4 ms·

From http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/specialneeds/minors/faq.aspx http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/specialneeds/... What if my

by jowiar 14y ago

From http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/specialneeds/minors/faq.aspx http://www.united.com/web/en-US/content/travel/specialneeds/... What if my child’s travel is affected by delays, cancellations or other problems? It can be very stressful when flights do not operate as planned, especially for unaccompanied children. In the case of weather or other delays and cancellations, United will contact you or the person designated to meet your child at his or her final destination. You can also track the status of the flight on united.com. Advise your child to remain with a United representative at all times. Consider giving your child a calling card or teaching him or her how to make collect calls so he or she can reach you. In short, someone at United screwed up. The chaperone didn't call. That's bad, and they need to investigate whether this was a one-off or systematic screw-up. That said, flying from Great Falls to Nashville (which is already hairy due to the small regional airports on either end of the journey) on a day where there's a major winter storm forecast to slam the midwest. This including a foot of snow on Chicago, which ruins United's system for the day (is this not a well known fact)? If you don't want to entertain the possibility that your child might be stranded without you? Fly yourself to Great Falls, meet your child, and fly back together. Alternatively, driving to Atlanta or Memphis will up your odds considerably of a successful venture. Instead of sending her on the next flight to Nashville, they have routed her across the country on three connections and is staying overnight in Houston with a complete stranger! United probably thought there was a pretty good chance "the next flight to Nashville" wouldn't exist (It was delayed 5 hours, arriving in Nashville at 2am). This doesn't excuse United's behavior, but Ms. Neff-Aguilar could have prepared better.

mikeash 14y ago
Your proposal to plan better would make more sense if airline travel didn't require an order of magnitude or two more advance planning than weather forecasts can provide.
- jowiar 14y ago
  Getting stranded is a fact of life when flying. Especially during winter. Especially with connections. Especially when flying to airports with very few flights where one missed connection breaks everything. If, going into the trip, the possibility of her daughter being somewhere overnight was unconscionable, Ms. Neff-Aguilar could have originally planned to meet her daughter in Montana and travel home together. Or compensate a family member / friend in Montana to accompany her to Nashville.
  - mikeash 14y ago
    It's not the stranding itself that was unconscionable, but rather the stranding plus the not telling the parents plus not being reachable by same parents.
    - jowiar 14y ago
      Agreed, which is the unfortunate effect of the vast, vast majority of people being unwilling to pay more for better service when flying, thus leading to airlines being badly understaffed. In the Kayak/Orbitz/Hipmunk/Adioso era, people buy tickets based on price/number of connections, almost entirely without regard to the airline. The only folks who get better treatment from the airlines are those who have status (and are thus loyal customers worth the expense to retain) or who pay extra (first class or a lounge pass).

by jowiar 14y ago

mikeash 14y ago

Your proposal to plan better would make more sense if airline travel didn't require an order of magnitude or two more advance planning than weather forecasts can provide.

jowiar 14y ago
Getting stranded is a fact of life when flying. Especially during winter. Especially with connections. Especially when flying to airports with very few flights where one missed connection breaks everything. If, going into the trip, the possibility of her daughter being somewhere overnight was unconscionable, Ms. Neff-Aguilar could have originally planned to meet her daughter in Montana and travel home together. Or compensate a family member / friend in Montana to accompany her to Nashville.
- mikeash 14y ago
  It's not the stranding itself that was unconscionable, but rather the stranding plus the not telling the parents plus not being reachable by same parents.
  - jowiar 14y ago
    Agreed, which is the unfortunate effect of the vast, vast majority of people being unwilling to pay more for better service when flying, thus leading to airlines being badly understaffed. In the Kayak/Orbitz/Hipmunk/Adioso era, people buy tickets based on price/number of connections, almost entirely without regard to the airline. The only folks who get better treatment from the airlines are those who have status (and are thus loyal customers worth the expense to retain) or who pay extra (first class or a lounge pass).