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AA flight attendants forgot to escort unaccompanied minor in MIA

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AA flight attendants forgot to escort unaccompanied minor in MIA

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Old Jul 4, 2022, 9:49 pm
  #16  
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Originally Posted by bgasser
Curious why AA allows UM. I know they make a few $$$, but when things go bad, the press is lousy. Seems it would just be easier to require parents/guardians to accompany minors.
It is hardly a diffucult process - there is no reason why AA shouldn't be able to handle it - other airlines do.

Given the lack of reports on it, it would seem that normally it handles them ok

I have seen reports where internationally arriving passengers have inadvertently been allowed to arrive through a domestic door rather than be sent to immigration. Given that this has happened on occasion, wouldn't it be easier to stick to domestic operations?
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Old Jul 4, 2022, 10:00 pm
  #17  
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
If they posted it on Flyertalk it would have been ok though?
Come on - nobody posts on FT looking for something to go viral.
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Old Jul 4, 2022, 10:02 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
It is hardly a diffucult process - there is no reason why AA shouldn't be able to handle it - other airlines do.
Well, AA has one of the worst records for baggage handling, and bags aren't prone to run off down a hallway.
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Old Jul 4, 2022, 10:28 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by ijgordon
Well, AA has one of the worst records for baggage handling, and bags aren't prone to run off down a hallway.
Is a 12 year old prone to run down a hallway??
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Old Jul 4, 2022, 10:31 pm
  #20  
 
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FA's don't escort unaccompanied minors. The gate agent is supposed to come get them and their paperwork from the FA.
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Old Jul 4, 2022, 11:01 pm
  #21  
 
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Look american should have done a better job but flight delays staff shortages new employees really all the things that make travel for all of us so difficult these days lead to incidents like this taking place. Any parent having their child fly as an UM really needs to tell the child what to do, mine would have been told not to get off the plane until someone came to escort them off, neither my wife nor I are helicopter parents but there are times when you need to be and I would have told our child to call one of us when they landed and not to hang up until they were with the party meeting them. This was what we did when they went to visit their grandparents
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Old Jul 4, 2022, 11:03 pm
  #22  
 
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This happens more than you’d think.
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Old Jul 4, 2022, 11:28 pm
  #23  
 
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TikTok Mom: Human Trafficking!
Human Trafficking!? drama much?
Good grief. NEXT.

she'll get her fee refunded and a bunch of miles thrown her way, and will miraculously find a way to use them with the company that dropped the ball.

Dad talking with daughter on phone to get her out of the airport to where he is...But Dad can't call Mom and say "hey we had a glitch but she's here and we're in communication"
Mom just sounds like an angry ex wife TBH. She's right to be mad that she didn't get the service she paid for, but is WAYYYYY over-dramatizing the risk of what was really happening given the dad on the phone with daughter while she dodges all those "human traffickers" between starbucks and bag claim.
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Old Jul 4, 2022, 11:51 pm
  #24  
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Originally Posted by LovePrunes
Mom just sounds like an angry ex wife TBH.
It's either some stereotyping or some projection to make this leap. Literally not sure how a mother being upset and arguably dramatic about their child being forgotten leads to "angry ex wife".
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Old Jul 5, 2022, 2:04 am
  #25  
 
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Originally Posted by Dave Noble
Comments about risk in an airport or about Miami don't really make any sense. In other countries, 12 year olds can happily travel without a UM service - not sure why AA thinks kids in US are less capable
I will note that a ticket on a major US carrier is far more likely to require a hub connection than a ticket with many foreign carriers and that adds both complexity in the system- many grown ups get turned around trying to connect at JFK, LAX and the like- as well as a big increase in the chances of IRROPS and a 12 year old might not be the best advocate for themselves in terms of getting rebooked on a later connection
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Old Jul 5, 2022, 3:40 am
  #26  
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Originally Posted by beachmouse
I will note that a ticket on a major US carrier is far more likely to require a hub connection than a ticket with many foreign carriers and that adds both complexity in the system- many grown ups get turned around trying to connect at JFK, LAX and the like- as well as a big increase in the chances of IRROPS and a 12 year old might not be the best advocate for themselves in terms of getting rebooked on a later connection
I wouldn't agree that this is the case at all. Not only that, travelling in many regions, there is a good chance that they will be in another country when changing flights
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Old Jul 5, 2022, 4:37 am
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by VegasGambler
Is a 12 year old prone to run down a hallway??
With Scissors!
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Old Jul 5, 2022, 5:07 am
  #28  
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I flew as UM many times during the early 80s (common thing in situations with divorced parents). There was no fee or UM badge system in those days, but the airlines knew I was a UM, and staff always offered to help me. However, they didn't help when I declined their help. This was no big deal because finding my dad at the other end (gate, baggage claim, or curb) wasn't exactly rocket science in spite of the fact that we didn't have cell phones. I'm (only) guessing that the OP's child acted like she knew what she was doing, and didn't request help.

That having been said since the mom paid the $150, and didn't receive the promised service, I agree that she should get a refund for this.
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Old Jul 5, 2022, 6:12 am
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by bgasser
Curious why AA allows UM. I know they make a few $$$, but when things go bad, the press is lousy. Seems it would just be easier to require parents/guardians to accompany minors.
Probably the same reason they take pets as cargo. I can't believe it's a big source of profits and when there is publicity it's only bad. However, providing the service can get them incremental passenger revenue.
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Old Jul 5, 2022, 6:40 am
  #30  
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AA screwed up. They offer a service that mom paid for and it wasn’t provided. I agree listening to the silly human trafficking comment with cicadas singing in the background is over the top but she’s a mother and I can’t imagine how scary it just have been to get a call saying we can’t find your kid. I also agree that a 12 year old should be fully capable to manage but who am I to judge.

My biggest takeaway from this post? AA flies CHA-MIA.
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