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Airline loses 7-year-old, luggage arrives safely
Filed under: Big Kids, Places To Go, Health & Safety: Babies
For a company who's slogan is: "Because Owners Care," WestJet is certainly do an awful job of looking after what customers actually care about.
Like their kids, for instance.
According to this father's website, his 7-year-old son, William, was flying on WestJet from Calgary to Vancouver as an "unaccompanied minor" (known as a "UM") -- meaning that a customer service representative from the airline is supposed to escort the child off the plane and wait with him until a family member arrives.
But that's not what happened. Even though William had made this trip several times before without incident, this time he was allowed to walk right off the plane and into the terminal -- alone -- despite the fact that he was wearing a large UM tag around his neck.
Fortunately only 20 minutes passed before William's grandmother found him wandering around the terminal (still wearing his UM tag), and took him home.
Although, it's worth noting that the grandmother showed no ID, and didn't sign for William (as is normally required) -- she simply grabbed William by the hand, collected his luggage, and left.
Now the father is battling with the airline -- trying to find answers -- but getting the run-around from a series of unaccountable employees. Needless to say, if this is any example of the kind of "care" WestJet takes with children flying alone on their airplanes, they'll never get my business.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
8-07-2007 @ 8:28AM
Jessica said...I think it's insane that any parent finds it appropriate to let their child fly alone. I am sorry that the child was lost, and very happy that he was found and ok, but I don't think the man has a leg to stand on. The child is his responsibility, not the airlines. Why in the world you would hand over responsibility of your child to an airline is beyond me.
Reply
8-07-2007 @ 12:30PM
A said...Gee... what's even more amusing is Westjet is generally considered the friendlier and customer oriented of the two airlines in Canada.
Cheerio!
A
Reply
8-07-2007 @ 4:56PM
Sabrina said...When I rode as an unaccompanied minor as a child the flight attendants didn't have as many responsibilities as they do now. I started flying alone at age 9 because my parents were divorced and lived far apart. My mom was allowed to take me to my gate and my dad would pick me up at the other end. If I had to change planes the flight attendant would give me directions and I would check in at the next gate. Scary, huh? It's not like there were any less crazy people back then. But honestly at 7 years old I'd be terrified to let my chld fly alone, even if it meant having to take time off work to get them there safely. But that's just me.
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