RangerNS

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air...ight-1.6334014I mean, they do have a good procedure: they don't do anything and are very clear about that. It might not be a suitable procedure, but its a good one, if you evaluate a procedure being clear, consistent, unambiguous, and applicable in all situations.

LondonElite

Our 15 year old daughter flew on an international connecting itinerary this summer, and the agent specifically told us to be aware of the fact that if her final flight was cancelled, they would not be able to provide accommodation for a minor and would probably have to sit it out overnight at the gate. Beware!

jjclancy

You could write the same article with an adult passenger: “my Apple Pay wasn’t working, did they expect me to spend two days at the airport without food?”

yulred

Noted this (from the story) with amusement:

“That's a change in policy. Years ago, Air Canada's website said — even without the "unaccompanied minor" service — that youths between 12 and 17 would be "taken care of by our agents. We will also arrange for accommodations, meals and transportation if needed."

The airline removed that policy sometime after January 2013. It did not say why or when it made that change.”

Another Rovinescu “innovation”, no doubt. Right up there alongside the cabin maintenance/cleanliness piece and other mindless cost cutting.

Not really.

“Hotels would not take an underage teen.”

An adult would be able to check in to the hotel paid on someone else’s CC, and would be able to have food delivered to them (can’t do that in airports).

songsc

We used to get this kind of articles weekly. Looks like travel demand is bouncing back.

Allyn Rose Oertel

This seems INSANE!

LondonElite

The agent was very nice about it. She said that it was something we needed to consider. She simply said that we do not have facilities for children to stay over night and hotels won't take a minor on their own. We rolled the dice anyway.

Annerk

I don't see the problem with it. As long as the person booking the ticket understands the policy, it is up to them whether to proceed or not. If they aren't comfortable with it, they can either have the child not make the trip, or find a responsible adult to accompany them.

The mother should have met her daughter at Pearson, and if she couldn't get there due to the labor action, she should have notified her husband not to put her on the flight from DR, and then called to reschedule the ticket.

And I find it hard to believe a freaking 14 year old can't walk up to the counter at Tim Horton's, Starbucks, or Subway and order a meal. If she was traveling with no funds, the parents were flat out irresponsible.

By the way, when I was 14, I would have thought this was the adventure of a lifetime! I also would have had babysitting and house cleaning money in my pocket (and I'm sure a few emergency $20's from my father).

yulred

Well, yes, as is often the case in these situations, the customer is inevitably an idiot for choosing the airline. Only silly people expect “common sense” solutions to apply. It is, after all, incumbent on AC customers to expect Spirit-levels of customers service from an airline that likes to remind us repeatedly that it’s the best in North America.

It’s absolutely true that this could have been avoided if the parents had done this, that or the other thing (e.g. not making any travel plan at all). By the same token, it’s true that there are better ways for airline employees to respond when faced with this situation, rather than throw the rule book at a 15 year old.

I’ve done long/connecting UM runs at younger ages with BA and LH (including connecting at the UM “lounge” at FRA). I’m sure I’ve recounted this before but my BA flight was delayed overnight and I stayed at a hotel (an experience only memory-worthy because the hotel served me a boiled potato in salty water for dinner - the worst possible introduction to English cuisine). I can’t see either of them handling this situation the way AC did.

Come to think of it, I can think of many airlines that wouldn’t handle it like this - even constant complaint-generating AI. But then, customer expectations tend to be higher in other countries - not everyone exhibits this curiously Canadian tendency of being a pushover - with lots of vindictiveness towards others apparently to compensate for it.

I know CR was lauded for his financial success, but we keep getting reminders of how sharply service has deteriorated to sustain that. Even common sense has gone out of the window - would ignoring the “computer says no” but, and handing her a few vouchers really cost AC that much?

Shiny objects in J aside, AC really has tendency of doing things that make it seem like a real budget operation.

LondonElite

Were you travelling as a documented UM on these trips (by the way, BA scrapped this service several years ago)? That's entirely different than what the OP reported. What do you expect AC to do when a minor (who is allowed to travel without a parent) is stranded mid-trip? Hotels won't accept them (for obvious liability reasons), an AC agent can't very well take the kid home with them (same problem), and there aren't sleeping rooms in Canadian airports that I'm aware of for this situation.

I don't think the parents considered the possibility that this might happen.

wrp96

You'd be surprised. Pre-COVID many airlines, including BA, had done away with their unaccompanied minor services. Other airlines raised the age and cost for unaccompanied minor services because they really don't want to be handling it. BA has this explicit warning on it's website now "If a young flyer is travelling on their own, please be aware that they will be booked to travel as an adult, and therefore will be making their way through departure and arrival airports and boarding their flight(s) without a chaperone. British Airways cannot accept parental responsibility for the young person. We recommend that the parent or guardian accompanying the young flyer to the airport waits until their flight departs before leaving the terminal." BA also specifically state that the child should carry with them the means to pay for necessary expenses.

tracon

If it didn't kill her, it made her stronger.

Annerk

I feel like there is a third component to this story, the 14 year old who like many 14 year old's, instead of remaining calm and working through the situation, I suspect she became a drama llama who didn't effectively articulate what she needed, and what she told her mother might have been different from what the rep told her.

It's also possible that they were unable to accommodate her due to Provincial laws regarding renting rooms to minors not accompanied by adults. In the past, kids were usually paired with a FA who acted as a guardian. Some union contracts now forbid this, and for good reason. It puts the FA at risk of a fabricated claim of assault by a minor with a bug up their butt. Or the carrier at risk for a merited claim of a assault against the FA whose employer would also be considered at fault.

Again, if children aren't able to take care of themselves, then parents shouldn't expect them to fly alone except on non-stop flights.

yulred

BA was a looong time ago - I’m no spring chicken. I was documented. They put me in a room with strict instructions not to open the door or answer the phone unless a specific FA came. LH - was older (mid teens) and undocumented, but it was a daytime IRROP. Early am arrival late AM departure became early AM/late evening departure. At lunch time they realized I was a UM when I went to ask about when the delayed flight would depart, so just parked me in the UM lounge (all I remember is that it was one escalator down from a McDonalds, and had a garden). I don’t know if it was 24/7 or not - and everything (literally) was in German. What they didn’t do is tell me to go away.

I hear you on the hotel thing - but equally just point out that there are ways for airlines to do it. AC itself used to do it, apparently. Just have to dust off those procedures. But alas, they cost money.

yulred

“Drama llama”? I mean, there’s a reason we don’t treat 14 year olds as adults in every other sphere of life.

If an airline employee thinks throwing the rule book at a panicking teen and ignoring them, instead of handing a few food vouchers over, is the right thing to do…well, it’s a strange one.