[Brenda]

$1:

The OP was the first I heard of the story. I didn't watch the news last night, Brenda, because I was out driving drunks home.

Wow! Maybe so did I... Who knows?

You told me not to bother, remember, because you found some quote just before I found you your newsstory-proof. Who is rude again?

It is not surprising though, that you are defending people that make a mistake and blame that on a company. They screwed up in the first place, being unresponsible parents.

You don't let a 5 year old out of your eyesight. You don't leave your 5 year old with strangers, even if you pay them to do so, and you don't let your 5 year old make a trip like that for the first time without someone they know well next to them. End of story.

[Brenda]

Chumley Chumley:

This is the airlines fault.

It is reasonable that paying an extra fee to the airlines to look after your kid, a fee which is supposed to guaruntee the welfare of your child, will actually guaruntee safeguarding of your child.
You guys can't tell me you have never had a teenager babysit your kids? How is a teenager more trustworthy than a company that professionally transports people?

There is a bit of a difference between a teenager you (and your child) know babysitting your kids in the house they know, and a 5 year old child alone on an airplane, with nobody she knew, making a trip like this while it was the first time ever she had seen a plane on the inside.

If the airliner was babysitting this child at her house, you would have a point.

[martin14]

separated parents can do stupid things.

However, if the airline offers a service, especially a sensitive one like this, they are bound to it.

maybe the decision to send the child alone wasnt the best, but it is the airline who holds responsibility here.. they offered the service and didnt back it up.

The ultimate solution is to prohibit minors from travelling as UM.. period.. with the trouble that that makes for people who use the service.

we can see many examples from the RCMP, the courts,phone companies and airlines that the basic systems we take for granted are failing the society.. something to keep in mind when you have to deal with these institutions..

[Ex-Expat]

Regina Regina:

Would you or wouldn't you put your 5 year old daughter on a lengthy flight with one or more stops, alone and for the first time?

Not a snowball's chance in hell. As previously mentioned here, an airport is a confusing place (even for adults, oftentimes). And an airplane flight can be a frightening thing, even for adults, in some cases despite having flown many times. What did they expect the airline to do if she freaked out? If she peed her pants (or worse) in fear? If she threw up from motion sickness? If she somehow managed to escape undetected during the confusion of a layover (this has been in the news after happening with various airlines)? Seriously, I have to wonder what they were thinking.

I don't think it's irresponsible for parents to let their kids fly as an UM... *if* it's done under appropriate circumstances. They should have 1) flown with her at least once to be a comforting presence, explain what to expect, and see how she does, 2) insisted on a nonstop flight, and 3) preferably done all this when she was somewhat older.

None of this, of course, excuses the airline for not doing their job. But the parents made some unwise choices here that certainly didn't help matters any.

martin14 martin14:

The ultimate solution is to prohibit minors from travelling as UM.. period.. with the trouble that that makes for people who use the service.

I think that's major overkill. But legislating a minimum age limit strikes me as a good idea at this point.

[Canadian_Princess]

This story just makes those obnoxious "Why do Westjet employees care so much? Because we're Westjet owners" commericals LAUGHABLE. I now feel validated in my previously irrational hatred of Westjet. They can get the hell over themselves any time now.[font=Tahoma] [/font]

[mtbr]

Maybe momas been smoking pot ........this is funny


WestJet fields flak
Parents fired up over lost five-year-old

By KEVIN CRUSH, SUN MEDIA


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An Edmonton family wants WestJet to pay them to accompany their daughter on flights after the airline lost the five-year-old in Montreal.

"I don't want my daughter by herself on WestJet or Air Canada or whatever flight. I want to go with her," said Genevieve Pelchat, who days later is still upset that her daughter narrowly avoided going missing.

Now the family believes WestJet should cough up $70,000 to cover the expense of family members accompanying the child to Quebec twice every year to see her birth father for the next 10 years, until she will be old enough to fly alone.

"This is not to put money in our pockets because we don't want it. We just want our expenses to be covered," said the girl's stepfather, Philippe Boissy.

On Thursday, Sara-Maude St-Louis, 5, was flying from Edmonton to Montreal by herself for the first time. Pelchat and Boissy paid a $100 unaccompanied minor fee.

As an unaccompanied minor, WestJet employees are supposed to look after her until she is delivered into the hands of waiting family or friends. She was even wearing a VIP sign stating she was an unaccompanied minor.

But Sara-Maude was left alone on the flight by attendants, and even during a stopover in Winnipeg she almost got off the plane, thinking she had arrived. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan passenger had asked her where she was going.

In Montreal, the passenger, who did not know the girl before the flight, also walked her off the plane to her birth father after flight attendants continued to ignore. The parents are considering suing WestJet but would prefer to settle out of court.

WestJet did not return calls yesterday but in a statement said they have apologized to Sara-Maude's parents and would do everything they could to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again. The company is conducting an internal investigation.

But it's not the first time WestJet has seen similar problems. On July 22, Calgarian Greg Henry claims he put his eight-year-old son, William, on a flight from Calgary to Comox, B.C., to see his grandmother.

After arrival, Henry said, WestJet employees allowed him to wander away. Henry claims the boy was alone in the Comox terminal for 20 minutes before his grandmother found him,.

At the time, Henry said, WestJet told him it would look at company procedures for unaccompanied minors.

"I'm not interested in suing them. I'm not interested in money ... I want the system fixed and to make sure this doesn't happen to another kid ... Guess what? It did."

Yesterday, Pelchat and Boissy said WestJet said they would reimburse the family the $100 unaccompanied minor fee as well as give the family tickets and a rental car to be able to pick up Sara-Maude on Dec. 31 and accompany her on the plane back from Montreal.
[B]

[Brenda]

$ 70,000

Yes, WestJet screwed up, yes, WestJet should reimburse the $ 100,- and yes, they do good buy buying mom a plane ticket to pick up her child. And that is the end of it.

Take some goddamned responsibility when it comes to your children, and don't blame someone else if your thuroughly thought of plan (read: lazy-ass solution) doesn't work out. Bring her to her dad yourself, and take her back to her mom yourself, until she has done this so many times she can do it on her own as an UM at 11 or something. At least when something happens, she can do something about it herself. She is freaking 5!

[ziggy]

From my experiences on airlines all I can say is oly uck!

[denmns]

What a thing to hear about as my parents are flying from Moncton to Toronto on Westjet.

My father is suppose to get someone at westjet to use a wheelchair to take himm from the terminal at Moncton to the Arrival level at Toronto.

I have never had a problem with Westjet when they did this for him, so maybe this incident will kick some employees in the ass and make sure they take care of their passengers whether they are young or old.

[martin14]

denmns denmns:

What a thing to hear about as my parents are flying from Moncton to Toronto on Westjet.

My father is suppose to get someone at westjet to use a wheelchair to take himm from the terminal at Moncton to the Arrival level at Toronto.

I have never had a problem with Westjet when they did this for him, so maybe this incident will kick some employees in the ass and make sure they take care of their passengers whether they are young or old.

maybe its a sign for you to raise hell at Westjet and make sure they do it properly.

As far as the 70k goes, it would be a suitable out of court settlement.

take the money use another airline..

[mtbr]

She shouldn't expect more than a couple of free plane tickets....and after that she should shut her pie hole.


70 000 suitable for an out of court settlement are you a lawyer?

[mtbr]

Canadian_Princess Canadian_Princess:

This story just makes those obnoxious "Why do Westjet employees care so much? Because we're Westjet owners" commericals LAUGHABLE. I now feel validated in my previously irrational hatred of Westjet. They can get the hell over themselves any time now.[font=Tahoma] [/font]

You must be an Air Canada employee.

[TheQuietKidd]

I flew alone when I was 12, Detroit to Tampa (I think, but this isn't overly important) on Northwest, I would of thought all airlines would do what they do.
I was dropped off at the terminal, then escorted through all the checkpoints and brought to the gate. The people working the counter watched me until the flight boarded, I was then sat right at the front of the economy class area, the seat next to me was reserved for the flight attendant. Since the flight attendant had to sit down for landing, she was right there and I was the first off the plane, where I was handed off and brought to my mom, where they asked me who she was and had her produce photo ID.

To have a 5 year old sitting with some random person on the plane, not under supervision of the flight attendants, is just bad policy and outright stupid. What if this guy had decided to make his first stop in the airport with the little girl in a washroom?

[Chumley]

This is sorta like ambulance chasing. Someone is seeing a chance to profit off the misfortune of others and hoping to do so before the excitement caused by the story dies down and thier chance to stick it to the company while they are vulnerable is missed.

mtbr mtbr:

Maybe momas been smoking pot ........this is funny


WestJet fields flak
Parents fired up over lost five-year-old

By KEVIN CRUSH, SUN MEDIA


Add to Facebook

An Edmonton family wants WestJet to pay them to accompany their daughter on flights after the airline lost the five-year-old in Montreal.

"I don't want my daughter by herself on WestJet or Air Canada or whatever flight. I want to go with her," said Genevieve Pelchat, who days later is still upset that her daughter narrowly avoided going missing.

Now the family believes WestJet should cough up $70,000 to cover the expense of family members accompanying the child to Quebec twice every year to see her birth father for the next 10 years, until she will be old enough to fly alone.

"This is not to put money in our pockets because we don't want it. We just want our expenses to be covered," said the girl's stepfather, Philippe Boissy.

On Thursday, Sara-Maude St-Louis, 5, was flying from Edmonton to Montreal by herself for the first time. Pelchat and Boissy paid a $100 unaccompanied minor fee.

As an unaccompanied minor, WestJet employees are supposed to look after her until she is delivered into the hands of waiting family or friends. She was even wearing a VIP sign stating she was an unaccompanied minor.

But Sara-Maude was left alone on the flight by attendants, and even during a stopover in Winnipeg she almost got off the plane, thinking she had arrived. Fortunately, a Good Samaritan passenger had asked her where she was going.

In Montreal, the passenger, who did not know the girl before the flight, also walked her off the plane to her birth father after flight attendants continued to ignore. The parents are considering suing WestJet but would prefer to settle out of court.

WestJet did not return calls yesterday but in a statement said they have apologized to Sara-Maude's parents and would do everything they could to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again. The company is conducting an internal investigation.

But it's not the first time WestJet has seen similar problems. On July 22, Calgarian Greg Henry claims he put his eight-year-old son, William, on a flight from Calgary to Comox, B.C., to see his grandmother.

After arrival, Henry said, WestJet employees allowed him to wander away. Henry claims the boy was alone in the Comox terminal for 20 minutes before his grandmother found him,.

At the time, Henry said, WestJet told him it would look at company procedures for unaccompanied minors.

"I'm not interested in suing them. I'm not interested in money ... I want the system fixed and to make sure this doesn't happen to another kid ... Guess what? It did."

Yesterday, Pelchat and Boissy said WestJet said they would reimburse the family the $100 unaccompanied minor fee as well as give the family tickets and a rental car to be able to pick up Sara-Maude on Dec. 31 and accompany her on the plane back from Montreal.
[B]

[Ex-Expat]

$70,000???

First they don't want to take responsibility for their contribution to this fiasco by sending their five year old child by herself on her very first flight, including stopovers, and now they want free plane rides for the rest of her childhood? Does this family take any responsibility at all, ever?

A massive apology, two free tickets - one for aforementioned child whom I now feel very sorry for and one for father to accompany her, change the UM policies, and parents shut up and quit trying to offload the cost of raising their daughter. Did someone force them to make the stupid decision to send their 5-year-old as a UM under such circumstances? Did someone force them to live on opposite sides of the country when they knew they had a small daughter to raise? Accountability, please.