...it doesnt look like the boy was a UM under care of AC?
...if they wanted someone to take care of their teenager (NOT A CHILD), they should have paid for UM service.
...which 13yr old doesnt have a cellphone?, that when left alone at 2am in an airport does not make an effort to call his parents/guardians.
sorry, but a 13yr old should be able to function somewhat independently.
There is no fault of AC in this... must be a slow news day on the CBC.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KenHamer
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Are there any flights scheduled to arrive at YYZ at 2am?
As a matter of fact.....
There are. A handful of flights from the Caribbean including AC1853 (VRA) which arrives at 0245. Sunwing also has flights arriving in the wee hours of the morning.
Yeah, this is 100% the fault of the parents.. It's a typical.. Drop their kid at the airport and take no responsibility for when things WILL eventually go bad.. It would be as simple as telling the kid "If the flight is cancelled, diverted, changed in anyway, tell an agent you are 13 and travelling alone and need assistance).. I hardly doubt any reasonable adult would just snub a 13 year old and hope for the best..
The other curious thing is, why didn't the kid call his mother and have her drive back to the airport to take care of him? (Yes, I know this is a drive, but ... It IS your 13 year old who is now alone in a huge airport at 2AM)
I'm so sick and tired of people who always want to blame everyone else for their problems.
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Quote:
The boy’s mother had dropped him off at the airport and returned home to Niagara Falls, Ont., after the plane departed for New Brunswick. She was unaware the flight had returned to Toronto because of bad weather.
The boy had made the trip from Toronto to Saint John unattended several times in the past and was an experienced traveller.
Air Canada does have an optional Unaccompanied Minor service that travellers can purchase for an extra $100. With that service, Air Canada staff will escort a child for the duration of the trip.
- Parents did not check flight status.
- Youth was "experienced" so should have known what to do. i.e. Should have been able to call parents.
- Parents cheaped out and chose not to pay $100 for a service they now demand.
Yeah, this is 100% the fault of the parents.. It's a typical.. Drop their kid at the airport and take no responsibility for when things WILL eventually go bad.. It would be as simple as telling the kid "If the flight is cancelled, diverted, changed in anyway, tell an agent you are 13 and travelling alone and need assistance).. I hardly doubt any reasonable adult would just snub a 13 year old and hope for the best..
The other curious thing is, why didn't the kid call his mother and have her drive back to the airport to take care of him? (Yes, I know this is a drive, but ... It IS your 13 year old who is now alone in a huge airport at 2AM)
I'm so sick and tired of people who always want to blame everyone else for their problems.
Totally agree with this. Aside from 13 year olds having their own common sense to ASK for help if things go awry, most these days have cell phones or at the very least know how to place a collect call on a pay phone to ask a family member for advice/assistance. Even my 9 year old boy would have the scruples to figure this out.
As a parent, there's NO WAY I'd let my kids travel ANYWHERE by themselves until they are adults, let alone expect that responsibility be put on a corporation. That's just asking for trouble - too many things could go wrong and turn into such a stressful and scary environment!
Shame on those parents - for not only doing this to their kid, but for trying to point the finger at AC!
I agree with most of the posters here. This appears to be an example of parents who tried to cheap out by not paying the UM fee. If it were my 13 year old I would certainly cough up the fee to ensure my son was looked after.
If the flight turned back and landed at 2:00 AM I am sure the skeleton staff on duty at that hour would have been overwhelmed with passengers requesting hotel accommodations, food vouchers, etc. It would be easy to miss the fact that a 13 year old was traveling on his own, especially when it would not have been noted on the passenger manifest.
- Parents did not check flight status.
- Youth was "experienced" so should have known what to do. i.e. Should have been able to call parents.
- Parents cheaped out and chose not to pay $100 for a service they now demand.
Not AC's fault in any way.
Always thought UM was free. Well it was (in my limited experience) with BA and LH back in the early 2000s. Guess its become a part of the nickel and diming now? $100 is a bit absurd - do they charge for wheelchairs for elderly people as well (same concept if you ask me)?
As for parents checking the flight status - did the flight depart (as in become airborne) and then return? Because if thats the case....well, I'll be honest - once a flight takes off, I don't stick around at/near the airport for the duration of the flight to make sure its not turned around. I don't think many people do.
That aside, is this really the policy:
"Youths travelling alone (ages 12 to 17), for whom the parent or guardian has not requested the Unaccompanied Minor service, will be taken care of by our agents. We will also arrange for accommodations, meals and transportation if needed,” according to Air Canada’s agents," the policy says."
If this is, in fact, the policy, then, well, spin it how you want, a $10 voucher for an 8 hour period from 2 am to 10 am is ... not quite what the policy states now, is it?
I mean, lets face it - kids between the ages of 12 and 17 don't have credit cards (the Government and the banks don't allow it), and rarely do they carry enough pocket change to afford a night at a hotel. AC knows that. You know that. I know that. Its implicit in the policy that arranging accomodations does not mean they will simply direct a kid (and yes, a 13 year old is still a kid, regardless of what some here think he should or should not know by that age - in fact, several people here seem to be lacking the wisdom their age suggests they should have) to the nearest hotel.
Totally agree with this. Aside from 13 year olds having their own common sense to ASK for help if things go awry, most these days have cell phones or at the very least know how to place a collect call on a pay phone to ask a family member for advice/assistance. Even my 9 year old boy would have the scruples to figure this out.
As a parent, there's NO WAY I'd let my kids travel ANYWHERE by themselves until they are adults, let alone expect that responsibility be put on a corporation. That's just asking for trouble - too many things could go wrong and turn into such a stressful and scary environment!
Shame on those parents - for not only doing this to their kid, but for trying to point the finger at AC!
Parents not proactive = parents are to blame.
Employees not proactive = shouldn't be held responsible for not being proactive.
The policy, if it really is AC policy, is clear enough. A 13 year old wandering around alone at an airport at 3 am .... pretty hard to miss I should think.
I agree with most of the posters here. This appears to be an example of parents who tried to cheap out by not paying the UM fee. If it were my 13 year old I would certainly cough up the fee to ensure my son was looked after.
If the flight turned back and landed at 2:00 AM I am sure the skeleton staff on duty at that hour would have been overwhelmed with passengers requesting hotel accommodations, food vouchers, etc. It would be easy to miss the fact that a 13 year old was traveling on his own, especially when it would not have been noted on the passenger manifest.
Can't blame Air Canada on this one.
They gave him a $10 voucher apparently without noticing that he was 13 years old and travelling alone.
Always thought UM was free. Well it was (in my limited experience) with BA and LH back in the early 2000s. Guess its become a part of the nickel and diming now? $100 is a bit absurd - do they charge for wheelchairs for elderly people as well (same concept if you ask me)?
As for parents checking the flight status - did the flight depart (as in become airborne) and then return? Because if thats the case....well, I'll be honest - once a flight takes off, I don't stick around at/near the airport for the duration of the flight to make sure its not turned around. I don't think many people do.
That aside, is this really the policy:
"Youths travelling alone (ages 12 to 17), for whom the parent or guardian has not requested the Unaccompanied Minor service, will be taken care of by our agents. We will also arrange for accommodations, meals and transportation if needed,” according to Air Canada’s agents," the policy says."
If this is, in fact, the policy, then, well, spin it how you want, a $10 voucher for an 8 hour period from 2 am to 10 am is ... not quite what the policy states now, is it?
I mean, lets face it - kids between the ages of 12 and 17 don't have credit cards (the Government and the banks don't allow it), and rarely do they carry enough pocket change to afford a night at a hotel. AC knows that. You know that. I know that. Its implicit in the policy that arranging accomodations does not mean they will simply direct a kid (and yes, a 13 year old is still a kid, regardless of what some here think he should or should not know by that age - in fact, several people here seem to be lacking the wisdom their age suggests they should have) to the nearest hotel.
In which case, Grandpa's right.
So, this kid is old enough to travel on his own without UM service UNLESS something happens? Then he needs help and requires AC to step in and hold his hand?
Gimme a break. Parents need to factor in ALL circumstances when letting a child travel alone and then instruct them to act accordingly. Hanging the blame on AC for this by reading the fine print in their policies is ridiculous. This 'child' should not have been travelling alone in the first place if he didn't know what to do in the event of a trip interruption.
If there were a parent manual with T&C or a underage travel policy, I am sure the parents of this youth would be violating that!
Having said all this, it's a shame that a staff member or even another traveller didn't step in sooner to help the kid out. Not his fault his parents' missed the boat on this one...
