Here's the deal.

My 15 yr old granddaughter was scheduled to fly today CLT-DTW-SBN, originating on flight 1573 departing 4:10. The flight had a ground hold, so they rebooked her on DL 5544 thru Cincinnati departing 6:10pm and sent her w/ her original ticket and a form of some kind to the gate (the WRONG gate I might add - they sent her to the other end of D concourse when she should have been going to "A" - she got to the gate w/ ONE minute to spare). Anyway. She gets on the plane, and then they deplane all passengers connecting out of Cincinnati - said no flights were connecting out of there - and send her back to the main terminal to talk to NW.

Now NW has just told her to go back to the DL gate and get the original NW ticket. Duh - she can't get thru security, she has no ticket. Duh - the gate has closed up because the f**g flight has left the gate. Her mother - who is not at the airport (don't ask) - is getting a bunch of attitude and no answers from NW customer support. The child is roaming around the airport. I told her to get back into the NW line and call me when she gets to the front of it so I can talk to the agent.

Does anyone have any ideas???

*******

Well, the fire drill is over but I am pissed big time.

Turns out the reason Mom wasn't with her was that Northwest wouldn't let her thru security unless she paid $75. What???????? So when granddaughter used her cell phone to tell Mom she was on the plane, Mom left the airport.

And even though there was a DL flight 1915 connecting to 4412 that would have gotten her there tonight, the agent said she "couldn't find it" (I'm looking at it on ITN w/ all kinds of seats) (Granddaughter was too timid to call me standing at the counter). So they rebooked her for tomorrow, and Mom has to drive an hour back to CLT to pick her up and take her back in the AM.

I have no status w/ NW. Can anyone tell me what this $75 business is for a parent to accompany an unaccompanied minor to the gate??? Does anyone feel they could call their elite rep to have a notation put in her record that her Mom can accompany her to the gate tomorrow? If so, please email me.

[This message has been edited by svpii (edited 06-27-2002).]

I get it - From looking at the website, it looks like they are trying to get Mom to pay the $75 to classify Heather as an unaccompanied minor in order to be able to go thru security with her..

I tried to call NW reservations myself. Unbelievable. "Due to extremely high volume, we are unable to take your call at this time. We look forward to talking to you at a later time".

Unbelievable.

[This message has been edited by svpii (edited 06-27-2002).]