Flying on United wasn’t entirely bad, but poor policies and procedures or failures to follow them caused several problems that could have been avoided, including a violation of passenger privacy.
Annie and Perry Klebahn had a horrible experience sending their unaccompanied minor daughter on United, very similar to the experience my wife and I had sending our daughter on Continental three years ago (before Continental and United merged). Just like I did, they are trying to agitate for change, to make things better in the… Read More: Please sign this petition for United Airlines to improve the… »
Bob Sutton writes about how earlier this summer, United Airlines (which is the merger of the old United and Continental) lost a 10-year-old girl. Aside from the exact details of how they lost her, the story is surprisingly similar to what happened to my daughter in 2009. It is depressing, but not surprising, to learn… Read More: Continental (now United) up to its old tricks, losing children… »
See When kids are all alone at 10,000m, published May 1 by The New Zealand Herald. The author of the article, Danielle Murray, did a remarkably good job of getting her facts right about what happened to me daughter, with the exception of saying that it happened “in June last year,” when in fact it… Read More: Daughter’s unintentional trip to Newark still occasionally in the news »
http://news.yahoo.com/s/y_clevelan/y_clevelan_ts2493 “WOIO TV reports that Delta Airlines accidentally put a girl bound for Cleveland on a Boston flight last night, and stuck a boy bound for Boston on a Cleveland plane.” “The situation is a very serious one,” said Delta Airlines spokesman Paul Skrbec. Yes! Somebody actually gets that what parents want when something like… Read More: At least Delta handled it better than Continental did »
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/10/16/colorado.balloon.media.spotlight/index.html ’nuff said.
I received email today from a Principal Operations Inspector at the FAA, who indicated that although “air travel by unaccompanied minors is a subject that is not regulated by the FAA… your complaint has caused us to look at other issues surrounding your daughter’s situation, and we are investigating those issues.” I asked him for… Read More: FAA is investigating incident »
I just realized that I misunderstood the initial response I got from my report to the FAA. I read it quickly (things were a little crazy the day after they lost my daughter!) and thought the FAA folks said that they had forwarded my complaint to the DOT and TSA. In fact, they hadn’t, so… Read More: Reported incident to DOT, TSA »
I just sent this letter to my contact at Continental: Ms. [named elided], Continental’s response to the incident that happened to my daughter, and to another little girl a day before my daughter, and to who knows how many other children who didn’t make the news, is inadequate. “Reinforcing procedures” does not fix anything. “Reinforcing… Read More: Today’s letter to Continental »
I just sent this letter to my contact on Sen. John Kerry’s staff: Subject: Progress on regulation related to airlines’ handling of unaccompanied minors Ms. [elided], I’m writing to check in with you on the status of Senator Kerry’s efforts to prevent what happened to my daughter on June 14 — being put on the… Read More: Continental won’t fix the problem; will the government step in? »