be avoiding "you know who" types on our flights until they re 18...then we gotta deal with "you know who" till he retires from being a frequent flyer or gets sick of flying...

Now that is funny!!!

 

[tadjr]

You have got to be kidding me. This is an airline, not a dance club.

A 16 year old can drive a car alone, ride a bus or train alone, and work an unlimited number of hours. A 15 year old can drive a car accompanied and work a limited number of hours. And you want to treat a 16, or 17 year old (even more absurd) young adult the same as a four year old, requiring Mommy to hold their hand in order to step foot on your exclusive airline?

Then we treat them as an adult. They missed their original flight because "mommy" changed their plans and they didnt get the info. Why are we responsible then for "losing" the kids? You want us to treat them as adults, then they get the same service as the adults. Instead, now we have to go track them down and put them up in the tower for the night. Cant have it both ways here. Either they are "adults" at 15 and we'll assist them like any other assist, but its up to them and their parents to get to their destination and communicate with each other. It just p*sses me off when people want it both ways. Are they capable of traveling alone or not? I know we arent going to eliminate kids from traveling on us, but it brings a load of headaches that we dont have the people to deal with. Much like pets and many other policies that look good on paper, but in reality dont work unless things go perfect.

 

[JS]

Then we treat them as an adult. They missed their original flight because "mommy" changed their plans and they didnt get the info. Why are we responsible then for "losing" the kids? You want us to treat them as adults, then they get the same service as the adults. Instead, now we have to go track them down and put them up in the tower for the night. Cant have it both ways here. Either they are "adults" at 15 and we'll assist them like any other assist, but its up to them and their parents to get to their destination and communicate with each other. It just p*sses me off when people want it both ways. Are they capable of traveling alone or not? I know we arent going to eliminate kids from traveling on us, but it brings a load of headaches that we dont have the people to deal with. Much like pets and many other policies that look good on paper, but in reality dont work unless things go perfect.

That would be great if we were talking about a freight carrier. These aren't boxes, they are real people who occasionally need a little help, something that US fails to do on a regular basis.

Example: a few years ago my mother was flying on Delta to visit me and she got stuck in CVG overnight. She arrived into CVG around 2 AM and was to leave early in the morning, and she was very tired (not elderly or sick or anything, just a typical 55 year woman), so she just wanted a place in the airport to crash. The Delta employees found a place for her to sleep (I think it was a cot).

Contrast that with US, who can't even be bothered to give a simple message to two deboarding passengers on a NON-STOP (geez) flight arriving into PHX, which is a US hub for heaven's sake.

It makes no difference that the two people who didn't get the message were teens. They could have been 40 years old and the result would have been exactly the same. No mesage = wrong flight.

 

[tadjr]

Contrast that with US, who can't even be bothered to give a simple message to two deboarding passengers on a NON-STOP (geez) flight arriving into PHX, which is a US hub for heaven's sake.

And since none of us were there, who is to say that the teens werent paged like US said they would do and they just didnt hear the message and went to DL on their own anyway? Thats why I never guarantee anything anymore. I have no idea whats going on in another city and I wont put that other city in the position of failure. We'll try to get them and let them know, but it should be up to mom to make sure they know. Maybe they should have called mom BEFORE they left their orignal gate area to check in on what was happening. We just do not have the people to be able to sit around and babysit ANYONE any more. Some people are afraid of telling people no, we cant do that. We can try, but dont expect it. So, we end up with "US" being the irresponsible one again.

 

[BuffaloJoe]

And since none of us were there, who is to say that the teens werent paged like US said they would do and they just didnt hear the message and went to DL on their own anyway? Thats why I never guarantee anything anymore. I have no idea whats going on in another city and I wont put that other city in the position of failure. We'll try to get them and let them know, but it should be up to mom to make sure they know. Maybe they should have called mom BEFORE they left their orignal gate area to check in on what was happening. We just do not have the people to be able to sit around and babysit ANYONE any more. Some people are afraid of telling people no, we cant do that. We can try, but dont expect it. So, we end up with "US" being the irresponsible one again.

Kids can be on direct flights? An example flight 666 departs Nashville flies to Phoenix and continues on to Los Angeles. OK the parent books the child on the flight from Nashville to LAX. When they land in Phoenix they decide to change equipment, it happens all the time. Now this is like a connection. It could be at the gate across the aisle or next to the one or even in a different area. Now this goes as a connection, who is supposed to be responsible for the child then? The parent isn't to blame as they booked it on a direct flight.

I know every airline does this, NW more than others. I flew last week PHL-MSP-SFO, was supposed to be a direct flight but we had to change planes as well as gates. No big deal for me as it was a break in the action. But there was an elderly couple flying for their first time, had no clue what to do. They were flying out to see their grandchildren in CA. This was their retirement trip. The man was healthy and able to walk but his wife was in the need of a cane for assistance, so I got her a wheelchair and pushed her. Here it is people thinking and booking a direct flight have to be inconvienienced by switching planes.

For kids to be traveling, such things happen like this and some need guidance. My sister has to send her two kids out to their father in Chicago every summer. But she puts them on a nonstop flight all the time.

 

[tadjr]

Kids can be on direct flights?

Unaccompanied kids on US (ages up to 14) can ONLY be on nonstop flights. Kids 15 and above can be on any flight their parents want to book them on.

 

[madders]

Unaccompanied kids on US (ages up to 14) can ONLY be on nonstop flights. Kids 15 and above can be on any flight their parents want to book them on.

A gate agent always meets every arriving flight but the 16 year old boy should have asked for help.
It is ok for a 16 years old to travel with a younger child.

When I check in a teen under 18 I explain to them how to get to their flights.I also tell them when they get to the connection point to go directly to the gate and stay there and if they hear their flight is delayed or cancelled to go to the gate agent for help

 

[Twicebaked]

US Airways loses track of 2 teens
A really late arrival in Raleigh
Jonathan B. Cox
(Raleigh) News & Observer
Lost luggage?

Please. US Airways recently lost a Raleigh man's two sons.

For the boys, it was a night of adventure; for the parents, an evening of worry. And for everyone else, it's a tale that summarizes a summer of delays and travel misery.

The odyssey started last month when Michael Tucker was booking tickets for his kids' (Calvin, 16, and Joel, 14) annual summer visit from San Diego, where they live with their mother. The cheapest flight, $400 per ticket, required a switch to Delta in Phoenix and a layover in Cincinnati.

Tucker was nervous that the travel plan might have problems. After all, the number of canceled flights industrywide has almost doubled this summer and a quarter of flights are late -- the worst performance since the government began tracking the statistics in 1995. He asked US Airways about a week in advance whether the boys could have an escort. The carrier agreed to have an agent shepherd them.

" 'We're going to be on the lookout for these two guys,' " Tucker said he was told.

When mom took the teens to the airport July 28, there was already trouble. Flight delays made the connection schedule tight.

They hatched plan B: The kids would fly direct from Phoenix to Raleigh on US Airways. The plan was confirmed while the boys were on the first leg of their journey, and an agent was to redirect them in Phoenix.

Tucker tracked their progress online. About 20 minutes after the US Airways flight departed Phoenix for Raleigh, he called the airline and was told that Calvin and Joel were on the flight list.

Two hours later, the phone rang. It was Joel.

" 'Aren't you on a plane?' " asked an alarmed Tucker. Nobody met the boys in Phoenix and as experienced flyers -- they've flown cross-country twice a year for about eight years -- the teens went to the Delta gate.

They missed their final connection in Cincinnati, and no other flights were headed for Raleigh that night. Joel was on a pay phone, with Calvin running to McDonald's for change to keep the connection.

"There was a tremendous amount of panic," Tucker said. "There's nobody in Cincinnati that I know. It's definitely panic, alarm and outrage."

It took Tucker 40 minutes to wind his way through the phone tree at US Airways, which dispatched a representative to find the boys. They were given vouchers for food and taken to the control tower to sleep on cots.

They got to explore a bit, check out the radar and such -- a treat for Calvin, who likes flying.

"It was sort of cool," at least for the boys, Tucker said. The next morning they made it to Raleigh.

US Airways spokeswoman Michelle Mohr, who is based in Charlotte, said Wednesday that she wasn't certain what happened in Phoenix or why the boys weren't met. Airline records show that the agent in San Diego actually put the teens on the direct flight from Phoenix to Raleigh.

"This agent was really looking out for these kids," she said. "I'm not sure where this broke down."

She suggested that parents request the airline escort when they book tickets, not later as Tucker did. Even so, "we're not happy he experienced anything like this," Mohr said. The airline gave him two vouchers worth $250 each.

Tucker spent almost two hours on the phone and had to send an e-mail to get that.

I don't believe 16 year olds are considered UMs. If you are old enough to drive (16) you are old enough to find your way around the airport. And, I am quite sure they both had mouths to say to the agent at the gate..." I am connecting to Delta, could you help me"?

I don't remeber reading that they paid a UM fee either. How else would the airlline know that they had UMs if you don't pay for it and book it that way??

NOT THE AIRLINES FAULT ON THIS ONE.....