American Airlines sent an unaccompanied minor to the wrong state after a telephone reservations agent booked the child to Columbus, Ohio instead of Columbus, Georgia. The incident reminds us that we should not take an agent’s word for something when making a booking over the phone.
American Airlines Sends Unaccompanied Minor To Wrong Columbus
A 12-year-old had been visiting his mother in Dallas and it was now time to return to his father in Columbus, Georgia. Daniel Patton called American Airlines’ reservations number and told the agent he needed a one-way ticket from Dallas to Columbus, Georgia. According to Patton, the agent verified that the boy would be traveling to Georgia and booked the ticket.
Fast-forward a few days. The boy was dropped off at the airport and ended up flying to Columbus, Ohio (CMH) instead of Columbus, Georgia (CSG). Patton found out the error when he showed up at CSG but his son did not step off the flight.
AA agents found he was about to step off a flight in CMH that had departed around the same time. He was located and then sent back to Dallas and finally to CSG, arriving about 12 hours late.
Patton insists he specified the right airport and would have booked online (where you can easily distinguish between the two airports) but AA only allows unaccompanied minor bookings via telephone.
I recently completed an Award Expert booking over the phone with an agent and the “old school” e-mail confirmation I received only had the cities listed, no codes:
If the the father received a similar confirmation for his Dallas – Columbus flight, I can see why he did not think twice. As you can see, there are no states mentioned and no airport code listed, only flight numbers.
I’m not going to attack the father here. Patton told Business Insider:
“Mistakes happen but when they drop the ball it’s a big deal especially when you already take the agency and liability away from parents when making the booking. We’re not going to use American Airlines again or trust them because they’re incompetent.”
I think that’s fair. I also think American Airlines owes them a full refund plus compensation for the lost time and stress.
However, without attacking him, I do think this incident provides an instructive lesson on carefully double-checking your reservation. Here, it isn’t clear if knowing the right airport code would have helped if the father received a confirmation like mine above. Instead, he would have had to look up the flight number and verify it was going to the right Columbus.
I’m glad Patton is now reunited with his son.
CONCLUSION
Columbus is in both Georgia and Ohio. Portland is in both Maine and Oregon. Sometimes, even when we specify which city we mean, human error kicks in. Here, a boy was sent to the wrong Columbus, in Ohio instead of Georgia. The lesson is to double and triple check itineraries to ensure you are booked to the right place.
But how did a parent not notice the wrong destination when checking in? Do we suppose that no one looked at the reservation online or on the app, and let the child check themselves in at the airport? I can imagine the child not noticing. I know not everyone is familiar with how flying works, but that still seems a little odd.
Well, perhaps the mother just dropped him off and didn’t double check. Check-in was at airport since you cannot do online check-in for unaccompanied minor.
But you can still look at the reservation on the app or online, right? I suppose there are people who both don’t read the email from the airline (or maybe don’t have an email), don’t use the app and don’t check their reservation online even once, but I’ve got to think that is pretty rare.
Customer claims he verified with the agent that the fare is to Georgia, but did he really? It’s all hearsay.
He should have absolutely double, tripled checked the itinerary, especially if it was this lone kid traveling
Of course he should have, but I think the AA system also leads to confusion.
I have not flown AA in quite some time but I refuse to believe that during the entire process (email confirmation, check in, maybe even a courtesy email sometime in between), that there was no state labeled in any of these items. I just did a quick email search for such items on my previous flights (DL, AF, UA) and they all showed both the city and the state. Maybe someone who flies AA more often can verify that, but I still think this is on the parents.
This is on customer. AA did nothing wrong
I disagree. If the father specified Columbus, Georgia on the phone, then the AA agent absolutely did something wrong by booking the child to Columbus, Ohio.
Tommy Boy is involved in this conspiracy. He never went back to college for 7 years to learn how to read a map.
The agent, you’re meaning.
I had the same Tommy Boy thought… He could’ve been put through Salt Lake City…
When I was 12 years old, I paid enough attention that I would probably have caught it when I was at the gate. Some 12 year old boys are 5’7″ in height.
Probably around 9, I started paying attention though when I was 6, I started paying attention to some details, like what kind of plane I was flying aboard. I would say to the agent, why is the plane at the gate not an Airbus A321 but is a CRJ700 instead?
Both sides to blame. As a parent, there is no way I would leave a 12 yo alone checking in at an airport. I would go with the kid to the gate and make sure all was right. Parents missed big here. As for AA, I can easily see agent picking the wrong Columbus. As a parent that travels a lot, I would tell the agent the flight number, departure time and airport code while on the phone.
At the same time, there would have been announcements every 30 seconds about the flight to *YOUR CITY HERE* when the plane is boarding, and this 12yo really didn’t notice it? I was a dumb teen/pre-teen too at one point but surely that should have been noticed?
Everyone involved in this story is dumb, lol.
Well, on this point, 9 times out of 10 I can’t make out what the agent is saying, what with the poor PA system and the racket at the airport, unless I am near the counter.
Lafayette, Indiana and Lafayette, Louisiana are another fun pair to screw up on.
If I call an agent and want a specific connection, I know the flight numbers and departure times and if the agent tells me something different I’ll correct him. This isn’t 1970 where you might have no way of checking the schedules yourself. I’d say the booking error is on the agent but the fact that the kid checked in and boarded the wrong flights is on the patents.
I met an international traveler taking his son to the Mayo Clinic at RST (Rochester, MN) not ROC -Rochester, NY. It seems his travel agent in Germany did not know his US airport codes. They had to go from JFK to LGA then MSP-RST. The sickly son was exhausted. On MSP flight I told the dad all about MSP Airport and the Mayo Clinic where I am a patient. Father told me he was going to call his travel agent and let him know the mistake was made. His return res had to be rebooked and priced.
I’m surprised the 12 year old didn’t know he was going to another state. I know for myself I started traveling on my own at age 11. True, the adults should have known better too but the child could have asked AA why his ticket is going to Ohio and not Georgia.
Reminds me of the “apparently true” story of a German student flying from Frankfort to London, LAX then instead of getting on the flight to Oakland, he boarded a flight to Auckland NZ !. Realized the mistake in NZ, airline put him up for a night in a hotel…. then back to LAX, and up to Oakland. It’s an old story, so assume in the days before computerized boarding checks….. but a good story, and you have to be young to make that sort of a trip !.
Routine flights are boring. When things go wrong is when you add to life’s experiences and add to your memory store. It makes for an interesting life.
The article seems to suggest the aircraft and crew on that sector flew the minor to the wrong destination…..which is misleading: surely it was either a mistake by the father at the time of booking or the agent, or a combination of both?
Also, was the agent employed directly by AA or working for a handling agency contracted to AA?
I know these things happen, but with a minor involved everything should be checked, double checked, then checked again…
and crew
We had the common California break-in on our rental in July, and when calling Sixt arranged a new car to be available at Sacramento airport as it happened nearby.
We couldn’t find Sixt there and called again to ask for an exact address. The person on the phone gave address to Colonia de Sacramento in Uruguay.
We ended up driving with the broken window, no idea where our new car really was and there isn’t Sixt at Sacramento, CA, airport.