Thursday, 18 June 2009

• What are we really paying these airlines for?

   Airline Put 2 Kids on Wrong Planes

  By JUAN A. LOZANO, AP HOUSTON (June 17) - The mother of an 8-year-old girl who was put on the wrong plane while traveling unaccompanied blames the mix-up on "total incompetence and a lack of caring" by Continental Airlines.

  Wendy Babineaux said Wednesday she's "getting the run-around" from the airline while trying to find out how her daughter, Taylor Williams, flew out of Houston on Saturday and ended up in Fayetteville, Ark. She was supposed to go to Charlotte, N.C., to visit her father.

  The next day, 10-year-old Miriam Kamens wound up in Newark, N.J., while flying alone on the same Continental contractor, ExpressJet. She was supposed to travel from Boston to Cleveland to see her grandparents.

  The families had paid a $75 unaccompanied minor fee for the service.

  "That they did this with my child and turned around the next day and did it with another child shows they do have major problems," said Babineaux, who lives in the Bryan-College Station area 90 miles northwest of Houston.

  Continental, based in Houston, said that in both cases two flights were departing simultaneously from a single doorway and miscommunication among staff resulted in the children being placed on the wrong planes.

  "We're reviewing the entire situation and are focused on reinforcing our procedures with our employees," said Continental spokeswoman Kelly Cripe. "We fly thousands of unaccompanied minors every year and the procedures work when followed."

  Babineaux called it "total incompetence and a lack of caring" by the airline.

  Miriam's father, Jonathan Kamens, agreed, writing Tuesday on his blog: "When this number of employees messes up, you don't just have a training problem; your corporate policies have made it too difficult for people to do the right thing or too easy to mess up."

  Babineaux said she learned of the mistake from the airport in Arkansas — not Continental. She said her daughter — who finally got to Charlotte at about 10:30 p.m. — is unaware of what happened and she doesn't plan on telling her until after she returns to Texas next month.

  "I don't want her to get (on the return flight) and be all nervous," Babineaux said.

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