United Airlines Loses an Unaccompanied Child

[Cessnaflyer 56]

That's it! I am travelling as an unaccompanied minor from now on! Wonder if that will give me an extra one of our juice containers when I am flying?

[BillCusick 75]

That's it! I am travelling as an unaccompanied minor from now on!

 

Now where did I put those short pants of mine 60 years ago ?

Where can I book a window seat ?

:LMAO:

[Cessnaflyer 56]

Forget the window seat. I've learned the best seat is the isle seat so you can trip all the flight attendants and passengers!

[turner112 52]

Ah, great memories. I travelled between California and Pennsylvania solo a bunch between the ages of 14 and 20, and yes, even a 16 year old gets some pretty nice amounts of attention from stewardesses (now... flight attendants...) I'm sure they had an idea what was going through my mind.

 

Back in those days, man, it was great. Hot meals and metal silverware.

[jbinner 15]

My son did this a little while ago at age 14. We paid an extra $99 for the airline to keep an eye on him. Worked rather well, and as far as I know most airlines provide this service. In this case, seems United's contractor screwed up big time! In my case, the airline we used did it in-house with FA's and ground crew in the form of their lounges.

[n4gix 4,970]

I flew unaccompanied only once in '75, although at age 14 I was probably old enough to navigate through the airport on my own.

 

When I was a young teen, my folks and I lived in Tehran, Iran (my dad worked for the FAA and was on a "contract loan" to the U.S. Agency for International Development, Civil Aeronautics Group).

 

I flew unaccompanied several times each year all the way from Tehran to Lyndon, Kentucky (just southeast of Louisville). Most of these trips included layovers of several days in various cities I'd not visited previously. At no time was I ever afforded "special treatment," but then this was back in the mid-sixties, so perhaps that wasn't yet a major concern...

 

...or, save for my very first trip, wearing my full-dress uniform from Kentucky Military Institute may have tipped the scales in my favor.

 

I especially remember one very memorable trip when upon arrival back in New York, I was escorted by a U.S. Customs Agent and was "expedited" through Customs, after having received a very snappy salute from him and a very hearty "Welcome back to the United States sir!" As a mature fifteen year old, that was an enormous boost to my ego!!! :LMAO:

 

I suspect though that the tipping point may well have been my Diplomatic passport... B)

 

That may also explain why I was allowed to carry my dress sabre on board the aircraft without question.

 

On my last trip back to Tehran, I fell asleep in the passenger lounge in Beriut, Lebanon and missed my flight to Jerusalem. After a few frantic calls home and discussion with the PanAm agent, I was booked on the next flight so was only delayed about eight hours altogether. I was horribly embarrased though...

[Airbus Commander 563]

I let my kids fly unaccompanied all the time with ourselves, usually my wife will head off with the youngest kid to our villa in the south of France, and then the next two will tag along together the next day. Just the way it's gotta be with staff travel and all that, but they know the two airports like the back of their hands, and the CC know that they're related to crew, so do take a bit more care of them... While I appreciate the service myself as I do avail of it, it can be a bit of a pain with them coming out with new policies on child protection best practices what seems like every 2 months, and it's all examinable during recurrent training....

 

Ró.

[pilotguy03 1]

Wow! I flew unaccompanied a lot between Reno and DFW and San Diego and Dallas Love. I still do! The flight attendants would always give us attention and on AA, they don't charge you for the snacks.

 

[Tom Allensworth 1,532]

United lost me more times than I can count over the last 40 years. Most times I was sorry they found me. Now my baggage, that was another story. Lose me, but at least lose my baggage so that it shows up in the same place as I do. :search:

[HawkDsl 50]

United lost me more times than I can count over the last 40 years.

 

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL... :LMAO: