Airline sends girls to wrong cities ... twice; Parents want changes
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After mistakenly sending two different unaccompanied minors to the wrong cities, Continental says it has procedures in place to prevent that from happening again. However, the parents of the two girls that were separately sent to the wrong cities aren't so sure.
The incidents, of course, happened this past the weekend on flights operated by Continental affiliate ExpressJet. The first came when an 8-year-old girl headed from Houston to Charlotte on Saturday was mistakenly put on a flight to northwest Arkansas. In a separate incident a day later, a 10-year-old girl headed from Boston to Cleveland was mistakenly put on a flight to Newark.
"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," Wendy Babineaux – mother of the 8-year-old girl – says to The Associated Press.
For its part, Continental says the mistakes came astwo flights were departing at the same time from a single gate area. The airline says miscommunication among staff members is what led to each of the girls boarding on the wrong aircraft. "We're reviewing the entire situation and are focused on reinforcing our procedures with our employees," Continental spokeswoman Kelly Cripe tells AP.
But Jonathan Kamens, the father of the 10-year-old-girl that was mistakenly sent to New Jersey, says the airline may need to consider doing more than just reinforcing its existing procedures. He says changes may be needed after two mix-ups in as many days. "Unless they are doing that, they are not responding adequately and are in denial about the fact something needs to be done to prevent this from happening again."