Spirit Airlines issued an apology after putting a six-year-old unaccompanied minor on the wrong flight.
The child was set to fly on Thursday from Philadelphia International Airport to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Florida, to visit his grandmother, WINK-TV reported.
Instead, the boy was “incorrectly boarded” on a flight to Orlando, Spirit acknowledged in a statement on Saturday.
The statement did not address how the error came to take place - during a busy holiday travel day.
I am glad I have never made a mistake at work lol. Every time I see a rule or a warning sign I think back to what caused it. Let’s hope the 6yo getting put on a plane without his family fixes something so it doesn’t happen again
There was no family to go with him. Unaccompanied minors can fly under the supervision of airport staff, usually for a fee. Which must already be terrifying enough for the parents even if they didn’t know “losing your kid” was an option.
https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/special-assistance/unaccompanied-minors.jsp
I flew to Europe unaccompanied in the 90s at around age 12. They put a lanyard on you, you’re first on the plane and last off, and a flight attendant takes you between connecting flights on a cart. There’s very little unsupervised time. It’s not like you can get off the plane.
I would imagine there’s even more supervision, more technology as well, than when I did it. Which makes a fuckup like this fairly astounding.
I did it either domestically (US) or possibly US to Canada. All I remember is there was food, which made it way better than flying with my parents.