laidback71

Why does this matter? Does the level of service depend on the purpose of your trip?

mromalley

This.

Doesn't matter the purpose of his trip, doesn't matter if his parents are divorced, or never married, etc. Doesn't matter if he was an experienced traveller or if this was his first flight. That is all white noise.

Air Canada failed - they left a minor (as defined by both AC and the law) in a airport without a way home for potentially two days. Not one AC employee (from what we know) stepped up and advocated for this kid.

CZAMFlyer

First of all, let's find some common ground. Nobody I have seen on this thread disputes this. Myself included.

You're a bit guilty of overstating the risks of being allowed outside the house. Bad things happen anywhere and everywhere, in small towns and large ones, airports, the street, in churches and schools. Let's not pretend that post-security YYZ is a hotbed of crime activity, or that being alone there is any more dangerous than being alone elsewhere. He wasn't left overnight in a penitentiary or stranded in an unfamiliar culture. I may be an adult today, but I too was once a 15yr old kid who grew up in a town a lot smaller then Geraldton. I frequently traveled unaccompanied (2 parents managing 4 kids on 4 sports teams in 4 towns at once, hence the eldest was often sent solo), so can relate first-hand to the considerations at play here.


Again, there was no justification piece to the puzzle. And I made no assumptions: the fact is that his age is such that he will soon be legally entitled to do the things I mentioned. There seems to be some muddiness around AC's procedures. We seem to have established he wasn't traveling under the UM policy (not flagged for chaperone service), so he was treated as any other traveler. And I have agreed from my first sentence that it was shoddy treatment. Being stranded sucks regardless of age.

I actually voiced the exact opposite: I posited that the boy and his mother had not adequately planned what to do in the event of a missed connection.

1. Where did you read the teen was on the land side of the terminal?
2. If he arrived at 8 and most food outlets close at 11, it does only give him a 3hr window to purchase food. Barely time to scarf down a burrito.
3. "empty, dark, scary, cold, unfriendly, terrible" I mean, come on...


Nobody has blamed a victim. People have dared question why he went so hungry and how scarring the experience may have been. I wager it likely wasn't as miserable as is now being recounted after the fact. Posing a contrarian viewpoint that isn't part of the crowd's mock outrage is not grounds for being compared to social deviants.

The smallest state

I really think we need to stop this collective where a 15 year old boy is fine on his own. Yes, the kid landed on his feet. He asked for help, AC told him to go pound sand and he survived the night.

But further to an earlier posters point on here. It is not ok for a 15 year old person to be abandoned and left to his/her own devices. I have a daughter, if this happened to my daughter I would be hoping mad. Now, I am fortunate enough to call a Marriott or Hyatt line, get a room and work something out with them, then put a taxi on a CC. I had this happen when my son and his girlfriend were 17 and they were stuck after missing the last bus off of the ski hill. I had to book them a hotel room each (I know, I know, what you are thinking, it went through my mind too.) and they were fine.

This is a 15 year old minor. It is not ok to leave him to his own devices overnight in Toronto airport. It is absolutely NOT ok for him to ask AC employees for help and informing them he was a minor and they tell him to get lost.

MSPeconomist

Did he inform AC employees that he was a minor? In his photo, he looks older than 15. They might have assumed that he was an adult and not looked for his age in the PNR or on this passport (if they even looked at the passport).

The smallest state

I don't know for a biblical fact but............according to this article he said

"The teen said he spent part of the night running between Air Canada service desks explaining that he was a minor and needed help. When none was offered, he did his best to stay alert and awake for fear he would be robbed if he let his guard down."

Then Mom was calling AC looking for help (a fruitless and near pointless waste of effort to be fair) and she said AC

"rebooked him like any other person, into the next day with no thought what's going to happen to him when he lands in Toronto in one of the biggest airports in Canada, all by himself."
which I must admit, seems true. Why they would simply rebook him and ignore his age.

I get it, a portion of AC employees simply don't care. I am not an AC advocate but it sounds like this family ran into a perfect storm or rude and uncaring Air Canada phone rep, Air Canada Gate Agent, Air Canada Customer Service person over and over. Frankly this sounds like Dante's 9th depth of hell to me but anyways..........the article with these quotes are here
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunde...106886?cmp=rss

CZAMFlyer

OK, so let's instead ask why the teen wasn't traveling under the unaccompanied minor policy? Because if he wasn't doing so, then guess what? The guardians of the child felt it was ok for the teen to be left unsupervised and that's exactly what they allowed to happen. They are now upset that he got stranded overnight, evidently not having thought in advance this was a possibility.

On this point, everybody agrees. And age is irrelevant.

KathrynInCanada

I'm surprised at those posts saying no hotel under the age of 18.

My daughter and a male friend both age 17 were busing to Stratford and were stranded at Toronto Bus Station at 11 p.m. Their next bus would be at 6 a.m.

She was frightened at spending the night in the bus station, not even sure it would remain open all night long. She phoned home. I said to call back in 20 and I'd have something for her.

Found a hotel a couple of blocks away with a lovely reservation clerk who listened to a slightly panicked mother's story. I only cared about the room but she asked, "Now for the delicate question, one bed or two?!" Bless her heart. Anything would be fine.

But at 17 my kids shared a credit card with me (because they were driving our car and I wanted them to be able to handle car emergencies on their own.) So money wasn't the issue, it was just availability. And she wasn't alone, she could tag-team sleep with her friend. So in general, it was the best of worst experiences.

The main point is that 15 years ago, hotels would book a room to someone under 18, at least if mom called in and booked it. Of course, my daughter had a credit card on her but I booked it using mine.

CZAMFlyer

How rich. She's blaming the airline for doing the precise thing she appears to have done herself.

Who sent him there, to this wicked wicked den of iniquity, all by himself?

The smallest state

They have every right to be upset. This is from Air Canada's own website. The one thing they hate is when people use their own corporate BS and outright lies against them.

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.

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ellations.html


While I have never flown one of my kids alone on AC as a minor (and have no intention of doing so), I am told the UM policy is only good on direct flights, you can't change planes.

The smallest state

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.

https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...ellations.html

Accommodations.................NO

Meals (plural)......................NO

Transportation.....................NO

expert7700

Hey Air Canada. Such a shame you are oblivious to passenger age when dealing with minors. After all, how would you ever have known.... besides the fact that you require age at booking, require phone-in booking for any even younger people traveling alone, and require photo id/passport at checkin.

Since you already monitor for misconnecting passengers (and "likely" misconnects) to increase revenue by reselling/filling seats, how about you start doing something that you ALREADY PROMISE you'll do (see above):

Code the computers " if pnr-misconnect-age < 18, then: alert-ac-response-team, alert-priority-rebook, alert-gate-agent, alert-parent"

CZAMFlyer

And they'll do so today, at least in my observations. I think the issue in this case was the lack of hotels, not the age of the person needing one.

I hope you said two, and tried to pretend that would make a difference. Actually, most 17yr old kids are pretty responsible people, so I'm sure behaved admirably. If they were just friends, one bed would have only made for a good story to laugh about afterwards. If more than friends, "it" had already been done. The hotel lady sounded delightful.

yyznomad

I asked about this upthread and was objectively advised that this did not qualify as it was not a direct (and non-stop?) flight. I didn't ask why, although I am curious to know this.

CZAMFlyer

We both agree that AC dropped the ball. I'm sure you've read my first post within this thread as to my thoughts re top-of-list treatment.

My so-called contentious point was some posters here overstating the hazards and risks to the teen, and the teen himself claiming he could not find food and was akin to being held prisoner.