yensmench

https://www.dansdeals.com/points-tra...ds-3-children/

craigthemif

Nightmare? That's a bit much.

17 years old is considered old enough to join the military in many countries including Israel, yet a 17 year-old can't handle a night in a hotel taking care of teenage siblings? I suspect the kids eventually had a blast, and it's the parents that are going mental.

Of course Iberia's response is tone-deaf (although in fact appears to be more responsive than usual) But there are services in place to cater for minors traveling without adult supervision and choosing not to pay for these services is a pretty clear sign that the parents believed the children could manage all aspects of the process by themselves.

ILman

You wanna compare joining the military school in her local country to being around in a foreign European country where she doesn't know the language, no food for the kids etc. How is she suppose to handle the little kids if they start crying the whole night that they wanna go to mother etc? Your little kids would have a blast in such case? They must be really really really mature.

The kid was up watching the little kids all night, in a foreign country where she has no one to speak with and no food. What else would you call that if not a nightmare?

And again, the issue is how IB handled it on their end, the way the handled it at the airport and the way they handle it now where they don't even bother addressing the real issue. That is disgusting.

Yllanes

Little kids crying for mother? The smallest were 11 and 15... They were not stranded on the street in a foreign country, but taken to a hotel... It's a tone-deaf response from IB as craigthemif says, also bad if the € 600 per capita were not immediately paid, but hardly a nightmare.

The fundamental fact is that the parents chose to have them travel as adults (when IB offers services for unaccompanied minors).

ILman

They were taken to a hotel? Enlighten me, taken by whom? Which IB agent had the passion to actually take them to the Hotel, making sure they check in and everything is okay?

JAXBA

MADIB's excuse about the three being last to check-in when they would have been checked in the night before by MIA doesn't make much sense; MAD should have handled this a lot differently.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILman

How is she suppose to handle the little kids if they start crying the whole night that they wanna go to mother etc?

The youngest was 11 (then 15, 17). I don't think it's as dramatic as you make it. Definitely not a great situation to be in, but I'd expect the 15 and 17 year old to be able to look out for each other and their youngest.

IB say they gave food vouchers but that does still leave the language issue. Not knowing whether they had smartphones with translation apps leaves might mean they would have had to use English and/or gestures to get something, but that's not impossible.

Horrible situation yes, but nightmare is a stretch.

Yllanes

I'm sure they were not chauffered there, but given a voucher and pointed to a shuttle. How would that work? Is a random agent supposed to leave their job and drive passengers to a hotel?

But that's not my point. Misconnects happen for all sorts of reasons, much more common than being bumped. If you send your children without paying for the unaccompanied minor service you have to be OK with them possibly missing a flight and handling it. This time their missing their flight was IB's fault, but it could easily have happened due to weather, strike, etc.

malagajohn

All the discussion is fine , but at the end of the day the parents of thse kids sent them on an intercontinental flight with a connection . Things often go wrong....

The parents would have planned for such a contingency....

Or maybe not....

Iberias response was incorrect but I really wonder what the parents were thinking of when they started this charade.

ajeleonard

Thread title should be changed to: Parents fail to book UM service, learn lesson

rickg523

Anyone want to say Iberia looks good here?
Or are we all going to avoid the event itself and play associate copy editor and complain about the headline?

ExGingi

Put aside the adult vs minor or UM issue. Iberia was 100% wrong for not checking the passengers in for the connecting flight at the point of origin.

This entire fiasco could have been avoided if airlines were prohibited from bumping passengers at a connection point (which is the major issue here - especially when dealing with minors, but it could be an issue for an adult, for a senior citizen, or for many others that would otherwise not require UM service) when the next flight is more than 2-3 hours later (or if you don't think 2-3 hours is a reasonable threshold, pick one that does outrage you).

I don't think compensation is the issue here, it's about bad practice, which is much worse when involving minors, even if they are almost "young adults", and about the airline not owning up to their wrong actions and fault.

ckx2

Or Iberia could have used some common sense to avoid this situation at all. No winners here.

malagajohn

Both parties guilty.
Parents totally irresponsible.
Iberia totally mismanaging an overbooking situation.

craigthemif

At what point at any time between a major international airport and an international hotel (with food vouchers for use at the hotel) is a 17-year old not going to make themselves understood in English? Hundreds of thousands of tourists manage this every single day without starving.

And if the kids don't speak English and aren't carrying any money then they definitely shouldn't have been traveling on their own without paying for the unaccompanied minor service.

Again, it's 17 not 7... with the youngest 11.