Girl, 10, left stranded in O'Hare Airport for FOUR HOURS after United worker 'forgets' ...

My context to the "unthinkable" relates to the price of airline tickets, overnight hotel accommodations etc for the parents to accompany their 10 year old to camp. This expense is minuscule compared to unthinkable acts against the child while wandering alone in the airport. I'm with Lisa and Deborah, I think the parents were irresponsible to leave her safety and security to someone else.

 

Would you put your 2, 3, 4, 5 year olds in day care? What's the difference? You pay thru the nose either way. I view this as just another form of paid child care.

There must be a lot of discussion about this one. I was reading a local article off-line (sorry, no link) waiting for some truck repairs to be done. It commented that Delta carries 160,000 UM's annually. The last fiasco I heard of regarding UM's on Delta was when one got stranded at SLC because the parent had tried to dodge the UM fee. Real newsworthy items regarding UM's are very few & far between.

Or if the kid had stayed home & been rugged and maped by a neighbor.

 

Sorry, I don't agree. I'm sure I could look up the estimated number of travelers through O'Hare on any given day, not to mention our highly-vetted extremely professional TSA personnel, airport staff, restaurant workers etc...in other words, complete strangers and this little 10 year old was left to fend for herself. Yes, I know the airline & their representatives blew it, but the parents did too. I just don't see it any other way.

 

When my oldest granddaughter was 9 (she's 22 now) she flew from Arkansas to Seattle on a court ordered visitation. An airline escort was hired BUT those were the days when parents could actually accompany their child onto the plane and get them settled and there wasn't the hassle of the damn TSA. Today, knowing what I know about the people the TSA hires, I wouldn't even think about letting a child of mine go through TSA without me being right beside him or her. Especially at age 10. A child that age would probably go along with anything a person in uniform would tell them to do. The TSA would be my biggest concern.

 

You're a working parent, you shell out $75-$100 each way for paper custody of your child, to visit the grandparents. I did this a dozen times.
Child is escorted past TSA. I worry about my son now that he's outgrown the handlers--he'd be on his own with the TSA.

UA contracted the no-show clowns. Unbelievable UA in CHI--asshats. The parents did nothing wrong.