Heads up cruisers- are you flying DELTA??

[Lewisc]

think that it is not good policy for an airline to overnight bump teens travelling alone.

I think it is HORRIBLE PARENTING to allow a teen to travel alone who can't handle disruptions including staying overnight. WEATHER, MECHANICAL PROBLEMS and OVERBOOKING are all possibilities.

Your option was to have your duaghter skip her prom, have the family travel the next day, have you and your husband travel separately or pay the escort fee.

It is HORRIBLE PARENTING for you to be blaming the airline for the decision you made. It is HORRIBLE PARENTING for you not thinking through the decision YOU MADE to allow your daughter to travel alone.

Your choice of words gave us the impression that your daughter stayed alone in the hotel, was deplanned and that you paid for an unrestricted ticket.

Frankly I think teenagers could probably handle these disruptions better than many of the senior ciitizen flyers.

 

[Jeanne434]

Yikes! well aren't we just so pleasant. Amazing. I wonder about adults who can not engage in a reasonable debate without name calling- what is the matter with you?
As for my original post- yes -I left out details that had nothing to do with the base issue of bumping teens overnight. You assumed things- not my fault. As people have asked for facts I have offered them fully- even in the face of some pretty darn harsh critiscism.
I find it amazing that you people have such a hostile nature- what is up with that? Is it because I have the audacity to keep talking back to you? That I don't shrink away from your nasty comments and name calling? That you don't scare me and that I refuse to accept that I am a "horrible parent" just cuz you say it's so? I have admitted to being naaive about airline policies re: teens travelling alone- does that make me a horrible parent- I think not.
Chill out.

 

[ducklite]

I'd never go as far as to call you a horrible parent, but I do think you were foolish for not finding out all of the details, making a lot of assumptions, and then not psoting the entire story here to begin with.

I also think that you need to accept more responsibility for what happened.

Anne

PS--You're daughter IS entitled to $400 per flight compensation--I'm sure that Delta will be happy to give you the additional $300 in vouchers if you ask for them. If they don't, then by all menas file a compalint with the DOT.

 

[cjsmith]

The reason I stated that the Delta employees wouldn't single out a teen is that while they're looking on their screen at the gate, it shows their name, seat assignment, ticket class and when they checked in, not the age. Since you stated that your daughter checked in 3 hours early and obviously paid a pretty penny for her ticket, she would not have been one of the first tagged to be bumped from the flight. The gate agents did not know her age since she wasn't down as a minor on the computer screen. My girlfriend says that she doesn't know one of her friends that she's worked with for years at Delta in Orlando who would ever do this to a teen on purpose, it wouldn't be done for this reason alone. It's honestly alittle unfair for you to be making these assumptions and constantly stating them as fact. Delta has lost about 3/4 of it's staff that was based out of Orlando since 9/11, I'm sure there isn't an employee there who would risk their jobs by purposely singlingly out a teenager since she wouldn't raise a fuss. Clearly as we can all see, there's nothing worse than an angered parent, why would they risk that by doing this on purpose?
It will be argued by the airline that you bought the ticket, therefore entered in an agreement with the airlines. It was your responsiblity not to have booked your daughter on the last flight of the day and to have paid the price for her to be tagged as a minor. Just like the DCL cruise documents have you sign the documents expecting that you have rad them all prior to signing the contracts, it's the same with the airline. We have to be the ones who check on everything, that's our jobs as the consumers. I realize that you haven't flown much as you stated, but they will argue that you still should have read the fine print, that's your job, not theirs. Airlines will NEVER accept underage children if pushed against the wall, they will simply either do away with this or charge very high fees.
Good luck with your cause, it's going to be one that is going to give you a lot of work and headaches, without any changes made.

 

[Lewisc]

Posters (including myself) are being a lot nicer to you than you are to being to Delta. I gave you the link so you could get more information on denied boarding compensation.

The fact is you choose to allow your daughter to travel as an adult and she was treated as an adult. The problem was you expected something you weren't paying for or entitled to. I suspect you're a lot more upset about this than your daughter is. My point is the PARENTS role is to determine if the child can travel alone. Suppose your daughter was stranded for mechanical problems? Much more likely.

It was posted by someone (I don't think it was by you) that DOB is tracked in the system NOT TRUE. Delta didn't know your daughter was only 17, not that it matters you allowed her to travel as an adult.

You gave wrong information as to the type of ticket you bought and her being removed from the plane. You also allowed people to believe she stayed alone in a hotel.

Part of me believes your daughter left out some facts to you (or you to us) I wonder if she dozed off and didn't check in when she was called. Sorry but bumping is (almost) always done in order of check-in.

 

[Jeanne434]

Just because something IS done doesn't mean it is right to do it. If the majority of flyers on a flight are NOT full fare- refunds available- tickets- then why is there such an issue of overbooking anyways? If so many people are not showing up for thier flights then why are there so many people being bumped- either voluntarily or involuntarily? If so many of these no shows are not going to get a refund then why does airline get to sell the seat twice? If someone has a non-refundable ticket and doesn't show how is the airline losing money to leave that seat empty? If you pay for a theatre ticket doesn't the theatre have to first make sure that you aren't showing up before reselling your seat- or should they be able to oversell "just in case "you aren't going to show?
Just because an airline can treat anyone over the age of 14, who does not pay the extra fee, like an adult does that mean they should? And why if the extra fee is paid does it suddenly become so much easier to treat a minor like a minor rather then like an adult? Do more people volunteer if everyone between the ages of 14-17 has paid this fee?
Why are people so willing to accept this general practice of over booking? It reeks to me and whenit comes to bumping teens overnight I think it STINKS! Simply not safe, lacking in common sense and if something had happened to my teen I would be hiring a liabilty lawyer faster then you could say multi million dollar suit. I am still amazed that the airlines would open themselves up for this.

 

[cjsmith]

Wow, even though I'm one of the posters who find problems with the original post as well as feel that that the OP needs to take some responsibilty, to tell someone that they're a HORRIBLE PARENT is carrying this way too far, ouch. We as parents make mistakes daily, that doesn't make us horrible parents, just human. I thank god that I don't get judged so harshly for making parental mistakes, I'd be in big trouble!!! People who live in glass houses........ Please don't feel that we are all judging your parenting skills, as I think that the majority are not at all, just questioning the post. Judging your skilss as a parent actually never even crossed my mind. Sorry that things got so carried away that you were so insulted by someone.

 

[Lewisc]

You're still missing the point, the airlines don't know that the passenger is 17. You as the parent are saying they are mature enough to travel alone. Flight is cancelled for mechanical problems, your daughter is in the same position. EITHER SHE CAN FLY AS AN ADULT OR SHE CAN'T The reason for the disruption is irrelevent.

In the past the airlines would let you change flights by paying a change fee even after the flight left. Even now they will (usually) let you take a later flight the same day if you show up 2 hours late (so called flat tire rule).

I agree as the cancellation and no show penalties become larger the justification for overbooking becomes less but there are usually enough volunteers.

BTW hotels and even cruise lines also overbook. I don't think I'd be very happy if my cruise got cancelled.

 

[Lewisc]

I have NO TROUBLE with a parent deciding a 17 year old is mature enough to travel as an adult.

My bad parenting comment was really directed toward the OP blamming Delta for treating her daughter as an adult.

Pay an adult fare than you should be prepared to be treated as an adult.

 

[Jeanne434]

apology accepted. I have not felt that most people were judging my parenting or I would have stopped responding long ago. I have no problem with people questioning me about the post- I keep trying to clarify.
I think I have taken responsibility- I don't know what else I can do. I have admitted ignorance regarding airline policies regarding teens. I have admitted ignorance that this was the last flight of that night. I have admitted that I did know I could have paid that extra fee and chose not to. May this be the worse parenting decision I ever make- I doubt it though!
I have tough skin and fortunately I am very confident regarding my parents abilities. Good thing eh?? I am a very good Mommy although far from perfect! And nothing said on this post will alter my confidence in myself.

 

[alexturner74]

Overbooking is one way that airlines can maximize revenue. It's a fact of doing business, and the number one priority of any business is to make money.

Overbooking is based on historical data, and just like the stock market, it's no guarantee of future results. There is a science to this like you would not believe. Every flight is evaluated based on the time of day, day of week, season, etc. and agents are authorized to sell a certain number of seats over the capacity for each flight. Most of the time it works out, sometimes it doesn't.

There is a system in place to compensate passengers if they are bumped, and believe it or not, in the grand scheme of things, it is still advantagous for the airline to overbook, even if they have to pay their passengers to take a later flight.

Of course the FAA and consumer groups would like to see the number if involuntary bumpings go down, however overbooking as a general practice will never go away. It will continually evolve and get better.

Also, please do not assume that only people with full fare tickets don't show up for flights. People with discounted tickets do it as well for a variety of reasons. With ticket prices so lo now days, you're not loosing all that much if you decide not to go or whatever, especially with change fees as high as they are. A lot of business travelers are also using discounted fares because they are considerably cheaper than full fares and some won't even think twice about not using the ticket if something comes up.

 

[alexturner74]

Just to put things in perspective regarding this overbooking thing...using Delta as an example....

Delta flew 24.9 million passengers in the 1st quarter 2003.

Delta involuntarily bumped approximately 2200 passengers in the 1st quarter 2003. Approximately 29000 passengers volunteered to be bumped during the same period.

So, 0.009% of Delta's passengers were involuntarily bumped, and 0.118% of Delta's passengers took advantage of the compensation voluntarily.

Based on these percentages, my personal opinion is that overbooking is not a problem.

 

[peg2001]

Just a word of support for Jeanne434. I posted early on in this thread that I didn't think we were hearing the whole story and you have continued to respond to questions and answer to the best of your ability. You've stuck it out much longer than I would have!

Personally, I don't have a serious problem with an airline bumping a teenager or having a teenager put up alone in a hotel room. I not only traveled by air without a parent across the country (including a plane change in a large city) at age 17, I was responsible for my brother, age 14.

Peggy

 

[Disney Daniel]

Okay everyone, the thread has had as much transportation related discussion as it can have. The topic is now closed.

Have a good day folks,
Daniel