spin88

I want to highlight this. United's claim is that the kid's boarding pass did not scan, i.e. he was a no show. But we all know what happens when a leg is skipped - there is a thread on it - the rest of your reservation is cancelled.

This woman flew back to HNL with her son, so her reservation was not cancelled.

There is some muddled reporting (which I highlighted above) on her complaining when she landed in BOS and being told there was nothing UA would do, and would cancel her return if she wanted any refund on her kids (stolen by United) ticket. It is possible that it had been cancelled and was reinstated, in which case there would be a paper trail. So either it was scanned (most likely, UA is lying, basically par for the course) or the agent who she complained to reinstated it w/o saying. Given how UA agents work, I find it hard to believe if it was cancelled, that would not have been the first thing out of the agent's mouth "well your son's ticket was not scanned so he was a no show, and his reservation was cancelled as a no show, let me see what I can do." Given that this detail was not reported, I think it is most likely that the ticket was scanned (otherwise the head count, which includes lap children would have been off) and United's PR staff is once again lying.

nutwpinut

------

Someone mentioned later on that UA no longer does head counts and the numbers are done through the scanner. So the FA didn't break any procedures.

tarheelnj

It's just one of any number of possible reasons the GA was handed two BP's and may have only scanned one. That scenario is based on my own observation of individual passengers handing two boarding passes (or in the case of an international flight a passport containing two boarding passes) to the GA. How many times have we seen a large party (grandparents, parents, kids) where the GA is handed a fistful of BP's and struggles to get them all scanned while several of that group start heading down the jetway?

Michael899

The seeming common-ness of these incidents (families with young children who have their own tickets being asked by UA GAs to see if they're "lap children" to potentially open up a saleable seat--the above example is from a 1K) while the GAs have the relevant information on the manifest makes me wonder if there might be incentives in place for UA GAs to maximize saleable seats.

If so, it may be a policy that UA management needs to reexamine to reduce unintended consequences.

Ber2dca

Here's what happens in 99% of duplicate seat assignment situations. "Excuse me you sit in my seat, here is my BP?" "Well, here is my BP for the same seat." "Oh, let's talk to a crew member about this." *people talk to crew member* *Crew member makes determination what happens next*

There is zero evidence this conversation ever truly took place. I have yet to see the person concerned clarify what exactly she said to the FA or an explanation why she simply let the other person sit in the seat her child was occupying.

The FA clearly was in a hurry and not fully aware of the situation. It's easy to simply switch to a likely and convenient explanation when distracted and in a hurry: "Oh there's a child sitting in his mother's lap, must be a lap child then" and may not even have checked her seat plan at that point.

Given the back and forth you often get with seats due to upgrades, no-shows, standbys, people switching seats 'unofficially' without asking, I bet it's far from uncommon on any airline - especially in short-haul with minimal turnarounds - that FAs aren't always 100% aware of whether the seating they see in front of them in the plane matches the manifest and instead have to rely on everything else having worked fine.

LarryJ

This statement makes it clear that the F/A incorrectly thought the child was a lap-child and that the mother was hoping for him to sit in an unsold seat. That is why she thought saying "the flight is full" would resolve the issue.
The flight attendant did not understand that the child had a paid ticket nor that the child had reached his second birthday and was no longer eligible to travel as a lap-child.

blueman2

^^^ Thanks for the info!!!! Pilots ALWAYS welcome!

JonathanK81

Let me clarify one thing that is incorrect in this assertion. I included the previous poster's post as well, because it correlates with what I have to say. If you watch the interview, she says she heard TWO beeps, one for each BP that was scanned. Sure, maybe the scanner malfunctioned, but it just so happened to act normal, but malfunctioned for her? And if they did fail to scan one, as the other poster wrote, and we all know, the rest of her ticket would be canceled, which obviously did not happen.

As I said earlier, and will continue to say. This is all a red herring. UAL is claiming it was an issue with the scanning of the board passes. It's easier to use that as an excuse, than to say "Our GA or FA's screwed up, and didn't do their jobs properly." Blaming the scanning of the BPs is an easy out for them. Last thing UAL wants to do is throw their employees under the bus, especially after the Dr. Dao incident. They're trying all they can to deflect away from incompetent, inept, or poorly trained employees, what have you.

Imstevek

I'd like to know what her response was to the FA who checked to see if he had boarded...her comment below insinuates the BP was not scanned, and he was indicated as a no-show...

WalterSFO

I don't trust boarding pass scanners. It's not 100%. I once boarded the wrong flight. The boarding pass scanner beeped normally and the gate agent said nothing. It wasn't until the doors closed that I realized that I was on the wrong flight. (from the FA's announcement)

The flight was going to a city with identical name, but in a totally different state. My actual flight was 3 gates away. I admit that it was 99% my fault for waiting at the wrong gate and boarding the wrong flight...

I stood up and told the FA that I was on the wrong flight. She walked me up to the door and opened it. I heard her say to the gate agent "another one, AGAIN!" I ran to my correct flight 3 gates away and boarding hadn't even started yet.

l etoile

Moderator Note: I have removed some posts that seemed deliberately intended to provoke by blaming the passenger and by creating wild fantasies to describe what might have occurred. This is not what FlyerTalk is about. If you are confused about what FlyerTalk is, please look to the rules. We aim to be a place that is welcoming and helps people figure out how to have better travel experiences. Please be respectful.

l'etoile
UA moderator

JonathanK81

I posted right above you, she said in an interview, she heard two distinct beeps, one for each BP that was scanned.

Imstevek

I read that, my point is he likely showed as a no-show - FA typically don't check on individuals to see if everyone has boarded.

Or (!!) the FA went back to visually verify if he was a lap child and made a mistake.

On the other hand, one of the stories shows his BP as 24A, which is the seat the standby got. Not the middle seat.

How do lap children seats show on a BP? Same as parent?

tarheelnj

It's been years since I was in that position, but I found this picture at https://diveforscience.files.wordpre...5/p1020286.jpg (picture of baby holding the BP edited out).

deeruck

Surely it's obvious that one part of the correct resolution here was that the standby passenger got off the flight