America West Airlines has made headlines this summer for losing kids who were traveling aboard its planes without a guardian.
Three times, the Tempe, Ariz.-based airline has put kids on the wrong connecting flight to their destination. Just last week, the airline said a flight carrying sisters, ages 11 and 8, traveling from Texas to San Diego, was diverted to Phoenix. Instead of putting the kids on the next flight to San Diego, the airline put them on a flight to Ontario, Calif., forcing a frantic mother to drive 100 miles to find her daughters.
Rather than providing better instructions to its employees on how to deal with unaccompanied kids, the airline said beginning Sept. 10 it will only accept unaccompanied kids on nonstop flights. Unaccompanied children won’t be allowed on flights requiring one or more connections.
Increasingly, divorced parents are booking flights for their children when arranging visits to the non-custodial parent. It’s also a favorite way to send children for a visit to their grandparents.
It doesn’t appear that America West’s policies will be followed by the nation’s other airlines.
Neither American Airlines nor United Airlines, the world’s largest carriers, say they are planning changes that could force parents to stop booking their kids on flights.
“America West just didn’t have the systems in place to handle the kids,” said Mary Frances Fagan, a spokeswoman for American.
Joe Hopkins, a spokesman for United, said banning all unaccompanied kids from connecting flights would “deny air service to a lot of kids and cause a lot of problems for their parents.”
American and United have similar rules for unaccompanied kids. Children under 5 traveling alone are not permitted. Children 5 through 7 cannot travel on flights requiring a change of planes. Otherwise, both carriers train their gate agents and flight attendants to watch out for kids who are on board their planes. Gate agents escort kids onto the plane and introduce them to a flight attendant, who makes certain they are safe while on board. That flight attendant escorts the children off the flight and makes certain the adult meeting them has the proper identification.
Both airlines say they attempt to let parents know when children’s flights are diverted or delayed by storms and when the kids can be expected at their destination.
Spanish speaking: Movies on United Airlines domestic flights no longer will be available solely in English, the airline said this week. Reflecting the population shift documented by the 2000 census, the airline said it is now offering in-flight entertainment in both English and Spanish.
The Census Bureau found that the U.S. Hispanic population grew by 58 percent over the last decade, to 35.3 million.
“We believe that making our on-board entertainment accessible to our Spanish-speaking customers is another step in delivering on our promise,” said Larry DeShon, senior vice president, marketing, alluding to the goal of making travel easier for customers.
In addition to offering Spanish on board, the airline said it has added a dual-language option to its Web site, www.ual.com.
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