United Airlines forgets little boy traveling alone
CHICAGO -- It's a nightmare to be lost traveling alone. But it's even more of a nightmare if you are just 9 years old and you're lost traveling alone. Well now, United Airlines is apologizing after it left a little nine-year old boy flying alone at a very busy airport.
Julien Reid had been seeing his dad in San Francisco and then flew to Chicago's O'Hare airport. Here he was meant to catch a flight to Canada to be reunited with his mom, reports San Francisco new station KGO.
But United Airlines took Julien to a children's waiting lounge and left him there FOR EIGHT HOURS. The little boy missed his next flight. In a panic, Julien called his mom using his pre-paid cell phone.
San Francisco new station KGO reports that Julien told his mom he'd seen the same video over and over again, had eaten only McDonalds food (he's vegetarian) and that a United employee had yelled at him and the other children there.
Julien is thankfully back with his mother now. United tells San Francisco news station KGO that it will reimburse the childcare fee.
His mother said this to the Chicago Tribune: "He didn't know he was being forgotten; everybody kept telling him his flight was delayed. ... Hours went by. He was completely unaware," Reid's mother, Genevieve Harte, told the Chicago Tribune, reports San Franciso's SFWeekly
And what would Julien want out of this incident? According to the Chicago Tribune, the only thing he wants from United is for them to "never have a delay again and give me first-class seats on every single plane I go on for the rest of my life."
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Comments
Nice reporting on a frightening story.
jules
This is every parent's nightmare.
I hope United learned something from this - and no other kid will be left alone and forgotten.
United says it will reimburse childcare fee? They need to give the entire family free round trip tickets.
So terribly upsetting.
I like Julien's idea of 1st class for life.
Having had to fly UMs (unaccompanied minors) back for summer visits in the past and now the using the same service for grandkid visits, I find this story frightening. United's offer to reimburse for the childcare fee is insulting.
I can see how this can happen the agents that were left to mind him were more than likely pulled from that area and assigned a trip to work.United wants to do more with less even if it means leaving a 9 year old behind.All United worries about is its ontime performance and there standings with the DOT
Julien Reid sounds like a smart boy! First Class for the rest of his life? I think he has a future as an attorney!
Unfortunate that United, like so many US corporations, charges money for services that they're too cheap to hire enough qualified help to fulfill their obligations- then protect their butts by having customers sign an impossible-to-read non-liability agreement. How generous of UAL to waive the fee that they charged tp take responsibility for Julien's welfare! When, in fact, their CEO should pay out of his own pocket THOUSANDS (if not more) of dollars in compensation for his failures. Go get them, Julien!
I agree that part of it is this once proud airline trying to do more with less. THe customer agent skills need work on and that's the responsibility of the ORDUA management team with the ultimate responsibility being that of the station manager. The suits in corporate headquarters could probably care less--for one thing, THEY MOST LIKELY DO NOT KNOW THE JOB! Until they put the right professionals back in public contact positions who have basic people skills at a minimum, this type of service may unfortunately continue. The family should DEMAND free travel for this youngster until he reaches his 18th birthday.
Absolutely no excuse for this to happen, esp. for a minor or the other children in the same room! In this case, United Airlines, employees were either not well trained or employees didn't care about their job or both. Employees, from managers on down, have to remember that they represent their organization--regardless of pay and workload. I'm hearing too often that poor pay makes employees give poor service. This is a poor excuse, because poor service will get less customers leading companies to bankrupt to no jobs. If they don't like their work, they still have the freedom to change jobs.
The point is NOT that the airline treated him poorly. The point that everyone is missing? DO NOT PUT YOUR 9 YEAR OLD CHILD ON AN AIRPLANE ALONE, REGARDLESS OF HOW MUCH YOU PAY THE AIRLINE TO "BABY SIT" YOUR CHILD.
Responsibility of this child is still the parents, NOT THE AIRLINE.
I have been flying alone since I was 5. Sometimes people can't take the time to fly their kids to where they need to be. If an airline is going to offer a service, they need to make sure it is ran well. The issue isn't with the parents, it is with an airline service.
Don't send 9 yr olds alone. Let dad come visit the boy. Everyone is supposed to be responsible except the parents. Neither of the parents felt uncomfortable with having thier child out of contact for 8 hrs. This speaks volumes of our society.
Having flown as a UM this doesn't surprise me. There is not one person in charge of your care, especially with connecting. They have too many people involved in making sure you get on you flight. The flight attendant gets you off the plane, give you to the gate, gate gives you to another employee, who takes you to the child center(even if you're 15, yes, they have to fly um if connecting), the child center is responsible for keeping track of your flight and calling yet another employee to take you to the gate, then the gate person is responsible for you until the next flight attendant gets you to put you on the plane. This just shows the nightmare the system can be. United needs to pay for this, and not just the childcare fees. First class does sound nice, hope he gets it.
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