How about some good news for a change? One man rose to the occasion when presented with a unique note from the seven-year-old seatmate next to him.
Little Landon Bjornson had to travel from Las Vegas to Portland to visit his father. His mother sent him alone. Landon has autism and expressed some fear over traveling alone…he was only seven after all.
Landon’s mother Alexa sent a note with Landon, instructing him to give to his seatmate. It explained that Landon has high-functioning autism and therefore might get nervous and ask “are we there yet?” several times. She further implored the setamate to make him feel “safe and comfortable” and included a $10 bill with the note.
She later told KATU, a local ABC affiliate in Portland,
I thought, how do I make it so whoever’s sitting next to him won’t look at him as a burden but more of like, I can help this kiddo get through the day.
Now let me pause here and say I certainly have some reservations about sending any seven-year child alone on a plane and especially a child who has special needs. I also think it could be considered crass to try to buy someone off with $10, especially when the only use for that on Southwest is to buy alcohol…
But, the story turned out quite nicely. Landon was seated next to a nice man named Ben Pedraza who was very happy to look after Landon. They talked, played games, and he even sent a selfie to Alexa with the following note:
Ben turned down the $10 for himself, instead donating to Autism-Society.org.
CONCLUSION
In a world of bad news, it’s nice to read a positive story like this, isn’t it? Now hopefully we will all play it forward. I’ve got a lot of travel this week and would love a similar opportunity.
Great story and that guy is awesome …but honestly…you nailed the reality. A seven year old? Autistic? The mother should have been on the plane with him or the father flying down to bring him back. I am really surprised any airline accepts unaccompanied minors under the age of 10. My daughter is soon to be 11 and I am still not comfortable with her flying alone for yet another year or two.
I’m glad this potentially bad situation turned out good. But what was this mother thinking?
Is WN allowed 7-year as an unaccompanied minor?
The mother should Not have custody of his child. 7 year old autistic kid alone on the plane??? Jeeze.
High functioning, ie, mildly apprehensive with a bit of OCD. I think the Mum did really well; so too the kid and the seat mate. Lovely story.
I think the point is he was a 7 year old autistic child. My daughter is soon 11, not autistic, and I would not let her fly alone. Too many crazies in the world. And lately a lot of them are on planes.
I think this is a nice confirmation that most kids are pretty capable and most people are nice. We tend to blow out of proportion the few bad things that happen.
Very nice story.
Probably so. But that does not equate to the 1000’s of potential operational things that can go wrong. Diversions, weather, mechanical…can you imagine a 7 year old boy alone if the fight was diverted for weather or mechanical? Do you honestly think in the chaos of airline operations today that he would be looked after? I mean, United put an unaccompanied minor on the wrong flight this week to a different city and country under normal circumstances. If everything goes right, great. If one thing goes wrong you want even a highly functioning autistic 7 year old to deal with it? And the potential crazies who would feed on this vulnerability? This is not 1978.
The kid may be flying as an UM so there will be a Southwest Airlines babysitter upon arrival.
I once flew on Northwest Airlines as an UM and the connecting flight was cancelled due to weather. I was left to fend for myself though they did give me a hotel voucher, which the hotel accepted even though I was just a kid traveling alone. Now, airlines don’t even give a hotel voucher if they can blame weather.
I would probably not ever send a hypothetical child (don’t have any kids now) as a UM on a flight. That said, I have the luxury of being able to fairly easily afford plane tickets and can make flexible work arrangements if necessary. I could see there being households where that $200, $300, $500 really matters though and where there is a need to fly their kids because of family situations (ie. to visit another parent who lives elsewhere).
No, just no. A seven year old whether he is autistic or not is too young to be flying alone. Those parents need to work appropriate transportation costs o fly with that child into their custody agreement.