What would you do? (the airlines lost my kid for 2 hrs!)

[cruisnfamily]

First, the question:

Should I persue this any further or am I done?

Ok, I'm trying to figure out how to post my story without making it incredibly, incredibly long. Here's the shortest version I can manage....ask if you want more details:

My 10yr old DD flew (as an "unaccompanied minor" Keep in mind you pay an additional fee for this service) to visit her grandparents. The flights going up were fine. Coming back was another matter altogether. This was Tuesday 7/22 picture horrible thunderstorms up and down the East Coast. She was flying Buffalo to Atlanta, Atlanta to Tampa. Due to land at 4:25pm in Tampa. Her flight was late leaving Bufallo which would have caused her to miss her connection but her connection was delayed in leaving due to the bad weather. I arrive at the Tampa airport at 4pm figuring that there is no way her flight will be in at 4:25 as scheduled. I check with the ticket agents...the flight hasn't left Atlanta yet. They are not updating the little TV's they tell me check back every 15minutes they'll tell me when the plane has left Atlanta. Well, I am equipped with a long book with which to pass the time and I get comfy and read my book and check with them every 15minutes from 4pm until 5:50pm. At 5:50 they tell me the plane is boarding now and will be in at 7:13. I say to the agent (who I now have a 2 hour relationship with)..."just for fun, can you make sure my dd is on that plane?" Her response "well, if she's booked on it she's certainly on it". "Humor me" I say....please check. Well, low and behold they have switched my daughter to another flight that doesn't leave for 2 more hours and doesn't get in until after 9pm. I'm upset now...but hang on, this isn't even the good part! I tell them I want to know where dd is right now. This is the part where the story gets long. Suffice to say that for the next hour the ticket agent is on the computer and on the phone with the Atlanta airport looking for dd who is nowhere to be found! They cannot tell me where she is. They find someone in Atlanta who says they put her on the plane which has already left for Tampa(the one she was supposed to be on) but she's not on the passenger manifest and apparently this is a big no, no...to put someone on a plane with out her being listed as a passenger.

At this point it is about 6:45 and I'm terrified and lividly angry. I ask where in the building I can find a supervisor who can further assist me and am directed to the gate. I find said supervisor who goes throught the same nonsense for the next 45 minutes. Nobody can find my kid! Finally it is 7:40pm and the flight that somebody thinks she might be on is landing. I tell the guy I'm gonna meet the flight and check. He tells me " THERE IS NO WAY SHE IS ON THAT PLANE! IT IS AGAINST FAA RULES TO PUT HER ON THERE WITHOUT LISTING HER ON THERE! IF SHE IS ON THAT PLANE SOMEBODY IN ATLANTA IS LOSING THEIR JOB WITHOUT A DOUBT!" He wasn't shouting, he was very firm that it just wasn't possible for her to be on the plane.

I'm sure you've guessed by now, she was on the plane. Safe and sound and never even knew she'd been "lost". So, after 2 hours of panic here she was and we went home.

The next day was spent calling the airline repeatedly and getting transferred around and being told that no error occurred.(of course they had by this point fixed the records) They were telling me that bottom line my kid was fine. I was telling them that bottom line nobody could tell me her whereabouts for 2 hours. After much screaming, yelling, threatening etc I finally acheived my goal which was to have every penny of my fare (roundtrip) refunded. They eventually did it but still would not admit wrongdoing.

So, I got our money back but DH is still upset. He wants to sue them...not for money...and cause all kinds of grief because they actually broke a law. What would you do?

Sorry so long and rambling...I really did try to shorten it as much as possible

 

[Rajah]

I don't know, but at a minimum I would NEVER fly that airline again. Which airline was it? (I'm going to take a wild guess and say Delta?)

 

[cruisnfamily]

Originally posted by Rajah
I don't know, but at a minimum I would NEVER fly that airline again.

Well, some of their offers started out at free one way ticket, free roundtrip ticket, etc. You can understand why that was an unacceptable form of reimbursement I guess.

Which airline was it? (I'm going to take a wild guess and say Delta?)

It was AirTran.

 

[glo]

I would feel exactly like you do. If the airlines screwed up, and I paid extra so she could be safe, then I would expect what I paid for. Just the two hours of not knowing where my DD was would have driven me nuts. I would definitely look into atleast some kind of formal complaint to the FAA. That was just unexcusable IMHO I would also send letters to the higher ups at Air Tran...

 

[AirForceRocks]

I would sit down a draft a letter to the FAA and to the Transportation Safety Administration, with a courtesy copy to AirTran. I would detail what happened, including the names of the employees you dealt with, if you know them. Include the timeline, etc. I would also include information on the phone calls you made the next day that lead you to believe that records may have been changed.

I would emphasize that not only were you worried to death about your daughter on a personal level, but that you are concerned about such an obvious lack of airline security.

 

[debster812]

Oh, I like AirForceRocks suggestion. Document, document, document.

I would have been as frantic as you were.

 

[Itsanalias]

At the very least, I'd go talk to an attorney. They usually get more results than someone screaming into a phone. Call the Florida State Bar and ask for an attorney that deals in consumer law.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[cruisnfamily]

Originally posted by AirForceRocks
I would sit down a draft a letter to the FAA and to the Transportation Safety Administration, with a courtesy copy to AirTran. I would detail what happened, including the names of the employees you dealt with, if you know them. Include the timeline, etc. I would also include information on the phone calls you made the next day that lead you to believe that records may have been changed.

I would emphasize that not only were you worried to death about your daughter on a personal level, but that you are concerned about such an obvious lack of airline security.

Wow, these are EXACTLY the thoughts of my DH! (Well, it's either that or flog them publicly by hiring a lawyer). The point of the whole story is NOT whether she was safe or not....which she obviously was. The point was that they could not locate her and that she arrived on a flight which she was not listed as a passenger on. What if she were a terrrorist? There was a person on that plane that nobody knew about.

I do have the details including first and last names of all involved and a timeline of what occurred.

What "leads me to believe" that the records have been changed is the supervisor who tried to help me in Tampa told me and printed it out for his records because now they are blaming him for the "confusion" that occurred. AirTran told me that the records were correct as of 6:20pm that night and if this guy were able to read a computer screen he would have seen it. I told her it must have been done after the fact and she said it wasn't possible. I called the guy who helped me and relayed this info and he was able to go into some sort of history screen and see that she had been put on the manifest at 2:18am on the 23rd....long after we were home and in bed.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I agree with AFR.

As an aside, I was on a flight but not listed on the manifest. Of course I didn't realize this until I checked in for my return flights and my tickets had been cancelled since "I didn't make my connection". I believe that was on US Airways.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I would definately report to the FAA and definately ask to be kept informed as to what actions will be taken to insure that it won't happen again.

As far as suing, that is a decision you will have to make.

 

[cruisnfamily]

Originally posted by Miss Jasmine
As an aside, I was on a flight but not listed on the manifest. Of course I didn't realize this until I checked in for my return flights and my tickets had been cancelled since "I didn't make my connection". I believe that was on US Airways.

See how scary this is? How many other folks are traveling but not listed? What kind of security is this? And in my case, it was a 10yr old that they had been paid extra to look after specially.

 

[Rajah]

*marks AirTran off the list of airlines she'll fly*

After reading the others' replies, I really agree with AFR.

Let us know if you do follow up more on it and what happens?

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

I agree that you should report this to the FAA.

as for suing -- I'm not usre there's a cause of action here. you got your money back, and your daughter is safe. yes, it was terrible that you didn't know where she was for two hours, but not every injury is compensable. most of the time a claim for "emotional distress" is only compensable when accompanied by a physical injury.

 

[year2late]

I agree, BR.

I am sure that the situation was horrible, but what compensation would really put yu at ease?

A trivial free ticket or a couple thousand dollars is nothing compared to the FAA crawling up their collective behinds.

I am glad your daughter is safe.

 

[AirForceRocks]

Is my memory failing me, or did AirTran used to be ValuJet? If so, I would think that the idea of the FAA dropping the dime on them would be much worse than a lawyer calling them up.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Yep, they are one of the same, even if they try to tell you otherwise.

 

[cruisnfamily]

Originally posted by Briar Rose 7457
as for suing -- I'm not usre there's a cause of action here. you got your money back, and your daughter is safe. yes, it was terrible that you didn't know where she was for two hours, but not every injury is compensable. most of the time a claim for "emotional distress" is only compensable when accompanied by a physical injury.

I agree....I really didn't see what we would be suing for . It was more the point of the publicity and problems it would hopefully cause them. I wanted my money back and I got it back but I guess if they had just said something along the lines of "boy we're sorry that happened, we screwed up" we would have been happy with that but they are insisting that no errors occurred.

 

[J&D]

It sounds like Atlanta needs to increase its security measures again. We recently had a passenger board our plane in Atlanta that wasn't supposed to be on that particular flight.

 

[Serena]

Could you write an editorial for your newspaper? Maybe the lack of security and the carelessness would be noted and looked at by going that route.

Sonya, I would have been freaking. I'm glad she's safe and sound though.

 

[cruisnfamily]

Yes, AirTran and Valujet are the same airline.

I believe we will go the route of reporting to the FAA. I'm sure they won't be interested in the part that I was most upset about which is not knowing where she was for two hours. The part they'll care about is that she was on a plane and not listed as a passenger. According to the guy in Tampa who helped us this is a HUGE problem and against every rule in the book.