Two kids were recently mixed up by Northwest Airlines. One ended up in Florida instead of Oklahoma. While the other one was talking to a passenger after he boarded the plane, he found out he was going in the wrong direction and hightailed it back to the terminal. The girl showed up at the gate in Florida and met the boy’s grandmother. Both kids were on a connecting flight in Memphis. (Read story.)
The two kids look nothing alike. One is a female, black and 9-years-old. The boy is 11-years old and white. It’s true that one can mistake 9-year-olds for 11-year-olds, but, usually by that age, boys aren’t mistaken for girls and skin color ought to be a give-away. The paperwork was correct. So far, no one is saying what caused the mishap.
For kids to travel alone, parents or guardians pay extra money to make sure their offspring end up where they are supposed to according to plan. Since many divorced parents are living in different parts of the U.S., children traveling alone is not that uncommon. Most of the time the system works well, so there’s not too much to worry about if you send a child winging across the sky on his or her own.
To make sure that your child is as prepared as possible, here are some suggestions from the airline safety experts:
- If your child hasn’t spent time away from you all that often, consider non-stop flights only.
- Give your child a copy of the travel itinerary and make sure the person on the receiving end has a copy also.
- Give your child change, a cell phone or a calling card to use if the plane is delayed.
- Make sure you know the airline’s regulations for unaccompanied passengers before your child sets off in the airline’s care.
- Meet the head flight attendant and introduce your child to that person so there is a heads-up that there is an unaccompanied child on the plane, and if possible accompany your child to his or her seat to go over the what to watch out for details.
Here are some reader comments from the New York Times on-line about on sending children off alone on an airplane
For more kids travel safety tips, click here.