United "loses" 10-year-old girl on flight

Sweet Jesus. When I read the headline and the start to the story, it just seemed like something that could happen.

But then I read the parents' letter, and I will not fly United ever again if I have a single say in it.

 

While there's no excuse for United screwing up so badly, why in God's name would someone let their 10-year-old fly across the country ALONE??? There's no way in hell I would have allowed my children to do that. None.

 

I remember thinking that the first time I heard about it. But that was like 10 years ago. It no longer shocks me. If the kid's old enough, I have no real beef with it IF IT WORKS THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO WORK.

 

C'mon, people, this is the airlines we're talking about. Why is anyone surprised by what happens in an industry with no desire to provide even the basics of customer service? Expect the worst; anything above that is a bonus.

 

I have had friends do that with their children, and while I'd never do it unless absolutely forced to, it's worked out fine. I'd only do it for a direct flight, because the probability of a glitch grows substantially when you get into the whole "making a connection" realm.

 

I did it with a 5 year old a few times about 25 years ago. Things were a bit simpler back then.

 

United is the worst of the major airlines by a thousand miles.

 

My parents had me fly alone every summer for five years. I guess between the ages of five and ten. They flew me from Denver to Tampa to visit my grandparents. Never had a problem. I remember being treated like absolute royalty. Fuck United.

 

After my parents split when I was 8 and my sister was 6, we would fly across the country all the time without an adult. We were treated like royalty as well. They would bump up us to first class if there was space. Most of the time we were flying direct from San Francisco to New York, but we also did SF to Savannah, which always had at least one stop. It was never an issue.

United sucks ass.

 

My wife and I sent both of our sons on flights without us when they were 10 years old or a bit older. Of course, there were adults there to meet them at the other end of the journey and in those days the adults could get right to the gate to meet our kids as they got off the plane. That does not happen today because TSA will require a boarding pass to let you thru security.

Regarding United Airlines, my wife has flown just under 1,000,000 miles on United Airlines over the past 35 years. My total mileage is a bit less; I have flown just over 400,000 miles on United Airlines. Obviously, neither of us would have racked up that quantity of miles if United's service was routinely as shoddy as described here.