Delta Air Lines has suspended its unaccompanied minor program and at least in some cases, temporarily barred minors under the age of 18 from traveling alone, a policy that has caught many familes by surprise and goes beyond simply suspending its unaccompanied minor program.
Temporary Suspension Of Unaccompanied Minor Program At Delta Air Lines Appeared To Go Even Further
We are on day five of Delta’s operational meltdown and things are looking up. As of 3:00 pm ET, Delta has “only” canceled 467 of its flights (13%) and delayed 990 flights (28%). That’s a marked improvement over yesterday, which ended with 30% of flights canceled and 46% delayed.
One aspect of Delta’s response that I was not aware of until now is that it barred children under 18 from traveling without a guardian as its meltdown snowballed, at least in some cases (as noted by the New York Times).
Officially, Delta’s website suggests that only unaccompanied minors are banned (meaning those aged 15-17 who travel alone can still travel alone).
“Unaccompanied minor travel is currently paused through Tuesday, July 23. Those already booked will not be able to travel. Please do not book new travel for unaccompanied minors during this time.”
Delta says the suspension is to “protect minors from being separated from their families and caregivers in the event of flight disruptions or cancellations” and acknowledges there was some confusion over its execution:
“We take seriously the trust caregivers place in us with their children’s travel, and sincerely apologize that that trust was compromised through confusion around the embargo.”
I can’t fault Delta for drawing a bright line and not allowing minors onboard solo…it’s a bit like the mandatory retirement age of 65 for pilots. Sure, there are no doubt many qualified pilots who have to retire “prematurely” and could probably pilot on for another decade with not a trace of cognitive decline. However, the rule captures a reasonable compromise since the verification that those over 65 are of sound mind and body can be difficult and expensive.
Yes, some 15-17-year-olds are going to be far more mature than some 25-year-olds…that’s life.
But the problem here is the lack of notice. Tickets were purchased in good faith and young people were left stranded. The quip that they would have been stranded anyway if they were flying Delta is not persuasive. Both unaccompanied minors and young travelers have been stranded all over the world. This is not acceptable…and such a no-notice policy may be well-intended, but further undermines trust.
But again, what was the alternative, especially for unaccompanied minors? This was a lose-lose problem for Delta.
CONCLUSION
If you have a minor traveling alone on Delta, be advised that a ban is in effect through the end of the day today prohibiting solo travel. Delta has already extended this policy once (from Sunday through Tuesday) and may again, so keep an eye on Delta’s official unaccompanied minor page.
We live in Sick times , with many Sick people .
Anything to Protect minors is good .
100%, too many Aaron’s out there. Let’s face it, there never was a NAWBLA but there is a North American Man Boy Love Association still operating in the United States.
Can you imagine being a 13 year old traveling alone on DL during that meltdown? It would have been terrifying and they would not have had anyone to help them as DL staff were drowning at that point. I’d be interested to hear stories of what happened to those kids (surely there were some).
I was an UM on a DL flight years ago where the connection was cancelled. I got a hotel voucher and a room despite not even looking 18.
One of my friends (in the 15-17 range) was flying Delta unaccompanied over the weekend. Keep in mind he *wasn’t* flying under the unaccompanied minor program. He was flying as a regular adult passenger. Anyway he was in fact denied boarding for his flight home due to the ban, so this isn’t just for people in the program. *Anyone under 18 flying by themselves is not allowed to fly Delta right now.*
Anyway this presented a legal issue. Most hotels in the United States require you to be 21 or over to check in, so Delta had nowhere to lodge him. Because of that, they ended up having no choice but to fly him home on one of the flights still operating.
Will Delta compensate the family of kids who miss summer camps because of Delta’s blunders? Will Delta cover the cost for adult relatives to fly to pick up kids from summer camp away?
@GUWonder:
Per Delta’s statement yesterday:
“*Delta does not reimburse prepaid expenses, including but not limited to hotel reservations at the customer’s destination, vacation experiences, lost wages, concerts or other tickets. ”
So that’s gonna be a negative to summer camp expenses and I’m sure that extends to having to buy a ticket to go pick up a child.
Thanks for the answers to the rhetorical questions. Just goes to show that Delta this summer is really messing up things for families — and also for those summer camps which pick up and drop off kids at airports to fly back home.
And I bet the Delta executive team will still collect their bonuses this year.
Delta made a reasonable decision, given the circumstances. Reimbursing families because a kid didn’t make it to summer camp on time?
Laugh? I thought I’d die.
@Tim Dunn
That makes sense Delta was entirely ghetto for allowing like 10 unaccompanied minors on one flight before. A lot of flight attendants still complain about it. Come save your ghetto AF airline Tim!
Don’t worry, Ed is still gonna be using his tickets to the Olympics. Him and his girlfriend are en route to CDG.
I thought his youngest already turned 18 years old and had gone to college. So he clearly has no personal need for UAM service or personal concern about how minors traveling alone will fare.
Delta may well have made the right call in suspending its program temporarily. But that doesn’t make what they did ok. Especially with the meltdown getting seats on a future flight may be very difficult. And what about kids finishing up out of town programs that then need to fly home because the program ended?
If Delta is going to suspend the program for tickets it’s already sold on flights it’s running then it should be obligated to provide transportation via another carrier or other method acceptable to the parents. If that means Delta is on the hook for expensive last minute tickets on another airline so be it.
Should unaccompanied minor programs exist at all. Like while 99% of the flights make it to destination on time and with no problem, if I had a kid, I’d be more scared of something like this happening and my kid getting stuck without help.
I see the benefits, but is it really worth the cost and complexity to the airline or the risk to the parent?