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CBC: Girl, 15, stranded alone overnight at YYC after AC delay & WS ticket error

CBC: Girl, 15, stranded alone overnight at YYC after AC delay & WS ticket error

Old Mar 28, 2019, 12:17 pm
  #31  
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Originally Posted by Jazzed91
I once spent the night on the floor of a dimly lit hallway in SFO after some IRROPS. I was 16 years old. My parents didn't even know I was out of the country, let alone in SFO.

I dealt with it. I survived.
As did I. At 16. In a different era. With no cell phones or internet. On airport floors in Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, the U.S....
And unrelated to those of us who navigated the travel universe when we were under age, and collect calls were only an option if there were phones.....that worked....

As many on AC FT often say when these types of CBC articles appear, it seems like details are missing. Did the CBC/Global not get all of them? Did the teen not provide all of the relevant info to the parents and the news orgs?

I suppose the lesson learned by her and others who travel similarly is have a back-up plan.

Last edited by 24left; Mar 28, 2019 at 1:01 pm Reason: spelling
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Old Mar 28, 2019, 12:56 pm
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by trek604
Apparently Global says her luggage made it on the WS flight too so obviously she was on the flight's manifest...
Her luggage had the benefit of a chaperone.

Originally Posted by trek604
Snowflake probably was making a super long instastory and missed gate closing.
Victim-blaming is so uncool.
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Old Mar 28, 2019, 6:15 pm
  #33  
 
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Originally Posted by trek604
Apparently Global says her luggage made it on the WS flight too so obviously she was on the flight's manifest... .
Is this saying that her bags flew but she did not not??
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Old Mar 28, 2019, 6:28 pm
  #34  
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Global: Teen stranded overnight at YYC after ‘series of unfortunate events'

Originally Posted by trek604
Apparently Global says her luggage made it on the WS flight too so obviously she was on the flight's manifest...
Originally Posted by fin 645
Is this saying that her bags flew but she did not not??
(bolding in the quote below is mine - also this is a copy and paste of the latter half of the news report)

Global: Teen stranded overnight at Calgary airport after ‘series of unfortunate events’

https://globalnews.ca/news/5104094/t...lgary-airport/

Originally Posted by globalnews.ca
Global: Teen stranded overnight at Calgary airport after ‘series of unfortunate events’
By Jill Croteau Reporter Global News

...
“She hadn’t slept in 24 hours she has anxiety and she was in Calgary, out of province, and we couldn’t even drive through the night and go pick her up. We were way too far away.”

“What bothered me is there was nobody with authority to make sure nothing untoward happened to her,” Harper said. “That’s all I was looking for: a human connection. Yes, she’s a minor and she’s flying unaccompanied, but there’s a certain amount of social responsibility and compassion recognizing this is a 15-year-old.”

Calgary Airport Authority officials said they’re looking into this situation but say there’s no indication Emma approached anyone looking for help and that assistance is available 24-hours a day and seven days a week.

Air Canada responded to Global News in a statement.

“There were actually four customers, including the young woman, who were destined to Fort St. John, and all were re-routed with Westjet via Calgary,” Peter Fitzpatrick, with Air Canada, said.

“The other three customers boarded the flight in Calgary without issue and we do not have information as to why this passenger, regrettably, did not.”

After a robust investigation, Westjet called it “an unfortunate series of events.”

“We will most certainly use this situation as learning for our teams, as in no case, regardless of the carrier responsible, would we be comfortable with a 15-year-old being left alone overnight in an airport.

“We sincerely apologize for not going above and beyond and letting her and her family down,” said Morgan Bell, Westjet media and public relations advisor.

Emma’s stepmom said their policies should be reviewed.

“Even if Emma wasn’t an unaccompanied minor, it’s still pretty abhorrent behavior towards anybody flying,” Jordan-Fenton said.

Once the ticket agents arrived for their morning shift, they got Emma on a flight to Grande Prairie. Her stepmom drove two-and-a-half hours to pick her up. They had to make a quick pit stop at the Fort St. John airport because her luggage did make it on the flight.
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 6:52 am
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by ffsim
Victim-blaming is so uncool.
But Corp-bashing blaming IS cool? It is the 'victim's' caregiver that put her in the spotlight...
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Last edited by canolakid; Mar 29, 2019 at 2:05 pm Reason: added text for, you know, context
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 7:08 am
  #36  
 
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Why does CBC love to pick on the airlines? It seems that every week there is a news story about someone who missed their flight (usually their own fault) and then missed their grandmother's birthday party. The article usually has a picture the family huddled around a table with their angry faces on.

Imagine if the news outlets would have an interest in clothing stores. A news story would break "Man buys suit that doesn't fit and clothing store won't take it back"
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 7:19 am
  #37  
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Originally Posted by ffsim

Victim-blaming is so uncool.
Something tells me she wasn’t the victim. Sounds like she messed up somehow and missed her flight. Then told a story to cover it up.
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 10:28 am
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Originally Posted by canolakid
But Corp-bashing IS cool? It is the 'victim's' caregiver that put her in the spotlight...
Well big corp top 3 business "strategy is..." making money as much as they can don't care about who gets screwed, unless of course it goes "public" then they would need to do damage control. I've work long enough for Fortune 500 companies to know how things go. A lot is "pretending to care"... At the end of the day its about making money and LOTS of it! Do you think big corps care about you? For most big corp, you're only as good as the last business transaction or if you're already "in".

Just like the Banks, do you think the people in the bank are your "friends"? Because they treat you "nice"?

How many times do big corp do "damage control" after it went to social media? For decades lots of big corps step on customers even when they try to complain. As you see again and again some customers complains never gets heard until it gets to social media. It is what is.
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 10:37 am
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Originally Posted by BRAISKI
Well big corp top 3 business "strategy is..." making money as much as they can don't care about who gets screwed, unless of course it goes "public" then they would need to do damage control. I've work long enough for Fortune 500 companies to know how things go. A lot is "pretending to care"... At the end of the day its about making money and LOTS of it! Do you think big corps care about you? For most big corp, you're only as good as the last business transaction or if you're already "in".

Just like the Banks, do you think the people in the bank are your "friends"? Because they treat you "nice"?

How many times do big corp do "damage control" after it went to social media? For decades lots of big corps step on customers even when they try to complain. As you see again and again some customers complains never gets heard until it gets to social media. It is what is.
pump your brakes... All I said was it is the victim's care giver who chose to go to another big bad corp to share the story...
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 10:42 am
  #40  
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Originally Posted by yyznomad
(bolding in the quote below is mine - also this is a copy and paste of the latter half of the news report)

Global: Teen stranded overnight at Calgary airport after ‘series of unfortunate events’

https://globalnews.ca/news/5104094/t...lgary-airport/
So we still don't know why she missed her new connecting flight.
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 12:58 pm
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Originally Posted by canolakid
But Corp-bashing IS cool? It is the 'victim's' caregiver that put her in the spotlight...
Where did I suggest such a thing? You know, it's actually possible to discuss -- and even debate -- the news without resorting to bashing any of the parties involved.

Originally Posted by 5mm
Something tells me she wasn’t the victim. Sounds like she messed up somehow and missed her flight. Then told a story to cover it up.
It actually doesn't sound like that at all; there are few facts at this time and her messing up isn't supported by any of them.

From the video clip linked above: "...but no actual ticket was issued, only a piece of paper" which turned out to be enough for her luggage to make the flight but not her. Then she was sent land-side to see a ticketing agent who actually wasn't there. Having spent 5 million miles on airplanes, perhaps you're familiar with the requirement of a boarding pass to get air side. And having presumably spent far less than 5 million miles on airplanes, this girl didn't really know how to handle the situation.

There are many valuable learning experiences we can all take from this story....... including those of us on the FT sidelines.
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 1:16 pm
  #42  
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Originally Posted by ffsim
Where did I suggest such a thing? You know, it's actually possible to discuss -- and even debate -- the news without resorting to bashing any of the parties involved.




From the video clip linked above: "...but no actual ticket was issued, only a piece of paper" which turned out to be enough for her luggage to make the flight but not her. Then she was sent land-side to see a ticketing agent who actually wasn't there. Having spent 5 million miles on airplanes, perhaps you're familiar with the requirement of a boarding pass to get air side. And having presumably spent far less than 5 million miles on airplanes, this girl didn't really know how to handle the situation.

There are many valuable learning experiences we can all take from this story....... including those of us on the FT sidelines.
Tickets are usually never issued for issues like this. The piece of paper that the girl most likely got was a fim, which's acts like a ticket. Since other pax made the flight, along with her luggage, it sounds like she was late getting to the gate, missed her flight, which is why she had to go to the ticket counter. If CBC only did proper reporting, this would not even made the news. You don't need to fly 5 million miles to understand that you have to be a the gate on time.
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Old Mar 29, 2019, 1:58 pm
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Originally Posted by 5mm
If CBC only did proper reporting, this would not even made the news. You don't need to fly 5 million miles to understand that you have to be a the gate on time.
And if you had read the article or watched the report, you’d understand that she was sent land-side because a WS agent didn’t accept the paper document (indeed probably a FIM).

But it’s obviously more appealing to continue to insist — despite no proof — that she did something wrong.
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