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Originally Posted by GUWonder
(Post 31262799)
UA@RDU knew about the EWR-ARN flight.
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Maybe the grandparents in Sweden bought the plane ticket. That’s a sweet grandparent thing to do... and a great way to guarantee a visit. I can’t picture this being a “cheap” fare for anybody. |
Originally Posted by mduell
(Post 31262827)
And needs retraining on UA's policies and EWR's capabilities.
Would you be more surprised if UA at EWR hasn't ever had to do it at times too for UA-UA flights when there are IRROPs, or would you be more surprised if UA has never done it for UA-UA flights when there are IRROPs? |
Originally Posted by GUWonder
(Post 31262799)
For what it’s worth, Amtrak is no better in this regard. Although who knows what they charge nowadays. |
https://m.amtrak.com/h5/r/www.amtrak...-minors-policy is Amtrak’s policy but don’t see anything about a fee. Did I miss it? Its policy would work no better for this teenager to get off at EWR and switch modes to a non-stop flight.
Originally Posted by drewguy
(Post 31261401)
What's odd is that he figured it out after boarding, at least according to the story he alerted FAs he was on the wrong flight.
Seems like another "I got on the wrong plane" types of stories, with the UM twist. How did the gate agents allow him on the flight, and did his assigned seat on the SAS flight just happen to be empty on the Eurowings flight? One would thing, especially with heavy Europe loads over the summer, you'd have a seat squabble before pulling back from the gate. Airlines often have FAs do a passenger headcount; but the accuracy of the count is obviously not always there, as this isn’t the first time a passenger has been on a plane onto which they were not with their own proper boarding pass. FWIW, ARN-NYC-ARN has been cheap this summer. Much cheaper than NYC-ARN-NYC. I was seeing sub-$450 prices for this time of the year if originating in ARN. But closer to double the price to travel on tickets originating in NYC. |
Originally Posted by GUWonder
(Post 31262849)
The UA@RDU agent knew the policy. Providing an exception that is customer-friendly isn’t the problem.
UA has already figured out they're not achieving this exception, and prohibited it. |
Originally Posted by mduell
(Post 31262899)
It absolutely is when the person making the exception isn't the one delivering on it.
UA has already figured out they're not achieving this exception, and prohibited it. |
Originally Posted by GUWonder
(Post 31262657)
SAS didn’t put him on the wrong plane. It was the UAM service which did. |
Originally Posted by GUWonder
(Post 31262908)
UA has achieved this exception previously at EWR. I suspect they still will achieve it at times of some IRROPs — unless and until UA try to further kill off unaccompanied minor service more than they already have.
This isn't about UA trying to bleed parents for an extra few dollars. It's UA trying to get out of the business of handling unaccompanied minor travel without the bad publicity of actually banning it. Stories like today's are the reason why. |
Originally Posted by jsloan
(Post 31262950)
UA has restricted unaccompanied minors to nonstop flights since 2014 or thereabouts. As I recall, a child got stranded in Chicago when trying to connect to the last flight of the day.
This isn't about UA trying to bleed parents for an extra few dollars. It's UA trying to get out of the business of handling unaccompanied minor travel without the bad publicity of actually banning it. Stories like today's are the reason why. Is UA even willing to further kill off unaccompanied minor service by way of a new and even more restrictive UAM policy? At some point, common carriers face risk of being mandated to provide some services which they may otherwise want to avoid, if they aren’t already required to do so. |
Originally Posted by txaggiemiles
(Post 31262942)
Eurowings, aka Lufthansa group, allowed him to board their plane. Probably the single biggest mistake of all the comedy of errors that allowed this to happen.
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Originally Posted by villox
(Post 31262987)
The article said it happened because the same third-party contractor was boarding both flights at the same time from gates next to each other. Odd because I have never seen that situation.
The gates could be rather close to each other, and announcements for missing passengers or last call from one gate could he heard by people at neighboring gates causing confusion about where and to whom to respond. |
Originally Posted by jsloan
(Post 31262950)
UA has restricted unaccompanied minors to nonstop flights since 2014 or thereabouts. As I recall, a child got stranded in Chicago when trying to connect to the last flight of the day.
This isn't about UA trying to bleed parents for an extra few dollars. It's UA trying to get out of the business of handling unaccompanied minor travel without the bad publicity of actually banning it. Stories like today's are the reason why. |
Originally Posted by drewguy
(Post 31263085)
Though as it turns out if UA didn't have this UAM policy, if the fiasco had happened it would have been laid at the feet of Eurowings and/or SAS.
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GUWonder: You seem to be very sure of exactly what the facts are, e.g., UA-RDU knew about the the EWR connection to ARN, it was one ticket, UA at EWR took the kid to the wrong gate, etc. Could you cite any independent news source verifying all of this. All I see referenced in the several news stories presented in this thread is the Mom's tweets. I would be more comfortable with some further confirmation that the Mom's tweets (made from long distance) are completely accurate.
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