Texas mom wants answers on flight mix-up

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

HOUSTON—The mother of an 8-year-old Texas girl doesn't believe Continental Airlines' explanation that a miscommunication led to her daughter being placed on a wrong flight while traveling unaccompanied. Wendy Babineaux said Wednesday she is "getting the run-around" from Continental while trying to find out how daughter Taylor Williams flew out of Houston on Saturday morning and ended up in Fayetteville, Ark., when she was supposed to go to Charlotte. N.C. to see her father. The next day, 10-year-old Miriam Kamens was supposed to go to from Boston to Cleveland to visit her grandparents but was mistakenly sent to Newark, N.J.

"I just feel it was total incompetence and a lack of caring," said Babineaux, who lives in the Bryan-College Station area 90 miles northwest of Houston. "That they did this with my child and turned around the next day and did it with another child shows they do have major problems."

Both Taylor and Miriam were on flights operated by ExpressJet, which is under contract with Continental.

Babineaux, 39, said she is upset that she learned about the mistake from the Arkansas airport and not Continental.

Houston-based Continental says in both situations, two flights were departing simultaneously from a single doorway and miscommunication among staff members resulted in the children being boarded on the wrong aircraft.

"We're reviewing the entire situation and are focused on reinforcing our procedures with our employees," said Continental spokeswoman Kelly Cripe. "We fly thousands of unaccompanied minors every year and the procedures work when followed."

At Continental, parents fill out paperwork that has contact information about their unaccompanied child. The paperwork is given to employees at the ticket counter and parents are given a dummy boarding pass so they can go to the gate with their child.

Under Continental's policies, a child is supposed to always be escorted and supervised. A child can be escorted by a gate agent to a plane and then handed off to a flight attendant. After the plane lands, the flight attendant is supposed to hand the child off to a gate agent or escort. Parents are given passes so they can meet their children at the arrival gate.

At Continental's hub airports—Houston, Cleveland and Newark—unaccompanied minors can wait at supervised facilities called Young Traveler Clubs, which provide entertainment and snacks.

Miriam's father, Jonathan Kamens, wrote on his blog Tuesday he doesn't think Continental has the right policies in place. He offered some suggestions, including letting parents or escorts take their children all the way onto a plane and requiring unaccompanied minors to preboard.

Babineaux said her daughter—who finally got to Charlotte at about 10:30 p.m.—is unaware of what happened and she doesn't plan on telling her until after she returns to Texas next month.

"I don't want her to get (on the return flight) and be all nervous," Babineaux said.

While Babineaux has hired an attorney, both she and Kamens have said they are not looking for compensation from a lawsuit.

"This way, when (Continental) hears attorney, they think maybe, 'We need to get our stuff together,'" Babineaux said. "I'm hoping to get better treatment for unaccompanied minors so no one will have to go through what I did."

Cripe said the airline has apologized to both families and they have been refunded the $75 unaccompanied minor fees.

"The value of the compensation being offered to both families is the same," said Cripe, who declined to detail what that was.

KEVIN!!!!

Edited June 17, 2009 by TävôLuDô

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Here is an answer.

Fly with your child next time and stop pawning off responsibility to others. It's your child.

Yes, I know companies offer this service, but come on....

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

The parents must ask Kevin,

He had the time of his life when he ended up in NYC in Home Alone 2

[thepizzadude 26]

Here is an answer.

Fly with your child next time and stop pawning off responsibility to others. It's your child.

Yes, I know companies offer this service, but come on....

Exactly my thoughts

My hopes are they raise such a stink about this, which in turn causes all airlines to stop the practice...LOL